1985 Lancia Delta S4 Group B Up for Auction

Images: Artcurial

This 1985 Lancia Delta S4 Group B is a relic of rallying’s most out-there and exciting era, and a genuine factory works car to boot. It’s heading to auction at Artcurial’s upcoming Automobiles sur les Champs 7 sale.

Lasting just three years and change, from 1983 to 1986, Group B changed rally racing forever. Loose regulations allowed manufacturers to run all but rampant with their designs, producing some of the most powerful and fast machinery in the sport’s history. Machines the likes of these have not been seen since.

And up there with the most fearsomely fast of them all was Lancia’s Delta S4, which followed on from the 037 in the chronological sense only. It was designed from a blank slate with plans to knock Peugeot off the top step, on which they were becoming far too comfortable with their 205 T16.

With regulations limiting engine capacity to 1,759cc, Lancia’s Jean Todt, Cesare Fiorio and Claudio Lombardi set out to keep weight below 900 kilograms. An all-aluminium engine was designed to at least match the 450bhp put out by the Peugot. To help it breathe and provide low-down power and response it received both a turbocharger and a mechanically-controlled supercharger.

Four-wheel drive with a Ferguson coupling allowed a power split between 40/60 and 0/100 front to rear and did the hard work in putting the power to the ground.

It proved a successful design, with a Delta S4 winning on debut late in 1985 and putting in a fierce fight with Peugeot in 1986 before the series’ early demise.

This particular car, chassis 209, left the factory in November 1985 in time to contest the 1986 World Rally Championship. An official Lancia factory team car, soon-to-be two-time World Rally Champion Miky Biasion drove it to victory in the 1986 Rally Argentina with Tiziano Siviero.

After that race it was put into storage, and today remains completely original.

This is a rare, exciting and completely original machine, and we love it!

It’ll head to auction on the second of November, 2014, at Artcurial’s Automobiles sur les Champs 7 sale. Head to their official website here for more details.

Images via Artcurial