The World Lancia Stratos Meeting Is Exactly As Incredible As It Sounds

Photography by Rosario Liberti

While many of the world’s enthusiasts were sunning themselves at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK, a small but significant cache of Lancia Stratos cars and owners joined in Biella, Italy, for the Zenith El Primero World Stratos Meeting. Which event would you have taken precedent in your calendar?

Here, photographer Rosario Liberti is able to make a compelling case for spending the day oogling Marcello Gandini’s rally-bred masterpiece, the Stratos. Its design is most closely aligned with a wedge of cheese, but its Ferrari-derived V6 engine and ludicrously short wheelbase helped push the car to the top of the World Rally Championship.

They’re still as sought-after, only now there are events like the World Stratos Meeting that honor the 40th anniversary of the car winning the World Rally Championship. Biella is near the place one of its engineers, designers, and test drivers, the late in life (but not on the road) Claudio Maglioli perfected the car. These days, the goal is to share the car, so that others can revel in what a special machine the Stratos is.

From the recently-made “modern” Stratos’—powered by Ferrari V8s—to how the original cars had a space in the doors for rally headphones, it’s a car equally impressive sliding sideways on a WRC stage. Whether your interest in the car is for its mechanical prowess, rally wins, or sheer audacity, Rosario’s been able to find a few angles to get us all thinking.

H/T to World Stratos Meeting