At the height of it's success in the middle of the decade, Lancia put forward plans to build a racing version of the car for the 1976 season, convinced it would be able to win in the newly created Group 5 Silhouette formula. Development took place under the guidance of Stratos chief engineer Mike Parkes.
A turbocharged version of the V6 engine had already been tried in the rally car and this was adopted for the racer. The engine was further developed in collaboration with Carlo Facetti's tuning outfit. The maximum power output was raised to 560 bhp.
More astonishing was the chassis and new aerodynamic bodywork created by Bertone. The wheelbase was lenghthed by some 150mm from the road car and it featured a dramatically extended rear tail section. Every piece of the car was unique and it carried the fuel tanks in the door sills!
Although two of the Marlboro-liveried Silhouette cars were produced, only one example was entered for the first two races of the World Championship in 1976. At Mugello in March the Facetti/Brambilla car (no. 21) failed to start the race after catching fire in practice. With it's small dimensions and tight-fitting bodywork, overheating had been a familiar problem with the Stratos rally car and it was no suprise the turbocharged Stratos Gr 5 racer would suffer similar problems. In April, the same car ran again in the 6 hours race at Vallelunga but retired after gearbox problems. |
