{"id":16788,"date":"2024-04-05T07:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T10:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/?page_id=16788"},"modified":"2024-04-04T10:59:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T13:59:11","slug":"lancia-delta-hf-integrale-evo-4-spark","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/lancia-delta-hf-integrale-evo-4-spark\/","title":{"rendered":"Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evo #4 – Spark"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Evo<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
1992 Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evo #4<\/strong>\nPilots: D. Auriol \/ B. Occelli \nTeam: Martini Racing<\/em>\nRace: 1st overall (A8 class) at the Monte Carlo Rally 1992<\/strong>\nSpark - S9015 (resin)<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Published 04\/05\/24<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the Delta S4\u2019s gruesome history and the overall banning of Group B, Lancia needed a new rally car. Fortunately, the Italian brand had one ready: the regular Delta<\/strong> hatchback. In fact, the S4<\/a> looked like a regular Delta exactly to promote the hatchback\u2019s sales. Moreover, the 1986 version of the Delta was the HF 4WD<\/strong>, with its tried and true 2.0 liter engine and 4-wheel drive. With such a solid base, it was just a matter of tuning the engine, addressing safety issues and painting the car with war paint. The car wasn\u2019t perfect – after all, it was basically a pedestrian car, yet it was (much) better than the competition. With that, the Delta HF 4WD won the 1987 WRC. The following year, Lancia improved the HF 4WD into the Delta Integrale<\/strong>, and won again. The evolution continued, and in 1989 came the Integrale 16v<\/strong><\/a>, bringing another championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Truth be told, the Delta won the 1987 championship because there was no competition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The big difference between the new 16v and the previous Integrale (8v) was the engine. The Delta\u2019s 1995 cm\u00b3 inline-4<\/a> received a new 16 valves DOHC, permitting a smoother power curve. It also got a new and stronger 6-speed gearbox and more powerful brakes. The Delta Integrale 16v totally dominated the WRC, with Lancia taking home the championship in 1989, 1990 and 1991. Moreover, Lancia\u2019s pilots won the drivers\u2019 championship in 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1991. Despite the Integrale 16v\u2019s dominance, Toyota\u2019s Celica was catching up, so Lancia had to wise up. By then, Fiat, Lancia\u2019s parent company, gave the rally team a blank check, with orders to win no matter what. There was also speculation about Lancia stretching the rules, however nothing was ever proven. Nonetheless, all manufactures were doing so, with all cars easily over the 261 kW (300 hp) Group A limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Evo
By 1989, cars like the Toyota Celica GT-Four came to the scene to challenge the Delta.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
So for the 1992 championship Lancia introduced the Delta HF Integrale Evo<\/strong> (\u201cEvolution\u201d). The “Deltona”<\/em> or “Super Delta”<\/em>, as the Italian press called it, was an exponential evolution over the 16v. Though improvements were discreet, a lot of the car received tweaks producing meaningful results. The Evo got a stiffer body, with wider wheel arches for bigger wheels. Lancia also improved brakes, suspension and aerodynamics, and the car got a more powerful engine. With the improvements, the Evo became 5 to 6% faster than the 16v in all situations. The first race for the Evo was the Monte Carlo Rally, from January 23rd to 30th. Martini Racing arrived at Monaco with two cars, the Integrale Evo #4 and #1. Piloted by Didier Auriol and Bernard Occelli, the Evo #4 finished in first place<\/a> overall. At the end of the season, the Evo brought Lancia\u2019s  sixth consecutive championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Without of factory support, in 1993 the Evo\u2019s best result was second place on the Acropolis Rally.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately though, in 1993 Lancia terminated its factory involvement in the WRC. In fact, 1992 was the last year for a Lancia Factory team in rallying. The Integrale Evo continued to race nonetheless, yet in the hands of privateers, like the Jolly Club team. However, by the end of the year, with no technical improvements, it became obsolete, and retired for good. Without a doubt, by any standard, the Lancia Delta was one of the greatest rally cars of all times. It was the car with most wins in all the history of the WRC, making Lancia the most successful manufacturer. And with the success that the Delta achieved in the WRC, it\u2019s one of the most recognizable hatchbacks<\/a> ever made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Evo
Though you can find very nice Deltas from Ixo, for the Evo #4 Spark is the best option.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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With all that, the Delta is an important piece in a rally collection. Evo #4 here, being from Spark, is absolutely awesome in scale. Yet, the big issue with it is that it\u2019s hard to find and always expensive \ud83e\udd11. Even though I found mine for a \u201cgood\u201d price (or so-to-speak), it was far from cheap. The alternative is HPI, which is even more expensive, and Ixo. The Ixo version is an older mold, unhappily a far cry from their excellent current rally cars. So if you want the nicest version, it\u2019s either Spark or HPI, and both will always be rare and NOT cheap \ud83d\ude16. However, at least with the Spark version, what a sweet model! And for me at least, a Martini Delta from Spark was a grail \ud83d\ude0a.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1992 Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evo #4 Pilots: D. Auriol \/ B. Occelli Team: Martini Racing Race: 1st overall (A8 class) at the Monte Carlo Rally 1992 Spark – S9015 (resin) Published 04\/05\/24 With the Delta S4\u2019s gruesome history and the overall banning of Group B, Lancia needed a new rally car. Fortunately, the Italian … Continue reading “Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evo #4 – Spark”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16788","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16788"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17108,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16788\/revisions\/17108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}