Lancia Fulvia // Bringing the Staff Together

The staff here at ColdTrackDays is a bit torn on their opinions of rally racing. Some find it boring, missing that wheel to wheel, fender to fender grudge match stuff. Others, deem rally racing one of the most difficult and interesting forms of motorsports, pitting not just man against machines, but man man against time, speed, distance and of course the elements. Though we may not all agree, we are all fans of Italian made cars, so in keeping with that, here is one of our collected favorites. The Lancia Fulvia. Built and raced between 1965 and 1974, the Fulvia 1.6 HF was the most famous and certainly the most capable of the Fulvia's. With a 1.6 liter in-line four, dual carbs and 165bhp, the front drive Fulvia made itself known in the rally world from its introduction. Being the only successful front drive car for nearly twenty years, the Fulvia 1.6 HF was driven to victory by Sandro Monari at the 1972 Rally of Monte Carlo. The Fulvia's biggest rival was the Renault Alpine, and though it was not a consistent champion, the Fulvia 1.6 HF paved the way for future front drive rally cars. Competing until 1974, the Lancia was throughly beaten by its bigger, meaner, older brother, the Lancia Stratos HF (bottom video). The styling, it's storied race history, and being a rare and difficult car to come across, make the Lancia Fulvia a ColdTrackDays favorite, that and I am the rally fan... // 07.02.2008