A close-up look at the rare Lancia LC1 racer ...

[Wouter Melissen]

For a brief period during the 1950s, Lancia built some of the finest sports racers like the D24 Sport. However, the investment needed to develop and build these cars had brought the company on the verge of bankruptcy. Now under Fiat ownership, Lancia did return to racing but focused mainly on rallying with production based machinery for the following two decades. That changed dramatically at the end of the 1970s when the all-conquering Beta Monte Carlo hit the track. Whereas this 'Group 5' machine was still based on a road going model, the subsequent Lancia LC1, introduced in 1982, was a proper purpose-built 'Group 6' prototype racer. The two cars did share the same diminutive four cylinder engine, which displaced just 1.4 litre but thanks to a KKK turbo did produce as much as 460 bhp in qualifying trim. All new was the lightweight aluminium monocoque chassis, clothed in a very slippery body. At first glance it seemed that Lancia's timing was way off as Group 6 was replaced by Group C in 1982, it could very well be that Lancia deliberately chose to explore the interim regulations intended to ensure full grids. Either way, it worked out quite well as the LC1 proved blisteringly quick and was only let down by numerous mechanical issues. In the year that the Porsche 956 debuted, the car nevertheless scored three pole positions and won three races in the eight-race World Endurance Championship. Rendered obsolete, the spider was replaced by the all-new LC2 in 1983. The surviving LC1s were converted to coupes by a privateer effort but in Group C specification had lost their edge.
Fortunately all three cars were returned soon after to the Lancia factory where they were restored to their proper Group 6 configuration complete with the ever appealing Martini livery before they were sold to collectors. Over the years we have managed to capture each of the surviving chassis, resulting in this 18-shot gallery, which illustrates a detailed model history complemented by a closer look at the individual chassis.

Enjoy the links:

1982 Lancia LC1 - Images, Specifications and Information