The Stratos was conceived by Lancia as a platform for it's aspirations to dominate the world of rallying in the 1970s. The mid-engined sports car design (based loosely on a Bertone concept car displayed at the Turin Motor Show in 1970) fitted with the powerful and robust Ferrari Dino V6 engine would be a perfect foil for the Porsche 911s and Alpine-Renaults of the period.
The Stratos was certainly never intended as a seriously practical or saleable road car and only 492 production cars were ever built. This number was just enough to fulfill the prevailing Group 4 homologation requirements of the time.
Stratos lived up to the ambitions of it's creators, the Lancia marque and stylists from Bertone. It was one of the most successful and celebrated rally cars of all time, although Lancia would score more success later with the Delta Integrale.
At the height of it's success in the middle of the decade, Lancia put forward plans to build a Group 5 Silhouette racing version of the car, convinced it would be able to win in this newly created formula. Development took place under the guidance of Stratos chief engineer Mike Parkes.
A turbocharged version of the V6 engine had already been tried in a Group V (standard Group IV looking) car and this was adopted for the new racer. The engine was further developed in collaboration with Carlo Facetti's tuning outfit. The maximum power output was raised to 560 bhp.
More astonishing was the chassis and new aerodynamic bodywork created by Bertone. The wheelbase remained the same from the road car unlike the previously mentioned Turbo with (LWB) Long Wheel Base but it featured a dramatically extended rear tail section. Every piece of the car was unique and it carried the fuel tanks in the door sills!
Out of 5 races entered, it finished two. It won both.
Also see:
http://www.geocities.com/simontmallett/stratosgal.html
1975 Lancia Stratos Turbo Group 5 Silhouette #1
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