Known as the “silhouette” cars for their completely deformed silhouettes to improve performance, these cars had small 4-cylinder engines but exceeded 500 horsepower.
In order for Lancia to compete under the FIA World Championship Group 5 rules, Abarth was responsible for transforming the Lancia Beta Monte Carlo street into a silhouette car. The racing Turbo version mounted a small 4-cylinder engine of 1,425 cm3 ahead of the rear axle in a transverse position, with a KKK turbocharger.
While Group 5 category allowed engines up to 2,000 cm3, turbocharged boosters could not exceed 1,428 cm3. In this way, the FIA tried to maintain parity between the different mechanical configurations.
Subsequently, a new twin-turbo engine of 1,773 cm3 and 522 horsepower was developed. The goal was to compete with the superior Porsches, although Lancia did not succeed with this purpose.
Returning to the description of the 1,425 cm3 engine, with its 473 hp it was able to compete with cars with larger displacement. One of the advantages of the Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo was its weight. With a fiberglass body designed by Pininfarina, the total weight of the car was around 780 kilograms.
It should be noted that the impeller was just a part of a very well developed car. The steel chassis turned out to be extremely rigid and lightweight. The Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo accelerated from 0 100 km/h in just 3.6 seconds and reached a top speed of 270 km/h.
The Lancia Beta Montecarlo was 4,600 mm long, 1,990 mm wide and barely 2,300 mm between axles. In total, 15 competition units were built, 11 models with 1,425 cm3 engines and only 4 units equipped with the twin-turbo engine.
In 1980, Lancia was dominant since the beginning of the competitions. With the exception of the inaugural race at Daytona, Lancia scored 9 consecutive wins in his class. Thus they obtained the second World title of Group 5.
The 1981 season would again have Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo as Group 5 Champion under 2,000 cm3, with six valuable victories. Even the Italian brand holds a record to have once defeated top class cars such as the Porsche 935 K3, which had twice the engine capacity and power.
Subsequently, the regulatory changes of the FIA led to the creation of “Group C”, which is why Lancia had to set aside Beta Montecarlo to develop its LC1 and LC2 prototypes.
© Adrián Blanco 2008 - Prohibited the total or partial reproduction of text and/or images without explicit written consent of the author. —
