The Lancia Delta S4 Corsa Group B

What is there to say about the Lancia Delta S4 which hasn’t been said before? In its full-fat Martini-liveried Group B guise, it took fearless and charismatic drivers such as Henri Toivonen and Markku Alén to another dimension of performance. And as a road car, it pioneered twin-charging, an innovation we take for granted nowadays, and proudly showed that road-going Group B homologation specials were not the poorly-built bodge-jobs they’d earned a reputation as being.

It’s wise to outline the popularity of rallying in the 1980s. A kaleidoscopic explosion of speed, noise and very real, very imminent danger, Group B deservedly drew a greater number of viewers than Formula 1. That’s why, despite the inherent risks, automotive brands could warrant funnelling enormous amounts of money into their WRC programmes, which were oriented around their otherwise modest cars you could find in the showrooms.

It’s also why, from a commercial point of view, Lancia (which, let’s not forget, was representing Italy on the world stage) simply had to up its game in 1985 if it wanted to win another title. The dominant success of 1983 was but a distant memory and Audi and Peugeot had proven that powering all four wheels was a quicker means of sending a rally car down a special stage than just two, a la 037 Rally. Decisive action was needed. In a bid to revive its incredible sporting heritage, Lancia greenlit the blank-sheet development of the 037’s new four-wheel-drive Group B successor, based loosely on the flagship Delta HF Turbo.

Christened the Delta S4, it trod a technological path very different to its rivals. The development was entrusted entirely to Abarth, whose creative, bullish and trailblazing engineers poured their everything into the project. Suffice to say, there was not a plan B.

In the mid-1980s, newfangled technology such as four-wheel drive and electronic ignition was in its infancy and Lancia’s competitors had stolen a march. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But without the knowledge to even copy its competitors, Abarth was forced to innovate. And innovate it most certainly did.

The Lancia Delta S4 Stradale was the first car to be ‘twin-charged’, that is fitted with both a supercharger and a turbocharger to better distribute the engine’s torque and reduce lag. It boasted an incredibly clever electronic injection and ignition – genuine Formula 1 technology at the time. The car’s spaceframe chassis was designed by computer. And the four-wheel-drive system was operated by three differentials. The result was a car which pushed the technological envelope to its boundaries and, frankly, made the ‘latest and greatest’ supercars from the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini look antiquated.

Following a 34-month development period and what can only be described as some wishful counting on the part of the FIA officials, the Delta S4 was homologated on 1 November 1985 with the code DGM51831OM. Said code was displayed on the chassis plate in the door sills of the Stradale.

A few short weeks later, Lancia Martini Racing’s drivers Henri Toivonen and Markku Alén vanquished the opposition to score a one-two victory in the Lombard RAC Rally of Great Britain, the S4’s competitive debut. To put the rally car’s astonishing performance into context, an S4 turned a lap of Brands Hatch during a special stage which would have put it halfway up that year’s Formula 1 grid. It was an extremely encouraging result for the marque, which looked to be in good stead ahead of its 1986 WRC campaign.

As the 1986 season campaign panned out and Lancia’s new weapon emerged superior, so tragedy struck on the mountainous French isle of Corsica when Henri Toivonen and his co-driver Sergio Cresta perished after leaving the road in their Delta S4. “This rally is insane,” the Finn was reported to have complained just hours before the accident. “If there is trouble, for sure, I am completely finished.” It was a tragic precursor to a devastating loss.

Perhaps inevitably given the ferocious speeds and hopeless crowd control, Group B was canned by the FIA shortly after the Tour de Corse. Audi and Ford withdrew immediately, while Peugeot and Lancia continued in what was a season marred by tragedy. Notably, a Delta S4 won the season-closing Olympus Rally in the United States – the very last international round of Group B rallying.

This Lancia Delta S4 Corsa Group B

If you’re a longstanding follower of our Instagram or Facebook social media channels, you’ll have seen this menacing Lancia before. Well, at least in part.

Around 18 months ago, we were charged by an American client with managing the comprehensive restoration of this Delta S4 to full-fat Corsa Group B specification. And we’ve been documenting every step of the process for our followers to see (if that’s not the kind of incentive you need to start following us, then we don’t know what is!).

The renowned Italian Lancia rally car experts Elio and Giovanni Baldi were the specialists chosen to undertake the exhaustive project. That the twins operate from the Girardo & Co. Italia facility in Turin meant we could keep truly abreast of the restoration from start to finish and arrange for the process to be captured in its entirety by our professional photographer on the ground in Italy Andrea Luzardi.

The brief from the outset was not only to restore the car to absolute authentic Group B specifications, but also to make a number of thoughtful and discreet modifications in order to make this S4 safer to use on a regular basis – exactly as its new owner intends to do. A small number of carefully positioned protective heat shields have been installed in the engine bay, for example, in order to better manage temperatures and reduce the risk of fire.

The stealthy and sinister shade of black wasn’t chosen purely because it suits the mildly unhinged character of the Delta S4 to a tee. It was also an ode to ‘Mazinger’. Allow us to explain. The Lancia Delta S4’s heart is where the headlines were really written. Designated with the type number 233 ATR 18S, the engine’s development preceded the completion of the chassis. As a result, the powerplant was installed in a crudely modified Lancia 037 Rally. The frankly terrifying contraption was dubbed ‘Mazinga’ in Turin after the famous Japanese Manga character.

The S4 was – and remains – the ultimate Group B weapon. It’s an embodiment of all that was once great about the daring and innovative Lancia marque.  It was the most technically advanced rally car of all time, born into an era when resources were near-limitless and the performance envelope was pushed so far it had to be curtailed. The sport will never be the same.

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