|
|
|
|
|
It's a genuine Lancia Strato's Dino V6 From the Cam covers it looks like a 4 valve motor as the 2 Valve had a more "separate" conventional looking cover In the photos above the left is the 4V and the right is a 2V Rallycross car, four-valve per cylinder engine... surely that must be the Stratos which Andy Bentza, an Austrian, used to race to remarkably good effect in the European Rallycross Championship. Quite a legend (both Bentza and the car, actually). If I remember correctly that car was comprehensively restored not so long ago. For the 1978 (or so) rally season Lancia did not manage the homologation of the 24 valve heads nor the straight-cut gearbox in Group 4, so Bentza kept putting them to very good use afterward. (Something similar and exactly at the same time happened to the Chevette HS, if I recall) Four-valve heads were good for 300+ bhp, allegedly... |
| |
|
|
|
|
Darkspeed
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,878
Club RR Member Number: 39
|
|
|
|
That RetroPower Stratos - which I am sure had a mention of a €330K price tag - made its way onto eBay at £200K but did not stay on there for very long.  It's still for sale on the vendors website for the same money - A very individual car. For me the homage to the original Zero makes this car neither one thing or the other - Doesn't work for me at all - Losing the rear spoiler and louvres..  ..together with changing the front louvres - losing the roof spoiler - Not for me And sitting in the car just looking at this!  |
| |
|
|
teaboy
Posted a lot
Make tea, not war.
Posts: 2,125
|
|
|
|
|
Yes, I think it’s horrible.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"We had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little, we went insane."
Francis Ford Coppola, on the shooting of Apocalypse Now in the Philippines.
The difference being that Apocalypse Now is a masterpiece.
|
| |
|
|
Darkspeed
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,878
Club RR Member Number: 39
|
|
|
|
I was having a look at the details on the car and came upon this naughty little secret...    Its less obvious than the supercharger itself |
| |
Last Edit: Feb 6, 2024 21:58:30 GMT by Darkspeed
|
|
logicaluk
Posted a lot
Every days a school day round here
Posts: 1,373
|
|
|
|
|
The only thing that stands out to me is the naff looking air filter, I believe it's got a ducted feed, but it seems a bit poor, considering the attention to detail of the rest of the car.
Not one of their best builds.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No idea what that dirty little secret might be, unfortunately.
But I've been wondering if putting a supercharger atop the engine (basically at the same height as the head of the driver, probably even higher)... doesn't that mess up with the CoG - as in a lot? To be added to the weight of the 24V valvetrain, which is also quite highly placed.
I seem to remember that one of the problems with the first Clio V6 (apart from the fact that it had been done on the cheap by TWR) was all that weight so high up.
Still, a build I don't quite understand. Probably spending a third less than what it cost would have resulted in a nicer car, provided those monies were spent correctly.
Also, I think I'd find the powertrain much more interesting if it had been a real Volumex coupled to a proper Lampredi 16V twincam. Granted, emissions-wise it would have been a disaster, and that might pose a problem if it were ever to be exported.
|
| |
|
|
jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,221 
|
|
|
|
|
Looks like a squashed K&N intake filter and a charge cooler.
The louvres and exhaust look naff, lack of spoiler just looks wrong and that dash/interior is just plain boring.
I've loved the Stratos since it first appeared in the early seventies and that's possibly the worst interpretation of a Stratos I've seen (including all the 70/80's kit car versions) it does nothing for me 🙁
apologies the contravention of the M.O. with negative comments
|
| |
Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To be fair, the Stratos wasn't originally designed with louvres or spoilers and I'm doubtful that Mr Gandini would have been particularly enthusiastic about either, but it is what it is. I agree about that back window looking very strange on the rr car though. Also the side scoops they made behind the side windows. Was that really your best solution? Just totally angular?  |
| |
Last Edit: Feb 7, 2024 8:43:08 GMT by horrido
|
|
misteralz
Posted a lot
I may drive a Volkswagen, but I'm scene tax exempt!
Posts: 2,494
|
|
|
|
|
Hearts of Darkness is way better than Apocalypse Now.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To be fair, the Stratos wasn't originally designed with louvres or spoilers and I'm doubtful that Mr Gandini would have been particularly enthusiastic about either, but it is what it is. I agree about that back window looking very strange on the rr car though. Also the side scoops they made behind the side windows. Was that really your best solution? Just totally angular? I particularly like the Day-Glo prototype (which, IIRC, at some stage even had a four-cyllinder bialbero engine) and for the life of me I cannot understand why they didn't follow its subtle styling cues: for example, the rear lights, the lengthwise slats for the radiator, the lack of aero appendages, and so on and so on. Fascinating as the Zero is, the production Stratos is an altogether different... everything. Trying to conflate it with the production design was bound for disaster. Horrido, I am not so sure the louvres were done without Gandini's blessing. He was deeply involved in the whole development of the car. I briefly interviewed him many years ago (by fax!) and he was particularly proud of his involvement in the project and the end result – precisely because it also entailed so many engineering considerations. Not so sure about the little spoilers, but I imagine he was also consulted on those. Let's not forget that Bertone, the company, not only penned the lines; they also built the cars. Back to the "Volumex HF", it breaks my heart criticising harshly something in which so many people must have poured their hearts and efforts, it really does. I blame an overambitious goal, possibly with a fair, unhealthy share of scope creep and an ill-advised customer who was willling to pay no matter what. As always, the KISS principle clearly applies here. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hearts of Darkness is way better than Apocalypse Now. I haven't seen it yet, unfortunately, but I have heard it is quite wonderful indeed. Coppola's quote is well known outside the documentary, however. (Sorry folks for the OT digression.) Back to our scheduled programming... Now, Mr Darkspeed, what's the dirtly little secret hiding in plain view? |
| |
|
|
misteralz
Posted a lot
I may drive a Volkswagen, but I'm scene tax exempt!
Posts: 2,494
|
|
|
|
|
I know - it's sampled by Unkle. My quote came from Community.
|
| |
|
|
Darkspeed
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,878
Club RR Member Number: 39
|
|
|
|
Now, Mr Darkspeed, what's the dirty little secret hiding in plain view? The large chunk of upper chassis rail they have removed to feed the blower drive through! For a big budget build it has not been done that well. The Stratos does not have a heated rear screen - This one has a heated front screen that means you do not have to fit the screen demist ventilation and the best they could do is....  That says...  The folded tin ducts on the side are woeful and the use of Aerocatches ! still with the red anodised pillars - Not sure they were a zero feature. Those exhaust tips - then again I have never understood why Simpson are so highly regarded - The rolled up seat belt webbing that would be smacking you in the neck - just buy the right ones. The fit of the boot lid.. For a "showpiece" the list of issues is considerable - let alone what may have gone on under the skin if chopping lumps out of the chassis is an acceptable practice. What a folly. |
| |
Last Edit: Feb 7, 2024 17:24:59 GMT by Darkspeed
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Horrido, I am not so sure the louvres were done without Gandini's blessing. He was deeply involved in the whole development of the car. I briefly interviewed him many years ago (by fax!) and he was particularly proud of his involvement in the project and the end result – precisely because it also entailed so many engineering considerations. Not so sure about the little spoilers, but I imagine he was also consulted on those. Let's not forget that Bertone, the company, not only penned the lines; they also built the cars. That's so great that you got to talk to him. I was really thinking about an interview I watched between Gandini and Davide Cironi on Youtube. Gandini seemed like such a nice, modest guy. I seem to remember that he said something about "well, what happens after it goes into production is no longer my concern" with a bit of a shrug. |
| |
Last Edit: Feb 8, 2024 9:04:44 GMT by horrido
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Retropower's other work looks good, I think this is more of a client with odd whims dictating some of the solutions. Having said that the interior is really horrible but I think they were aiming for this style  |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 17, 2024 15:54:09 GMT
|
|
Of course there is a supercharged Alfa motor in the back of another Stratos replica, the installation of which did not involve and chassis surgery. To the best of my knowledge anyway.
This is absolutely diabolical. Well spotted DS.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 17, 2024 15:55:33 GMT
|
Of course there is a supercharged Alfa motor in the back of another Stratos replica, the installation of which did not involve any chassis surgery. To the best of my knowledge anyway. This is absolutely diabolical. Well spotted DS. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 18, 2024 11:30:09 GMT
|
lots of talk of other stratos replicas and the way their builds have been done we all like different things which is good , just thought i’d mention the thing that has turned up on ebay stratos body on an mr2! the thing |
| |
Last Edit: Feb 18, 2024 12:28:51 GMT by redratbike
|
|
Darkspeed
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,878
Club RR Member Number: 39
|
|
Feb 18, 2024 12:52:29 GMT
|
|
Yes well, that thing... probably the less said about it the better. And most of the conversations in this thread have been limited to Litton, CAE, Napier, Corse S and I and the Lister Bell LB replicas which have a DNA. Having a close relationship to my build as its a Litton / Lister Bell hybrid. Plus we can throw in some discussion about the original and the inspiration but an MR2 with some cast off LB panels is a subject for somewhere else.
Anyway - I looked at mine today ! Still where I left it.
|
| |
|
|
