CONTENTS

Under construction

Not finished

Under construction

Not finished

Under construction

THE HF BADGE & THE RED ELEPHANT

THE RED ELEPHANT

There are many contradicting stories with regards to the origin of the red elephant on all Lancia's competition cars. We believe the following to be correct…

In 1952, Scuderia Lancia competed in the Giro di Sicily with an Aurelia Series 2 with a lowered roof line. One of the drivers - Enrico Anselmi - had used an elephant as a personal emblem on his car for some years. He allowed the Lancia team to use "his" elephant. That was the first time the elephant was used on a Lancia competition car.

The symbol of the galloping elephant apparently originates in Eastern mythology as a symbol of victory, providing the trunk is stretched forward. This is how the elephant chosen by Gianni Lancia was drawn, first in light blue and later as now in bright red.

THE HIGH FIDELITY LOGO

In 1960, an exclusive club for loyal Lancia owners - the Hi.Fi. Club - was set up at the Geneva Motor Show by Lancia's Dr. Alfredo Della Seta. "Hi.Fi." stood for High Fidelity and owners who had purchased at least 6 new Lancia cars during any period were eligable for membership. Their radiator badge was engraved with the initials of the owner and the year of their first Lancia purchase. Stars corresponding to the number of Lancia cars owned were attached to the badge (white star for one car, blue for five and red for ten).

In 1961, the Flaminia Coupes competing in the European Touring car series (of which one was driven by Giorgio Pianta, one of the engineers heavily involved with the development of the later sports and rally cars) started using the letters H and F.

In 1963, a group of amateur owners set up the unofficial Lancia competition team. By 1965 this group grew into the official Lancia Squadra Corsa which had Cesare Fiorio as a freelance manager. His team combined the galloping red elephant and the letters "HF" on their cars.

In 1966, the letters "HF" for the first time were included in the name of the legendary Fulvia HF coupe which remained practically unbeatable on the world rally stages. The incredible success of the Fulvia HF ensured the "HF" badge became associated with high performance in motorsport and it was decided to make the "HF" sign the official logo of the company's sports cars. This tradition was further implemented when the mythical Stratos HF dominated rallying between 1974 and 1978.

In 1983, the HF logo was adopted again for the Delta HF turbo and thereafter on the Delta HF 4WD and the HF Integrale. With the introduction of the Evolution model of the Integrale, the HF letters were combined with the galloping red elephant. The elephants had been on the original badges for the Fulvia HF and the Stratos, however, at that time there were four elephants displayed.

FORMULA 1 - LANCIA D50

In 1953, after Lancia had been very successful with its D23 and D24 road racers, Gianni Lancia decided to aim at competing at the highest level of motorsport, a domain that was "owned"by the giants of that era - the Ferrari Supersqualo and the Mercedes-Benz W196.

The most famous racing car designer of that period was attracted - Vittorio Jano - the man responsible for the legendary Alfa Romeos P2 and P3. By introducing innovative and revolutionary design measurements, he created an absolute masterpiece - not only from a technical point of view but also aesthetically the car turned out to be, compared to its competitors, one of the most harmonious and proportionally pleasing single seater racing cars of all time . The list of major innovations is impressive:

The engine was tilted 12 degrees to its longitudinal axis. By doing this he was able to position the drive shaft adjacent the driver's seat as opposed to under the car. In turn this meant the frontal profile of the car was reduced and the centre of gravity was lowered, resulting in a more aerodynamic design with better road holding.

The gear box was combined with the differential and the multi-disc oil bath clutch. The entire unit was located transversely in the car to improve the weight distribution over both axles.

Two external fuel tanks were fitted between the front and rear wheels. This ensured again the weight of the fuel (whether the tanks are empty of ful) was evenly distributed. This also improved the aerodynamics of the car through continuity between front and rear wheels.

The 90 degrees V8 engine worked as a stress member in the metal tube chassis - the front suspension components were directly anchored to the engine. The use of the engine as a load bearing component of the chassis, was light years ahead of its time and is even today still used in Formula One.

The 2.5 litre V8 engine had 4 overhead camshafts and twin ignition (new development!), developing (in its latest configuration) 260bhp at 8200rpm.

The car had to retire in its first 2 outings (Spain & Argentina). In the 1955 Grand Prix of Turin, Alberto Ascari scored his first home win. In the Grand Prix of Pau, the car managed a 2nd, 4th and 5th place. At the circuit of Posillipo, Ascari again won outright with Villoresi ending 4th.

For the Monaco Gran Prix, Lancia fielded 4 cars - Ascari, Villoresi, Castellotti and Chiron. After leading the pack for 50 laps, Ascari slipped in a patch of oil and the D50 ended up in the water. Castellotti took the lead but spun and had to be satisfied with 2nd place. The other cars finished 5th and 6th.

Unfortunately Lancia was not to build on the success of the D50. Four days after the Monaco Grand Prix, Alberto Ascari died while testing a Ferrari Sport at the Monza race track. Gianni Lancia had gambled the companies funds on his F1 adventure - the debt loaded team, having lost its main race ace, had to sell the remaining cars to....Ferrari.

Although the D50 proved tremendously successful, for Lancia it simply was the first sign the company paid more attention to engineering masterpieces than ensuring the company's finances were in balance. Ferrari happily took the winning cars and rebranded them as Ferraris whilst introducing modifications. In 1956, Juan Miguel Fangio won the Formula One World Championship in Jano's masterpiece....unfortunately for Lancia for the wrong team!

FORMULA JUNIOR - LANCIA DAGRADA

In 1958, a new "Formula Junior" class was introduced which became immensely popular. It resulted in the development of many different concepts: constructors from America, Italy, England, Germany and France used 1100cc engines from Fiats, Fords, BMCs and Renaults and modified them to improve power. Angelo Dagrada of Milan was one of those constructors and he produced some of the fastest cars. The exact number of cars he produced is unknow but it is generally accepted he built between 9 and 11 cars.

Angelo Dagrada was born in 1912 and made a living as a mechanic. After WWII, he built a number of race cars for the popular Italian 750 and 1100cc races. Making a name for himself, Dagrada modified the Fiat 1100-Siata head and combustion chambers, resulting in some specatuclar wins. Unfortunately, a number of road accidents in the early 1950's meant he had to cease further race car development until his return to racing in 1955, mainly with Alfas.

A young Giancarlo Baghetti - part of the Baghetti family who owned a foundry in Milan - showed keen interest in becoming a race car driver. Baghetti came to an agreement with Dagrada for him to secretly modify his father's Alfa 1900 sedan at night, when his father was not around. When his father collected the Alfa the next day, he could not figure out why it was so much faster.

Whilst Baghetti mainly drove Alfas and Abarths on the local tracks, Dagrada was hoping to build a special car to compete in the new Formula Junior. The usual set up for the cars in that period - a tubular frame chassis combined with a Fiat 1100 front suspension and a live axle at the rear - was simple, primitive, and not always effective. While most other Italian Formula Junior constructors used the Fiat engine, Dagrada decided to use the 1098cc Lancia Appia engine. The Appia unit was a light weight, robust 10-degree V-4 cylinder cast-iron block with the correct displacement, and was readily available. However, the design of the intricate aluminum head prevented any attempt to make it a breather. Dagrada virtually re-designed the head, creating new intake and exhaust ports, resulting in a fire-breathing cross flow head with a Weber 38 DCO fitted to each side of the block He subsequently tuned the exhausts, unevenly pulsating through two megaphone exhaust pipes (although some used a combined system). These modifications resulted in doubling the power from 48 bhp to nearly 100 bhp. The whole set up was then covered with an aluminum body, similar in styling to the 250F Maserati.

By 1960, the young Baghetti was keen to race in the new Formula Junior and purchased a Dagrada from his old friend. He won the first time out on March 27th at Monza and placed himself well in three other races, winning the Vigorelli Trophy races on April 25th. In the spring of 1961, Baghetti was approached by Enzo Ferrari. The rest is history.....

So was the Dagrada, which, like so many others, was made obsolete by the British rear-engine revolution. One of the Dagradas, chassis number 009, was imported into the USA by Marty Biener of Great Neck Long Island. The new owner drove it in a few races, and parked it, eventually selling it in 1980 to Armand Giglio, an American Lancia enthusiast. In 1988, Giglio persuaded the retired Baghetti to drive the car at the Pittsburgh Vintage races. Despite a misfire, Baghetti finished in front of the rest of the front-engined Juniors. "It's an old car," said Baghetti, "but I was very happy to race it again.

Where are the cars now

Dagrada probably made 9 front-engined cars and 1 rear engined car. The rear engined car was restored and was displayed at Padova in 2010. It is part of a private Italian collection.

It is possible he produced an eleventh car as a duplicate chassis number, and that this car now may be in a museum in Sicily. But no one is sure if this is a genuine car or was made up later from parts - because it has not been possible to inspect it.

Chassis 001 - Is in Europe and is being used and raced

Chassis 002 - Was the Baghetti car and is missing (unless this is actually the one in Sicily)

Chassis 003 - Is in Europe and is being used and raced. It was for sale quite recently.

Chassis 004 - Still exists but was crashed

Chassis 005 - Was crashed, James Steerman owns some of the parts from this car, including the Dagrada head.

Chassis 006 - Is in Europe and is being used and raced. It came back from the US as a rolling chassis in 2001 and was restored to look like the Baghetti car, which it is not.

Chassis 007 - Still exists but was crashed

Chassis 008 - Still exists but was crashed

Chassis 009 - Is owned by James Steerman (he bought it from Giglio)

About the crashed cars - chassis 004, 007 and 008:

Two of them are largely incomplete and would present extremely challenging restoration projects.

One of them will almost certainly be restored by the current owner,

RALLY - SUCCES STORY OF 11 WRC TITLES

Lancia has a long history in racing and has been extremely successful, especially in the WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIPS. The title was first won by the legendary Fulvia HF 1.6 in 1972, then between 1974 and 1976 by the Stratos (with help from the Fulvia in 74), and again in 1983 by the Lancia 037, the only 2-wheel drive rally car to ever beat the legendary Audi Quatro. In 1984 Audi took revenge and won by a narrow margin which started the era of the four-wheel drive rally cars. Lancia replied quickly and totally dominated the WRC competition between 1987 and 1992. Unfortunately Fiat made Lancia cease their participation in the following years.....

Despite the fact Lancia has not participated in the WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP FOR MANUFACTURERS since 1992, at the end of 2003 they still had a massive overall lead of 28 points over Ford. It will take many years for other manufacturers to surpass this…..

Lancia

Ford

Peugeot

Toyota

Subaru

Mitsubishi

Audi

Fiat

Citroen

Nissan/Datsun

Alpine

Opel

Renault

Saab

1968

Ford GB

1986

Peugeot

1969

Ford Europe

1987

Lancia (Delta)

1970

Porsche

1988

Lancia (Delta)

1971

Alpine Renault

1989

Lancia (Delta)

1972

Lancia (Fulvia)

1990

Lancia (Delta)

1973

Alpine Renault

1991

Lancia (Delta)

1974

Lancia (Fulvia and Stratos)

1992

Lancia (Delta)

1975

Lancia (Stratos)

1993

Toyota

1976

Lancia (Stratos)

1994

Toyota

1977

Fiat

1995

Subaru

1978

Fiat

1996

Subaru

1979

Ford

1997

Subaru

1980

Fiat

1998

Mitsubishi

1981

Talbot

1999

Toyota

1982

Audi

2000

Peugeot

1983

Lancia (037)

2001

Peugeot

1984

Audi

2002

Peugeot

1985

Peugeot

2003

Citroen

RALLY - FULVIA HF 1.3 & 1.6

In 1965, Lancia launched the Fulvia coupe. It's life started as a 1200cc road car but by 1967, Lancia developed a Fulvia 1.3 HF (1300cc) model which started competing on the world stage, mainly in rallies. In its first 2 seasons - which was merely a trial and error phase for Lancia - the Fulvia HF 1.3 managed to win its class in the European Touring Car Championship (1967, driven by Claudio Maglioli) and the European Rally Championship (1969, driven by Harry Karlstrom).

When Lancia developed its successor, the Fulvia 1.6 HF (1600cc), it created the car with competition in mind:

The central front lights were enlarged to improve visibility during night stages. The car received the nickname "Fanalone" which meant "large headlights" but also could refer to a large breasted woman….

The wheel arch extensions allowed larger tyres to be fitted

The rev counter indicated a maximum of 10,000rpm and the speedo went up to 220 km/h

A 5 speed gearbox with a shorter gear lever was fitted. Note however the first 1002 cars received a gearbox which was merely a development of the older 4 speed box. Only the last 276 cars received the full spec 5 speed.

The front wheels were given 1 degree of extra camber

The engine was again a narrow V4 engine but with a capacity of 1584cc, producing 115 bhp in standard road going form, 132 bhp at 6,600rpm with the factory provided elaboration kit fitted and 158 bhp at 7,500rpm in full blown race form.

Although the development of the Fulvia was not purely driven by competion like its successors (Stratos and 037), it was clear Lancia meant serious business!

Through the continued success of the 1.3 HF and 1.6 HF, by 1972 Lancia managed to secure Marlboro as its main sponsor. This obviously boosted Lancia's financial position and after Lancia scored 7 outright victories, it was able to claim the World Championships for Makes (now called WRC), its first world title (10 more were to follow).

Lancia's main driver in this era was Sandro Munari - the legendary driver who later claimed more faim through his many victories in the Stratos.

Between 1969 andf 1971, all factory competition cars were prepared by Claudio Maglioli. These special Fulvias - 17 in total - were made more robust by providing anti roll bars and dome bars. On top of that Maglioli squeezed all the power he could get out of the 1600cc, trodding on the fine line between ultimate power and reliability...

Six years the little Fulvia competed with tremendous success. Although often overlooked, it was the 1.6 HF that competed the first half of 1974 and provided the basis for the WRC title the Stratos claimed at the end of that season….

RALLY - STRATOS HF

Under construction

RALLY - 037 RALLY

Not finished

In 1980 - 1981, Lancia started the development of the Montecarlo Rally car (Lancia 037) to compete in the WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP FOR MAKES. Initially 6 prototypes were made, followed by 217 Stradale versions to ensure homologation.

In 1982 the 037 EVO 8.1982 was launched, aiming to further improve the car in order to win the WRC in 1983. The 037 EVO 8 delivered Lancia a 9^th place in 82 and a 1^st place in 83.

Because of the highly successful Audi Quatro and 4WD Peugeot 205, Lancia re-engineered the car and launched the 037 EVO II 1984. Despite the 2WD nature of the car, the Lancia proved to be unbeatable on Tarmac. However, because of its superior tracking on gravel, Audi managed to claim first spot but only by a narrow margin.

In 1985, Lancia used the (then ageing) 037 EVO II for part of the season which gave them extra time to develop the new Lancia Delta S4. This car was launched halfway 1985 and Lancia managed again to secure a second place in the WRC. This was the last year the 037 was used in the WRC competition.

The 037 was very successful on the European stage. When it was launched in 1982, it ended the year in a promising 3^rd place. In 1983, 84 and 85 it claimed 1^st place and in 1986, the last year the 037 was used in international rally events, it ended in 2^nd place.

YEAR

NO BUILT

ENGINE

BHP

RESULT

COMPETITION

80-81

037 prototype - 2000cc 16V DOHC supercharged

205

217

037 stradale - 2000cc 16V DOHC supercharged

205

037 EVO 8.1982 - 2000cc 16V DOHC supercharged

310

9th

World Rally Championship for makes

3rd