VIN: Lancia 037 Rally chassis 198
History of chassis 198
Chassis 198 was one of the first 037s pressed into competition duty.
Registered A6 33089, it appeared for the model’s third competitive outing and maiden World Rally Championship event: the 1982 Tour de Corse.
An all-tarmac, three-day, 1616km affair, the Tour de Corse comprised 27 stages around the Mediterranean isle of Corsica and was round five of the 1982 World Championship.
Two works 037s were entered by the Martini Racing team: chassis 197 for Markku Alen / Iikka Kivimaki and chassis 198 for Attilio Bettega / Mauro Perissinot. Both cars ran in 270bhp trim.
As car number 1, Bettega got proceedings underway at 10am on the Thursday morning.
Much to the delight of the partisan crowd, Jean Ragnotti’s Renault 5 Turbo and the Ferrari 308 GTB of fellow Frenchman, Jean-Claude Andruet, topped the stage times throughout day one. Bettega was best of the rest though and, at the end of the opening day, the Italian was third, three minutes and 50 seconds behind Ragnotti and two minutes behind Andruet.
However, Bettega’s Lancia was in trouble early on Friday; clutch problems meant it arrived at the day’s opening stage ten minutes late.
No doubt trying to regain ground, Bettega was flying along when the Lancia touched a wall travelling through some very fast curves. He lost control and 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.
Chassis 198 was subsequently scrapped although for carnet reasons, the ID was later used for a car that appeared under a Jolly Club entry during 1985 and 1986.
Bettega was out of action for the rest of the season but resumed his Lancia role ten months later.
Notable History
Martini Racing
Registered A6 33089
06-08/05/1982 WRC Tour de Corse (A. Bettega / M. Perissinot) DNF (#1)
Destroyed in Bettega’s accident on the 1982 Tour de Corse
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Lancia - https://www.lancia.com
