What a wonderful racing car. The exterior shape is really unique and special and the Martini paintwork is simply beautiful.
The Lancia Beta Montecarlo is largely based on the Fiat project X1/8 and X1/20, it is a sports car with a kind of hatchback and with an engine that was mounted in the centre of the car. The body of the Lancia Beta Montecarlo was designed, engineered and manufactured by Pininfarina. The Beta Montecarlo is the first production car in which Pininfarina was so extensively involved. The man responsible for Pininfarina was Paolo Martin.
The Beta Montecarlo was presented to the public in 1975 on the occasion of the forty-fifth Geneva Motor Show. It was the fifth Lancia model in the Beta series. The body of the Beta Montecarlo had a high proportion of plastic parts, especially the all-round ‘front mask’, which was matt black at the factory. The rear window was positioned vertically behind the seats and there is a kind of triangular fin on the sides that leads to the rear, giving the Beta Montecarlo a hatchback look. This design element is somewhat reminiscent of the Ferrari Dino 208.
When Lancia’s parent company, Fiat, decided in the mid-seventies to replace the Lancia Stratos, which had dominated the World Rally Championship, with the Fiat 131, Lancia Corse, with its engineering and racing expertise, needed a new field of activity.
The decision was made in favour of Group 5 racing cars and a suitable base model was quickly found – the Lancia Beta Montecarlo. Although the performance of the engine was not outstanding in the production configuration, the Beta Montecarlo still had a mid-engine, which made further development into a competitive Group 5 racing car considerably easier.
At this time, the designers in Group 5 were very free, only the doors and the roof had to be taken over from the production car. It was the time of the so-called ‘Silhouette Formula’. For the realisation of this project, they worked together with Giampaolo Dallara, who designed a completely new chassis that met the requirements of endurance racing. There was independent McPherson suspension all round and, above all, plenty of space for the hugely wide tyres.
Pininfarina was again asked to design the body. Although they were not known for designing racing cars, they had their own wind tunnel so that they were technically capable of solving this complex task.
The result was this breathtakingly beautiful and brutal bodywork with absolutely unique lines. Not much was recognisable from the original Beta Montecarlo, although the front still had that slightly too angular appearance.
With the support of Abarth, the engine was downsized to 1425 cm3 and then fitted with a proven KKK turbocharger. With the help of the turbocharger, the original 118 hp became 370 hp at a boost pressure of 1.2 bar.
The Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo was finally presented in December 1978. However, it took until May of the following year before this fantastic racing car could be driven in a race for the first time. The Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo was extremely fast right from the start and, despite initial technical failures, was able to bring the one-make world championship in the under 2-litre displacement class to Turin at the end of 1979. Among others, there were such great driver pairings as Gilles Villeneuve and Walter Röhrl.
The following year, Lancia successfully defended its world championship title in the World Endurance Championship and also won the German Touring Car Championship with Hans Heyer.
I had the pleasure of experiencing this extraordinary racing car once at Spa Francorchamps at a historic motorsport event. In the Martini livery, the Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo is simply beautiful. The side view in particular is spectacular. The front is extremely flat and features a huge wing, while the rear, with its oversized wing extensions and the elegantly curved rear overhang on which the rear wing is mounted, has an almost brutal look. But basically, the Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo is extreme and unique when viewed from all sides. Find out more about our photographer Ralph Lüker.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
MODEL Beta Montecarlo
TYPE FORMULA Group 5 Race Car
YEAR OF PRODUCTION 1979 – 1981
NUMBER OF BUILT CARS 11
ENGINE 4 cylinder in a row, mid mounted
CUBIC CAPACITY 1425 cc
BORE 82,1 mm
STROKE 67,5 mm
CARBURETOR 3 x Weber 42 DCO3
FUEL FEED Electronic Bosch injection
TURBOCHARGED KKK-K27
POWER OUTPUT 420 hp at 8500 rpm
TORQUE 382nm at 6000 rpm
TRANSMISSION 5-speed + reverse gearbox
CHASSIS Monocoque with supporting frames for the suspensions
SUSPENSION Front and Rear independent with double wishbones
BRAKES disc brakes all around
WHEELS Front 10,0 x 15 , Rear 13,5 x 19
TYRES Front 255/35 VR 15, Rear 325/35 VR 19
FRONT ANDE REAR TRACK 1440mm / 1570 mm
WHEELBASE 2300 mm
LENGHT 4600 mm
WIDTH 1990 mm
HEIGHT 1176 mm
DRY WEIGHT 780 kg
MAX. SPEED 270 km/h
ACCELERATION 0 – 100 km/h 3,8 sec
