Lancia 037 Rally sponsored by Martini Racing - Tour de Corse 1984
Car scale model kit in 1/24 scale manufactured by Hasegawa (ref. 25030, also 4967834252301 and CR-30)

The Lancia 037 was born from a joint collaboration between Pininfarina, Dallara and Abarth at the beginning of the 1980s. The name of the 037 comes from the fact that the project carried out by Abarth, a company belonging to the FIAT group, was number 37. The street version of the Lancia 037, the Lancia Rally, of which 200 units were manufactured to achieve Group B homologation, was presented at the Turin Motor Show in 1982. The Lancia Rally was built based on the passenger compartment of the chassis of the Lancia Montecarlo Spider, chosen before the coupé version, since the idea was to use a reinforced fiber roof in the Gr.B variant. The engine is a 2.0 four-cylinder, derived from the one used in the Fiat 131 Abarth (winner in its Gr.4 version of five World Rally Championships, two for Drivers and three for Manufacturers), capable of generating a power of 205 CV, reaching a maximum speed of 220 km/h and with an acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in less than 7” thanks to the help of a volumetric compressor. The competition version raises that power to 260 hp (until the 1000 Lakes rally in 1982), a value that rises to 275/280 until 1983 (except for the 1983 Monte Carlo rally, where it reaches 310 hp). The turning point for the Lancia 037 came in 1983, when the Turin sports car won the World Championship for Makes (being the last single-axle-drive world champion in history) with a two-point advantage over Audi, which was already exploiting the advantage of having four-wheel drive. During that season the Lancia 037 achieved a series of surprising victories: one-two in Monte Carlo with Walter Röhrl and Marku Alén, four cars in the top four positions in the Tour de Corse with Alén, Röhrl and Adartico Vudafieri on the podium, one-two for Röhrl and Alén at the Acropolis, first and third place in New Zealand with Röhrl and Attilio Bettega and a podium monopolized by Lancia in Sanremo with Alén, Röhrl and Bettega. From 1984, with the appearance of the EVO II, the displacement was increased to 2.1 liters and the double-body carburettor feeding was replaced by a more modern injection system, but the only victory that season (and the last of the 037 in the world championship) arrived at the Tour de Corse, with the double achieved by Alén and Biasión. Lancia was already preparing its four-wheel drive model, the Lancia Delta S4. Among the victories obtained by 037, we must not forget the three consecutive European titles conquered between 1983 and 1985 by Miki Biasion, Carlo Capone and Dario Cerrato respectively. In addition to the 53 cars used over the years by the official Racing Department, most of the other 037s were used by teams and private owners in many competitions.