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Films:
1974 Lancia Stratos Group 4: Sliding The Rally Queen
How wonderful that such a gorgeous design can win the European championship so many decades after it was designed. Obviously a masterpiece. What a cool dude, clearly a professional at the top of his game yet such a nice guy. Stunning videography. A piece of art both the film and the car. Thank you Petrolicious p
Comas uses a phrase in French, “la bete à gagner”, which he says is is a name used to describe this car. Then Comas says that he prefers the English name for the car which is ‘the rally queen’. But la bete à gagner is different. It means quite literally, the beast that wins. I do better with la bete à gagner.
I was stupefied by “the handling is perfect”,.
I remembered that Sandro Munari used to say of the beast that “You can drive the same road, do the same thing in the ame place, and time and again it will react in a different way”, so I thought that the Stratos were fast, effective but also quite moody.
Apparently, They just needed to be set up well…
Personally, I also love- a lot – the successor of the Stratos, the Rally 037.
It, too, was a car designed from the ground up to race – of the Beta Montercarlo it supposedly spawn it was kept only one of the engine bay’s walls, in the end – and every bit as beautiful.
One of the most evocative designs of any era. There is no mistaking the lines of this car and add to it the sound of that superb Ferrari V6 you have a match made in heaven. I ache to own one of these machines and it remains a part of my “wish” list. I’ve heard and read they can be a handful to drive given the short wheelbase but its obvious from the video Mr, Comas retains all the skills necessary to tame the beast. Few cars can match what this car was designed to do and to do it with such style and sound pulls one in to its spell. Great video and thank you Franz for you additional offering.
How can a car be this ugly (by today’s manufacturers’ standards) and yet be so beautiful? When every cell in your body screams for more of this creature you realize that humans may have lost their way and replaced beauty with garnish.
But then PETROLICIOUS comes to the rescue and restores my faith in human kind. BRAVO!!! I have tears in my eyes.
