VIN: Witness to Tragedy - the Martini Racing Lancia Delta S4 Evoluzione chassis 214
History of chassis 214
Chassis 214 was an S4 Evoluzione reserved for use by the Martini-backed Lancia factory squad.
The car made its debut on round three of the 1986 World Rally Championship, Rally Portugal. which took place over 703km of mixed gravel and tarmac surfaces between March 5th and 8th.
Chassis 214 was one of three works Lancias in attendance and for this event was allocated to Miki Biasion / Tiziano Siviero. In anticipation of very rough surfaces, an additional 30kg of underbody protection was added which took the trio of Lancias up to the 1030kg mark.
Unfortunately, the rally was marred by a terrible tragedy on stage three when the Ford RS200 of Portuguese privateer Joaquim Santos span off into the huge crowd killing three children and a woman and leaving a further 32 spectators seriously injured.
As a consequence, all the major manufacturers to include Lancia immediately withdrew their cars from the event.
Chassis 214 next appeared for round five of the World Championship, the Tour de Corse May 1st to 3rd), where it was again allocated to Biasion / Siviero. In preparation for the all-tarmac 24 stage 1122km contest, Lancia arrived with a trio of S4s that had been uprated with new ZF differentials. The cars also ran lower final drive ratios and were producing around 450bhp.
By the end of day one, Biasion lay third behind Peugeot’s Bruno Saby and his Lancia team-mate Toivonen. Chassis 214 was fitted with new electrics overnight and thus far Biasion had not been happy with his brakes.
Day two saw Toivonen begin to stretch his already substantial lead. However, 7km into the second stage of the day his car went off the road at high speed at a tight left-hand bend with no guardrail. It plunged into a ravine, smashing into trees which ruptured the unprotected aluminium fuel tank underneath the seats. The car was engulfed in a ball of flame and neither Toivonen or his navigator Sergio Cresto survived.
Lancia immediately withdrew their remaining cars and headed for home.
Four weeks later, the Italian team was back in action for round six of the 1986 World Championship: the Acropolis Rally (June 2nd to 4th). To keep dust away from the cockpits, all three Lancias had foam-edged door frames. New front shocks were also installed and the engines were running at around 440bhp. As per rule changes introduced since the Tour de Corse, each car had 11.5kg of of fire suppression equipment in the engine bay and cockpit.
The 38 stage 572km all-gravel event saw Biasion / Siviero pick up a double puncture on the opening stage which lost them three minutes to the leaders. Nevertheless, the Italian pair had recovered to seventh by the end of the first leg.
Subsequent retirements for several of the front runners and Biasion’s good pace meant a win looked like it may have been up for grabs during the final leg. However, problems with 214’s front differential ultimately cost any chance of victory and Biasion crossed the second, just over a minute-and-a-half behind the Peugeot pair of Kankkunen / Piironen.
Prior to its final competitive outing, chassis 214 appeared at the Rally Citta di Bassano on September 12th where Biasion and Siviero carried out course car duties.
At the 515km all-gravel RAC Rally held between November 16th and 19th, chassis 214 was allocated to Mikael Ericsson and Claes Bilstam who had joined the Lancia squad following the loss of Toivonen and Cresto back in May.
The Deltas arrived in Britain with new lightweight titanium springs, special new Pirelli tyre compounds designed specifically for muddy conditions and were running about 450bhp.
As the rally moved into the forests, Ericsson was one of four drivers to take his turn at the head of the field. The event’s second leg concluded with chassis 214 holding a slender two second advantage over Peugeot’s Timo Salonen and Markku Alen in another of the Lancias. However, when Ericsson hit a tree later in the event, his S4 incurred front bodywork and suspension damage which slowed its progress.
Despite this mishap. Ericsson and Billstam looked set for a respectable third place finish until their turbo blew on the penultimate stage.
Chassis 214 was subsequently retired from competitive action.
Notable History
Lancia Martini
Registered A6 37805
05/03/1986 WRC Rallye de Portugal (M. Biasion / T. Siviero) WDN (#5)
Registered TO 76795E
01/05/1986 WRC Tour de Corse (M. Biasion / T. Siviero) WDN (#6)
02/06/1986 WRC Acropolis Rally (M. Biasion / T. Siviero) 2nd oa, 2nd B12 class (#8)
12/09/1986 ITA Rally Citta di Bassano (M. Biasion / T. Siviero) course car
16/11/1986 WRC RAC Rally (M. Ericsson / C. Billstam) DNF (#9)
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Lancia - https://www.lancia.com
