Guide: the Group B Supercar Arrives - a Historical & Technical Appriasal of the Lancia 037 Rally 'Corsa'
Background
Although rallying had been in rude health throughout the 1970s, for the second half of the decade, sports car racing was in the doldrums. To help stimulate a revival, a new simplified regularity framework was introduced that applied to both disciplines for 1982.
The premier class for out-and-out Prototype racing was re-named Group C. There was no minimum production requirement, but qualifying cars did have to feature closed cockpits and comply with a fuel efficiency formula.
The junior class for sports car racing and the top category for rallying became Group B. To qualify, 200 production cars had to be built in a twelve month timeframe.
Group A was for less highly developed rally cars and touring cars. 5000 units were required for homologation.
Prior to 1982, Group 4 had been the ultimate category for rallying. Group 4 had a 400 car homologation requirement over a 24 month period and attracted a wide array of machinery. Saloons like the Opel Ascona, Ford Escort and Fiat Abarth 131 were able to compete on an equal footing with exotic machinery like the Ferrari 308 GTB, Porsche 911 and Lancia Stratos.
Although the Group 4 era had been a golden time for rallying, Group B ultimately went on to become the most spectacular.
1982 would be a transitional year for the sport in which cars from the old and new categories were allowed to compete against one another. From 1983, all participating vehicles would need to comply with the new regulations.
Having dominated rallying for much of the 1970s with the legendary Stratos, Lancia were forced to pull out from 1977. Fiat (who owned Lancia) decided rallying should be their own domain. The Fiat Abarth 131 was born and Lancia were sent sports car racing instead. Formula 1 would be left to another Fiat-owned company: Ferrari.
The Fiat Abarth 131 proved just as effective as the Lancia Stratos and won a trio of Manufacturer and Driver World Championships in 1977, 1978 and 1980.
Following this success, the Fiat board had an unexpected change of heart. Knowing the Group B era would require an ultra specialised high performance model to win, it was thought such a vehicle would be best represented by the Lancia brand.
Both the Fiat and Lancia competition programmes were managed by Abarth which had been acquired by Fiat in 1971. Abarth were given the green light to begin work on a Group B Lancia in late 1980. The resultant Lancia 037 Rally was officially homologated on April 1st 1982.
Although more highly developed Evolution variants were permitted for competition use (so long as 20 Evolutions had been built), Lancia originally began to compete with lightly modified versions of the road-going 037. These cars would be used for the first four months until the 037 Evoluzione was itself homologated on August 1st 1982.
Initially, engines were tuned to 250bhp and the suspension was beefed up. Interiors were stripped of all superfluous trim and fitted with the necessary safety equipment for competition.
Chassis
The 037 featured a central steel monocoque with a 2240mm wheelbase and subframes at either end. The front subframe was used to carry the suspension and radiators, the rear subframe supported the engine, gearbox, suspension and fuel tanks. Both subframes were made from tubular steel with a 35mm diameter.
Suspension was via double wishbones all-round with one gas-filled Bilstein damper per side at the front and two per side at the rear. Ride-height was fully adjustable. An anti-roll bar was installed at the front but not at the rear.
Instead of four-wheel drive, Lancia decided to go for a lighter, less complicated, rear-wheel drive machine.
300mm Brembo self-ventilating disc brakes were fitted all round along with 16-inch diameter Speedline alloy wheels. The original rims measured 8-inches wide at the front, 9-inches wide at the rear and came shod with Pirelli’s latest P7 Corsa tyres.
Two 35-litre fuel tanks were installed up against the rear bulkhead either side of the engine.
Engine & Gearbox
The Aurelio Lampredi-designed Tipo 232 AR4 engine was a supercharged inline ‘four’ with cast iron block and light alloy DOHC four valve head. Mounted longitudinally in the chassis, it used dry-sump lubrication and an Abarth R10 Roots Volumetric supercharger. Supercharger pressure was variable between 0.6 bar and 0.9 bar.
The engine displaced 1995cc thanks to a bore and stroke of 84mm and 90mm respectively. Fuel feed was courtesy of a single Weber DCVNH 15/250 twin choke carburettor. Lancia opted for Marelli AEI 200 electronic ignition and a 7.5:1 compression ratio.
In competition trim, output went from 205bhp to an initial 250bhp and then on to 270bhp.
The five-speed transaxle comprised a ZF gearbox, single-plate Valeo clutch and Abarth-modified ZF 25% self-locking limited-slip differential.
Bodywork
Bodywork was designed by Pininfarina and most of the panels were glassfibre reinforced Kevlar.
In competition trim, the 037 retailed at Lira 53m as opposed to Lira 40m for the standard road-going variant.
1982 Season
For 1982, the works Martini team recruited Markku Alen / Ilkka Kivimaki and Attilio Bettega / Maurizio Perissinot. Junior driver Adartico Vudafieri was also brought on board for European and domestic events.
A small number of cars were also supplied to customers, the most noted of which was the factory-backed Jolly Club who ran 037s for Andrea Zanussi and (once the Evoluzione version had arrived) Tonino Tognana.
The factory campaign in 1982 focused on six of the twelve World Rally Championship events plus a number of outings in the European and Italian series.
The 1982 European Rally Championship (ERC) comprised 47 different contests that were assigned coefficients from one to four. The higher the coefficient, the more points were on offer to a driver. Most teams only entered a fraction of the 47 events and many ERC rallies were also part of various national series.
1982 Rally Costa Smerelda
Lancia debuted the 037 one the same day as its homologation was approved. The Rally Costa Smerelda (April 1st to 3rd) was round twelve of the European Championship and took place on gravel roads along the coast of Sardinia.
Two works Martini-backed 037s were entered: one for Alen / Kivimaki (chassis 319) and another for Bettega / Perrissinot (chassis 156). Both cars ran 250bhp engines on carburettors.
Alen’s car was having brake problems even before the start, but once the rally was underway, he chased down Michele Cinotto’s Audi Quattro and set the fastest time on stage three. Unfortunately, later on during the opening morning he lost gear selection and was disqualified for over running the time limit.
Bettega also had his share of problems; a holed radiator early on was quickly changed to keep him in the running, but gear selection problems ultimately accounted for the second 037 as well. Neither car had made it beyond the first day.
With the Lancias out the equation, Cinotto dominated form start to finish. His Quattro finished over eight minutes ahead of Fabrizio Tabaton’s second place Grifone Stratos.
1982 Rallye dell’Isola Elba
Three weeks later, Lancia attended round 17 of the European championship: the Rallye dell'Isola d'Elba (April 22nd to 24th). A single 270bhp car (chassis 319) was entered for Vudafieri / Perissinot to drive on the part tarmac / part gravel event.
Early on, Vudafieri was battling at the head of the field with Tonino Tognana’s Jolly Club Ferrari 308 GTB and the Grifone Stratos of Farizio Tabaton.
Vudafieri took several fastest stage times but began to suffer brake problems when his pads became more than half worn. It was decided to change the calipers, but when a retaining pin jammed, an eight-minute penalty was incurred which dropped the 037 to fourth.
Vudafieri later experienced more gear selection problems and eventually finished seventh. The Lancia was 22 minutes behind Grifone’s winning Stratos of Fabrizio Tabaton / Luciano Tedeschini.
1982 Tour de Corse
The Martini crew then made their World Championship debut at the all-tarmac Tour de Corse (May 6th to 8th).
The Corsican event was round five of the 1982 series and, thus far, no driver had won more then a single event. Walter Rohrl / Christian Geistdorfer had taken the season opener in Monte Carlo for Opel. Audi team-mates Stig Blomqvist / Bjorn Cederberg and Michele Mouton / Fabrizia Pons then won the Swedish and Portuguese rallies respectively. The Safari Rally was won by Shekhar Mehta / Mike Doughty in a Nissan Violet GT.
Two brand new 270bhp cars in the same trim as used at the Elba Rally were taken to Corsica for Alen / Kivimaki (chassis 197) and Bettega / Perissinot (chassis 198).
Alen clipped a rock on stage four which bent the steering arm at the chassis end. He had to drive a couple more stages before it could be fixed and later incurred an eight-minute penalty after a punctured tyre could not be changed in the allotted time. Alen went on to finish ninth nearly 42 minutes behind the winning works Renault 5 Turbo of Jean Ragnotti / Jean-Marc Andrie.
Attilio Bettega went out of the event after a nasty accident. On day one he had been best of the rest behind Ragnotti’s Renault and Jean-Claude Andruet’s Ferrari 308 GTB. However, clutch problems early on Friday meant Bettega arrived at the day’s opening stage ten minutes late.
No doubt trying to regain ground, Bettega was flying when his Lancia touched a wall travelling through some very fast curves. The 037 crashed heavily on its left front side. The impact ruptured the floor and broke both of Bettega’s legs in several places. Miraculously, Mauro Perissinot eventually emerged from the severely crumpled wreck unscathed.
As a result of his injuries, Attilio Bettega was out of action for the next 14 months.
1982 Rally 4 Regioni
Round 19 of the European championship was the mixed tarmac / gravel Rally 4 Regioni in Lombardy (May 20th to 22nd). The car used by Alen at the Costa Smerelda Rally and by Vudafieri on the Elba Rally (chassis 319) was now in the hands of Andrea Zanussi and prepared by the factory-supported Jolly Club outfit. The white, orange and green Totip-backed Lancia replaced Zanussi’s Fiat Abarth 131.
Zanussi and his navigator, Arnaldo Bernacchini, were slowed by gearbox problems early on but later picked up the pace as they got to grips with their new car.
Once Tognana (Ferrari 308 GTB), Tabaton (Lancia Stratos) and Cinotto (Audi Quattro) went out of the event, the Conrero Opel Ascona 400s dominated. Zanussi was ultimately unable to make much headway with the trio of lead Opels and finished fourth, some three minutes and 44 seconds behind winners “Lucky” and Fabio Penariol.
1982 Acropolis Rally
Round six of the World Championship was the all-gravel Acropolis which took place between May 31st and June 3rd.
Two works 037s were entered: chassis 197 for Alen / Kivimaki and chassis 161 for Vudafieri / Perssinot. Engines were rated at 255bhp and both cars arrived in Greece with shock absorbers for the steering, new front motor springs, suspension set 2.5cms higher, carbonfibre sump guards and light weight alloy water radiators.
Vudafieri had a brief but troubled run that included an early puncture, a front suspension failure and an accident with a spectator’s car. He was then forced out of the event on stage five when his supercharger failed.
In the sister car, Alen led early on before gearbox problems cost him his lead and resulted in him racking up several penalties. A new ‘box was fitted and he emerged in seventh, but a host of niggling problems on day two saw him retire on stage 35 of 57 with the chassis unable to take any further abuse.
Mouton / Pons took their second win of the year for Audi. They finished the Acropolis nearly 14 minutes ahead of Opel’s Rohrl / Geistdorfer.
Lancia skipped the subsequent WRC events in New Zealand and Brazil. They would return for the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland during late August, by which time the 037 Evoluzione would be ready.
Before that, there were still a number of European and domestic events to contest.
1982 Ypres 24 Hour Rally
First was the Ypres 24 Hours Rally which took place between June 25th and 27th (round 26 of the European series). Andrea Zanussi entered his Totip-backed Jolly Club Lancia for the Belgian contest but arrived to find the FIA had withdrawn the 037′s homologation owing to concerns over its cooling system. As a consequence, Zanussi / Bernacchini were forced to compete under threat of exclusion at the finish.
Unfortunately, the Lancia’s head gasket blew while lying fourth and retirement meant Zanussi lost his lead in the Euro points standings. Victory went to the Marc Duez / Willy Lux Porsche 911 SC run by Jean-Pierre Gaban.
1982 Rally Il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio
Four days later, the Martini crew entered a single car for the all-tarmac Rally Il Ciocco e Valle del Serchio (round 27 of the European series) which took place from July 1st to 3rd.
Vudafieri / Perissinot finished third overall in what was a very close run affair. They were two minutes and 15 seconds behind the winning Jolly Club Ferrari 308 GTB of Tonino Tognana / Massimo De Antoni and 88 seconds behind runners up Tony Fassina / “Rudy” in a Conrero Opel Ascona 400.
1982 Rally Colline di Romagna
Later in July (24th to 25th), Vudafieri / Perissinot ran a works Martini 037 (chassis 156) in the all-tarmac Rally Colline di Romagna which was round seven of the domestic Italian series.
They finished fourth overall, three minutes and 21 seconds behind winners Fabrizio Tabaton / Luciano Tedeschini in their Grifone Stratos.
The event was notable for the spectacular crash of Fulvio Bacchelli who was thrown through the roof of his privateer 037 after a horrendous series of rolls. Undeterred, Bacchelli would be back later in the year with an 037 Evoluzione.
037 Evoluzione Homologated
On August 1st, the lighter, stronger 037 Evoluzione complete with fuel-injected engine and bigger supercharger was homologated.
1982 Halkidikis Rally
The final outing for a factory supported 037 in pre-Evoluzione trim came at the Halkidikis Rally which took place between August 24th and 26th. A new car (chassis 179) was sent to Greece for Jolly Club pairing Zanussi / Bernacchini to use on the all-gravel event (round 32 of the European series).
Zanussi had planned to run an Evoluzione with carburettors (instead of the new fuel-injection system) but an older spec. 037 arrived instead.
Nevertheless, he led the early stages before a broken shock absorber and flat tyre cost him ten minutes. Rothmans Opel driver, Jimmy McRae, subsequently inherited a lead he retained until the end. Zanussi did charge back from 52nd to fourth, but when the rear window smashed, broken shards cut the drive belts and forced him out of the rally.
Thereafter, the much-improved 037 Evoluzione took over and results quickly improved.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Lancia - https://www.lancia.com
