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Hello to all, thought id do a thread on my favorite car of all time, the lancia delta S4.
The delta S4 in full tarmac trim
The delta S4 was constructed under the group B rules of world rallying. It came after the 037 lancia that was a rear wheel drive car, and was built as a reaction to the audi quattros total domination.
The 037 in road trim
It featured a full spaceframe, mid-engined four wheel drive, and a turbo-supercharged engine. This was lancias answer to turbo lag, something that the audi suffered from very badly. Due to the monsterous outputs of the group B engines the turbocharger size was usually very large to supply enough air, and this caused excessive lag. Lancia placed a supercharger driving off of the engines crank at the rear of the engine, this was accompanied by a bypass valve that would open as soon at the turbocharger came on boost.
The delta S4 engine showing the bypass valve above the supercharger. The rear differential can also be seen below the supercharger.
The deltas closest rival was the peugeot T16 evo, but even this car could not compete against the mighty Delta S4. The engine was mounted in a transverse manner, and so gave the car strange torque reactions when jumping, meaning that the car would nose dive everytime. The engine also had to sit over to one side, giving the car an uneven weight distribution, this often resulted in blown dampers on the drivers side.
The delta S4 drive-train, mid engined, with even weight distribution. They also incorporated double dampers at the rear to cope with the heat generated on a stage.
Group B was banned late 1986, the cars starting to cost too much, and the lives of the drivers and spectators being at too higher risk
By the time that the group B class was banned by the FIA the car were reputedly putting out 700bhp on toulene based fuels. There are also rumours of over 1000bhp and roll cages pressurised with nitrous, this would also explain why henri toivanen's crash was quite so bad, and there was so little left of the car after the fire.
At the time that group B was banned the FIA had a new class ready to debut, group S. This had even fewer rules than group B, the designers could really go crazy! A lot more manufacturers wanted to get invloved aswell, toyota, mazda, opel, aswell as all the teams involed with group B.
Lancia came up with the ECV - experimental composite vehicle. This was a car that resembled the S4 but was entirely composite, the wheels, driveshafts, body, chassis. They also designed a totally new engine that used two turbochargers staged to alleviate lag problems.
The ECV
Lancia then followed this up with the ECV 2, playing on the rules even more to provide a radical solution and even more power, this car was putting out 750bhp with very little development, and a whole lot less weight than the original delta S4.
Heres a few nice pictures and videos of the delta S4, in my mind one of the best cars ever built, ingenuity and engineering at its best.
a short clip of a delta S4 accelerating
www.zippyvideos.com/3300671961809806/s4/
This is a clip of Bruno Ianello in his hillclimb delta S4, this thing sounds amazing, turn it up!
www.zippyvideos.com/4550566621810246/rechberg_2003_ianiello/
Cheers guys, i apologise for the long post, I'm ill, so not doing much apart from keeping warm!
J
The delta S4 in full tarmac trim
The delta S4 was constructed under the group B rules of world rallying. It came after the 037 lancia that was a rear wheel drive car, and was built as a reaction to the audi quattros total domination.
The 037 in road trim
It featured a full spaceframe, mid-engined four wheel drive, and a turbo-supercharged engine. This was lancias answer to turbo lag, something that the audi suffered from very badly. Due to the monsterous outputs of the group B engines the turbocharger size was usually very large to supply enough air, and this caused excessive lag. Lancia placed a supercharger driving off of the engines crank at the rear of the engine, this was accompanied by a bypass valve that would open as soon at the turbocharger came on boost.
The delta S4 engine showing the bypass valve above the supercharger. The rear differential can also be seen below the supercharger.
The deltas closest rival was the peugeot T16 evo, but even this car could not compete against the mighty Delta S4. The engine was mounted in a transverse manner, and so gave the car strange torque reactions when jumping, meaning that the car would nose dive everytime. The engine also had to sit over to one side, giving the car an uneven weight distribution, this often resulted in blown dampers on the drivers side.
The delta S4 drive-train, mid engined, with even weight distribution. They also incorporated double dampers at the rear to cope with the heat generated on a stage.
Group B was banned late 1986, the cars starting to cost too much, and the lives of the drivers and spectators being at too higher risk
By the time that the group B class was banned by the FIA the car were reputedly putting out 700bhp on toulene based fuels. There are also rumours of over 1000bhp and roll cages pressurised with nitrous, this would also explain why henri toivanen's crash was quite so bad, and there was so little left of the car after the fire.
At the time that group B was banned the FIA had a new class ready to debut, group S. This had even fewer rules than group B, the designers could really go crazy! A lot more manufacturers wanted to get invloved aswell, toyota, mazda, opel, aswell as all the teams involed with group B.
Lancia came up with the ECV - experimental composite vehicle. This was a car that resembled the S4 but was entirely composite, the wheels, driveshafts, body, chassis. They also designed a totally new engine that used two turbochargers staged to alleviate lag problems.
The ECV
Lancia then followed this up with the ECV 2, playing on the rules even more to provide a radical solution and even more power, this car was putting out 750bhp with very little development, and a whole lot less weight than the original delta S4.
Heres a few nice pictures and videos of the delta S4, in my mind one of the best cars ever built, ingenuity and engineering at its best.
a short clip of a delta S4 accelerating
www.zippyvideos.com/3300671961809806/s4/
This is a clip of Bruno Ianello in his hillclimb delta S4, this thing sounds amazing, turn it up!
www.zippyvideos.com/4550566621810246/rechberg_2003_ianiello/
Cheers guys, i apologise for the long post, I'm ill, so not doing much apart from keeping warm!
J
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