The Lancia Rally ‘037’ The FIA, motorsport’sgoverning body, introduced Group B regulations for the 1982 World RallyChampionship, which manufacturers needing to design and build a new car tocompete. For Lancia, the Rally 037 went into development in early 1980 with theSE 037 Prototipo starting testing in December the same year. During thedevelopment, which was overseen by Chief Engineer Sergio Limone, Abarth,Dallara and Pininfarina were all involved with lots of testing taking place.The end result was a mid-engined racer with subframes mounted to the front andrear of the chassis, powered by a supercharged 1,995 cc, 16-valve, four-cylinder,longitudinally mounted Abarth 232 AR4 engine with drive delivered through afive-speed manual gearbox to the rear wheels. The finished competitioncars made their World Rally Championship debut at the 1982 Tour de Corse, withthe first 037 victory coming in the hands of Champion Walter Röhrl at the 1983Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo. Over the 1983 season, the 037 claimed fiveoutright victories, with Lancia winning the World Championship formanufacturers. In doing so, the 037 became the final two-wheel drive, and finalrear-wheel drive car to ever with the World Rally Championship. This Lancia Rally ‘037’ Group B – Testing & Development 301 was built in June1982, and was issued its Certificate of Origin on the 22nd of thesame month. A day later, this car was registered in Italy to Fiat Auto Spa andassigned the license ‘TO X98907’. This car, chassis 301, is the very first ‘Evo1’ Lancia Rally, a specification which was hom*ologated on 1st August1982. The first outing forthis 037 was in Finalnd, where World Champion, Markku Alén, completed technical tests with the car. Later, Sergio Limone confirmedthat this car, chassis 301, was the official Abarth research & developmentcar. Colour pictures from this Finland test show the car was finished in allwhite, with a plain black rear spoiler and enlarged front mud flaps and frontlicense plate to confirm the chassis identity. Later the same month, this carwas again tested at Fiats test track, La Mandria, with Markku Alén joined by Giorgio Pianta behind the wheel. On the 26thJuly, all twenty Evo 1 specification cars were presented to FISA at the AbarthHQ in Turin. September saw 301conducting more testing, this time with Walter Röhrl at La Mandria, with Lancia also deciding to test the Michelin TRX tyres,although there was no performance advantage and the team remained loyal to theItalian tyre manufacturer, Pirelli. The following month saw Lancia taking thiscar to Wales for more testing, with the extensive history file containing manycolour images documenting these tests. Technical testscontinued for 301 in Finland in December 1982, with pictures showing Lanciateam members including Sergio Limone embracing the cold temperatures. A finaltest in Portugal in February 1983 saw 301 take to the stages of the WorldRally, generating valuable information and setup data for the 1983 event.
Chassis 301’s firstcompetitive outing was at the Rothmans Circuit of Ireland Rally, round elevenof the 1984 European Rally Championship. The car was driven by Pentti Airikalawith Juha Piironen reading pace notes. After leading day one, Pentti spun intoretirement on a patch on black ice on the final day, although did comment “TheLancia people were all charming, we had Italian, English, Irish and Finish crewpeople but it all worked. The car was obviously very impressive and veryexciting, just like a racing car. And it has got very good results, but to getgood results, first you have to finish!”.
1983 Sanyo Rally of New Zealand
At the end of June,this 037 was assigned to Walter Röhrl and ChristianGeistdorfer for the 7th round of the World Rally Championship, theSanyo Rally of New Zealand. The car arrived in New Zealand being weighed in at970 kg with its Titanium roll cage. The tyres provided by Pirelli were verysimilar to those used on the Acropolis rally, earlier in the year, with stiffsidewalls. However, Röhrl suffered a handlingimbalance for the majority of the rally, which he attributed to theconstruction of the tyres. Interestingly, in an effort to compensate for thedifferent surface, the 037’s were being run 20mm lower than in Greece, theprevious round of the World Rally Championship.
With race number 1 andits hugely iconic Lancia Martini Racing livery, 301 and Röhrl claimed sixteen stage victories across 1,069 km en-routeto overall victory! After his commanding victory, winning by over sixteenminutes, Röhrl commented “The roadsin New Zealand are mostly gravel, but smooth and very fast. I prefer faststages. For me, car driving starts when you are going at more than 100 mph.”This was also Röhrl’s third World Rally victoryof the year, leaving him with a twenty-two-point lead in the DriversChampionship, although he chose not to participate in several events throughoutthe year, undoubtedly costing him a very real shot at the title! After NewZealand, Lancia were also leading the Constructors Championship, with a twenty-four-pointlead over Audi.
1983 Rally of the 1000 Lakes, Finland
After this decisivevictory, 301 returned to testing in Finalnd once more in preparation for round9 of the 1983 World Rally Championship, the Rally of 1000 Lakes. With Walter Röhrl choosing to not compete in Finland, 301 was assignedto 1978 World Rally Champion, Markku Alén, wearing the Martini Racing livery with race number 2. Six stagevictories ensued, with 301, Alén and Kivimaki leading the rally from stage six to fourteen! Sadly,the Audi’s proved just too strong on the gravel of Finland, although it wasnoted Alén drove the 037 better than ever before, finishing 3rd overall.
1983 Rallye Sanremo, Italy
Held from the 2ndto 8th October, the 25th running of the Rally di Sanremomarked the tenth rough of the 1983 World Rally Championship. After the Rally of1000 Lakes, Lancia led the Manufacturers Championship by twelve points, withAudi pushing hard in second. With this in mind, and only one event afterSanremo to settle the Manufacturers championship, both teams sent more carsthan usual. Audi sent four Quattro’s, with Lancia running eight 037’s betweenthe official and semi-official entries.
On the eve of therally, Markku Alén confirmed he hadre-signed with Lancia for the following season, whilst Walter Röhrl had announced he would be leaving Lancia to join rivalsAudi.
The Sanremo rally wasa mixture of asphalt and gravel stages, with the advantage ebbing and flowingbetween the Lancia and Audi. Forty three percent of the fifty-nine stages wereheld on asphalt, so in theory Audi held the advantage, however the Lancia wascloser to the Audi on gravel, than the Audi was to the Lancia on asphalt!
This car, chassis 301,was assigned to Markku Alén and Ilkka Kivimakionce again for this all-important Sanremo rally. After twenty-nine stages, Alén had claimed victory in only one stage, however hismetronomic consistency meant he was leading the Audi of Michele Mouton by amassive 1 ½ minutes.
With fourteen gravelstages remaining, Cesare Fiorio, Lancia’s team manager, commented “I can’trelax yet. I’ve got one car in front. Röhrl and Bettega are comingtoo, so I must look after them. On the way to Siena we lost ground on elevenstages, but then we pulled back. I think we’ll lose time on the next two stagesbecause they are uphill and have hairpins, but after I think we’ll be ok. Oncewe are off the gravel, I think Röhrl and Bettega can makeup three minutes on the Audi’s.”
After an incrediblefifty-eight special stages, Markku Alén, Ilkka Kivimaki and this car crossed the line to win the 1983 Sanremorally. However, victory not only gave Alén his second World Rally victory of the year, it also sealed the 1983World Championship for Manufacturer’s for Lancia Martini Racing.
For chassis 301, thewas its second World Rally victory, a feat which no other 037 ever achieved.Amazingly, both victories also came at the hands of two World Rally Champions,1978 champion Markku Alén, and double World Rally champion Walter Röhrl. Sanremo was also the third podium finish from threeWorld Rally events in 1983 for 301.
A week later, CesareFiorio announced that the Lancia Martini team would not participate at thefinal round of the World Rally Championship, the RAC rally in Great Britain,commenting “We are many millions of Lire over budget. It’s very expensivechasing all these Audis around the world!”
1983 was a hugelyimportant and successful year for Lancia and the Rally 037. Claiming fivevictories across the World Rally Championship, with chassis 301 taking two ofthese, earnt Lancia it’s fifth World Championship.
Post-factory Competition
After a hugelysuccessful factory competition life, this 037 was sold in February 1984 toGiuseppe Volta, owner of Officina Volta who also worked with Abarth during theproduction of the Evo 1 037’s. As noted on the Italian registration documentationaccompanying this car, including the original Italian Libretto confirming FiatAuto Spa as first owners, the car next moved to Corrado Tiziano in Veneto,Italy in July 1983.
It appears thatTiziano, although a regular Lancia Rally 037 competitor himself, leased the carto La Bamba Competition in Spain, maintaining the Italian registration. Thedriver was Manuel ‘ElVaquero’ Rodriguez, a regular competitor in his Opel Ascona across Spain, withthe first event being the Rally Villa de Teror on the Canary Islands inSeptember 1985. Wearing race number 0, El Vaquero and 301 finished 5thoverall.
For the1986 season, El Vaquero used 301 on five occasions throughout Spain, starting atthe Rally Isla de Gran Canaria, with a second-place finish. Anothersecond-place finish followed in May at the Rally Ciudad de Telda, a sixth-placefinish at the Rally El Corte Ingles in June before a second-place finishrounded out the year at the Rally Villa de Teror in September. For this event,the car was painted in a striking green with maroon front bumper and lowersides, with an orange bonnet and roof, certainly catching the eye of theSpanish people who loved the car!
El Vaquero was clearlyenjoying using this 037, continuing to compete with the car throughout the 1987and 1988 seasons, before Group B cars were banned from competition. Thehighlight result from the final two years of competition was victory at the1988 Rally Isla de Gran Canaria.
Post Competition
1990 saw chassis 301registered to rally car team and specialists, Leader Srl in Treviso, Italy. Thiscar remained registered to Leader Srl until 1993, at which point it was transferredto Mrs Radda Borsato, also a resident in Treviso, Italy, and along with TizianoCorrada, formed part of the same family which owned Leader Srl.
Mrs Radda Borsatomaintained ownership of this very special 037 for 17 years, before Ms Ana Gonibought it with the assistance of David Sutton. The car was displayed at the SanMarco Fiat dealership, Renzo Sernagiotto, which was owned by Mrs Radda Borsato,with the car having remained in this family ownership since being bought byCorrado Tiziano in 1984! Interestingly, Ms Ana Goni was also co-driver for StigBlomqvist in the World Rally Championship.
Under Ms Ana Goni’sownership this car was prominently displayed at the David Sutton Museum, alsobeing featured in EVO Magazine before passing through an American owner whokept the car in the David Sutton Museum. In 2009 the current owner purchasedthe car and quickly set about returning it to its original Evo 1 specification.As with many rally cars, over the years the car had been upgraded to the newestspecification, but this owner rightly returned the car to the specification inwhich it won the 1983 Rallye Sanremo.
Recently, this veryimportant 037 has returned to Turin, where the famed ex-Abarth mechanics, Elioand Giovanni Baldi have serviced and inspected it. The car has also beeninspected and certified by Abarth Classiche. We have also spoken with theLancia Rally 037 project leader, Mr Sergio Limone, who confirmed “This was the‘official’ test car of the Abarth R&D department, managed by myself.”
With Group B carsbecoming increasingly admired and respected in the classic car world, theLancia 037 holds a very special place in World Rally history, being the finalrear-wheel drive car to win the World Rally Championship. Enroute to claimingthe 1983 World Rally Championship, Lancia Martin Racing claimed victory in fiveevents with the 037, with this actual car being the only 037 to ever win twoWorld Rallies, both in the 1983 Championship-winning season!
All LanciaMartini Racing 037’s are special, but when we consider chassis 301 is the mostsuccessful 037 in World Rallying, on top of its amazing history as the Abarthresearch & development car, and having been driven by Champions Walter Röhrl and Markku Alén, along with Abarth developmentdriver Giorgio Pianta, this really is an opportunity not to be missed.
Price Upon Application
