Lancia Stratos HF

I was driving though the Hampton State Forest on the weekend. I was in my Subaru Outback 3.0R and I was thinking if had to choose a rally car to drive through here  what would it be? I considered a few modern machines and then I remembered the Lancia Stratos HF!

The Lancia Stratos  HF changed rallying forever as it was the first car built specifically for the World Rally Championship. Over 400 cars were homologated in time for the 1974 season and the Italian machine did not disappoint.

With futuristic looks penned by Bertone and powered by a mid mounted 280 HP 2.5 litre V6 Ferrari the Stratos was a complete rocket ship.

The car made Lancia famous as it went on to win the championship in 1974, 1975 and 1976 in the hands of Sandro Munari and Björn Waldegård. In 1977 Munari made history when he became the first Official World Rally Championship Drivers’ Champion.

I recall Munari sliding the Lancia to victory in Monte Carlo, three times in a row from 1975 to 1977.

Lancia still hold the record as the manufacturer with the most world championship rally wins. They are on 73 with Ford slowly closing in with 64 wins and counting.