Lancia Delta 4WD/Integrale

No sooner had the exciting, but increasingly dangerous, Group B rallying category been killed off in May 1986, than rally teams needed to develop new Group A cars. To be competitive, the cars would need four-wheel-drive, and engines producing at least 300bhp to bring them up to the notional limits imposed by the sport's governing body. Luckily for Lancia, the new 2-litre Delta HF4WD had just been launched, and formed an ideal basis for development.

This book tells how the HF 4WD evolved over the years – first into the Integrale with its original 8-valve engine, then the Integrale 16V, and ultimately into the Integrale 16V Evo 1 (or 'Deltona', as it was affectionately known). This compact, five-door Lancia dominated world-class rallying for six years, winning innumerable events, World Championships for Drivers, and World Championships for Manufacturers. Alongside the cars, driving heroes such as Markku Alan, Didier Auriol, Miki Biasion, Juha Kankkunen and Carlos Sainz also became legendary in this period.

The Integrale was both the most successful rally ever produced by Lancia, and the last, for when the car came to the end of its career in 1993, the company finally and irrevocably withdrew from the sport.