.:: THE LANCIA RALLY 037 4wd-h - THE EXCEPTION ... ::.
For the occasion of the Rally Legend 2010, Beppe Volta presented the restored LANCIA DELTA ECV1 (1987) . This official Abarth test-vehicle was powered by an innovative, patented TRIFLUX engine, mounted on a modified Lancia Delta S4 rally chassis. The ECV1 had been conceived as an evolution of the S4 for use in the Group B category of World Rally Championship, after appropriate development. The restoration of this unique prototype was an affectionate tribute, and the testimony of a bond for those who were present and linked to the epic Lancia Rallying period; Miki Biasion, Claudio Lombardi, Sergio Limone, Carlo Demichelis and, in particular, Beppe Volta with his team who had to reconstruct many of the missing ECV1 components.
The great media success of this initiative motivated this group of "veterans" to study initiatives aimed at the future, not just as a celebration of a glorious past. Stimulated by the developments in the automotive hybrid field and its applications not only in production but also to competition vehicles, and driven by the creative forces that had brought them together to design cars like the Delta S4 with its mixed boost engine, and the unique Triflux engine in the ECV, the team began designing a 4WD rally car with full-hybrid capabilities; the Lancia 037 4WD-H. But, lacking the skills and the “mechatronic know-how “, the team approached Prof. Stefano Carabelli, founder of the ACTUA company, a spin-off of Politecnico di Torino, which develops technologies aimed at energy efficiency and with high expertise in the field who led a team of young, motivated and enthusiastic engineers. The project also received the interest of Oerlikon Graziano, a leading company in transmission design and production, who agreed to participate with the design and supply of the drivetrain components and to contribute financially to the project. Finally, the contribution of the companies Moog for the design and construction of the electric motor and RGM for the supply of the modules of power electronics were decisive in completing the component design and assembly, for the 037-4WD-H project.
(... read more)
| 
