Although the Delta S4 Used Some Styling Cues from the Series
Although the Delta S4 used some styling cues from the series production Delta HF 4WD which was to follow, as this side-on study shows, it was technically an entirely different car. cars, such as the Fiat 131 Abarth, had been so outstanding), was already mapped out over a three- or even four-year in favour of new-style Groups N, A and B, which were due period. to come into force on 1 January 1982. The FIA’s strategy was For 1987, therefore, Lancia would no longer be able that Group B would be the flagship category of rallying, for to use the S4 (nor the more advanced, even more powerful, which only two hundred cars would have to be produced to Group S evolution of it which Abarth was already developing), secure homologation. To meet these requirements, Lancia’s and immediately had to look around for a new Lancia road first Group B machine was the elegant, mid-engined, rear- car which could speedily be turned into a Group A rally drive Rally 037 (homologated in 1982), followed by the fire- machine. Crucially, because of the regulations surrounding breathing, four-wheel-drive Delta S4 of 1985. Tragically, it Group A, this must be a car of which 5000 identical units was a Delta S4 crash in Corsica that killed its crew (Henri could be produced by the end of 1986 – less than eight Toivonen and Sergio Cresto), and shattered the morale of months ahead! the team, and brought about the immediate cancellation Here, then, we come to the word ‘inspiration.’ The rally of Group B.
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