23 replies to this topic

[Uwe]

There are several threads which are about the best sounding race cars (with the Matra V12 mentioned quite often). I just read "Aufschrieb" from Walter Röhrl and he describes how he was addicted by the sound of the Lancia Stratos.

"The sound of the Stratos was its greatest feature for me, and it could turn you into a fan again. In England I once stood in the wood, during the night. Then [Sandro] Munari came through the darkness, I could hear him from 15 km away. I got goose-bumps, I was shivering, when the car came by."

Now I am searching for sound files of the Stratos. Can anyone help me?

Uwe

[Henri Greuter]

The Stratos used the 2.4 liter Ferrari (Dino?) V6, I wonder if there was mucg difference in sound between the Dino's 246's of that time and the Stratos.

Perhaps a search for the Dino 246 engine sound gives an indication already?


By the way, I'm sure that someone who has never seen a Stratos in his/her life yet and would see it for the very first time today would rate it as a highly modern looking styling concept.
That car never looked old fashioned or outdated.

The current WRC's might be better, faster and so on..
But none of them can't match the Stratos in charisma and lookings.
What a car.


Henri Greuter

[dbw]

i think the stratos had a 4-valve head for a start..[plus all the usual hotrod stuff: cams,carbs,exhaust]..and unlike the 246 they had a straight-cut colotti gearbox...hell, that alone made some pretty wonderful noise.

[Mox]

Wow ... perhaps my debut post in TNF will make a fellow member happy.

There's a bit of sound on this video-clip Stratos Video (you'll have to endure a Talbot first though).

[David Beard]

Is it true that it is easy to tell a real Stratos from a replica by the fit of the body panels?

(the replicas being much superior in that respect)

[Felix]

There is a DVD by a German producer called Helmut Deimel on the history of rallying (The Evolution of Rallying - 50 Years Sideways; Die Evolution des Driftwinkels in German), and, during the Stratos chapter, he shows a sequence of Munari going up a Tuscan mountain. The narrator says, 'listen to that magnificent sound...' and shuts up. It is absolutely spine-tingling to hear that V6 24v engine barking away; worth buying the DVD for the sound alone...

Incidentally, I rate that as probably the best DVD/video in my collection which numbers over 80 of both formats. Superb stuff! Deimel spent 120 days in an editing suite cutting 500 hours into 90 minutes, It carries my wholehearted approval!

[Twin Window]

The British round of the world's premier rally series used to be called the RAC Rally, and for a few glorious years it included stages through Sutton Park in the West Midlands. This was especially good news for me as I lived in Sutton Coldfield, host town of the aforementioned Sutton Park...

The Stratos was something to behold! I remember viewing a stage from the top of a hill there in '74, and - as Uwe says - you could literally hear it from miles away! That time Munari (I think it was he) came through with the entire rear bodywork missing... They sounded absolutely fantastic, and easily the nearest thing to an off-road F1 car I'd ever experienced!

I was seventeen in 1974, and full-on into my motor sports, so it shouldn't be too difficult to imagine my sheer amazement and delight to discover - upon returning from watching the Sutton Park stages - that the factory Marlboro Lancia team had found fit to fettle their Stratos and Fulvia (? - actually, I think they were bigger...) entries in our 'service road'. (NB a 'service road' is/was normally parallel to a main road, and rather like a big lay-by and providing access to houses). They were back in our road in '75 too, this time decked out in Alitalia livery.

I was talkng to my brother about these momentous occaisions a few months ago; he vividly remembers very nearly being run over by one of the Stratos drivers in our road, and I'm frustrated by the fact that I haven't got any photos - or if I did take any, I can't find them!

Oh, and in the 30 year period between then and now - despite the fact that during that time we'd run our own rally team - I hadn't realised, until our recent conversation, that Lancia's service halts in our road were almost certainly illegal...

What a car...

Twinny

[Felix]

Lovely clip. Mox!!!

[Evo One]

"That time Munari (I think it was he) came through with the entire rear bodywork missing... "

That would have been Bjorn Waldegard Twinny - he was disqualified for being late at service but completed the rest of the rally (about 50 stages - those were the days!) under appeal. He set about 40 fastest stage times all to no avail as his appeal was dismissed.

As to the sound - it was like nothing else until about 10 years later when I heard what sounded like a Stratos in the forest - you can imagine my disappointment when a Metro 6R4 came into view

[Ian McKean]

I too had the pleasure of listening to the Stratos in the forest. It was Munari, the year that Mikkola and Walfridsson were in the works Toyotas. It did sound fabulous (thanks for the vieo )

But Munari wasn't really "on it". I don't think he was too happy on secret routes on gravel. He certainly did not take the car by the scruff of the neck like Waldegard and Alen did in the RAC, although he was a top driver on practiced tarmac. Maybe it wasn't set up right when I saw it, or had a mechanical problem.

The reason I remember Mikkola and Walfridsson in the works Toyotas at that particular stage was that Walfridsson wasn't really on it either - this was a surprise to me as I had watched him previously in his Volvo and if anyone was ever really on it it was Walfridsson in the Volvo. So this would have been in 1977.

Waldegard drove the Stratos on the RAC in 1975 (excluded over time limit) so that must have been the year Twinny saw it without its rear bodywork)

Munari drove the Stratos on the RAC in 1974 (finishing 3rd), 1976 (4th), 1977 (25th)

Alen drove the Stratos on the RAC in 1978 (retired gearbox), 1979 (5th but led from SS2 to SS10)

I must have watched quite a few of these as well but can't recall precise details at this time. may post again later.

Truly, those were the days.

[BRG]

Originally posted by Ian McKean
I too had the pleasure of listening to the Stratos in the forest.

Alen drove the Stratos on the RAC in 1978 (retired gearbox), 1979 (5th but led from SS2 to SS10)

Likewise. It must have been 1978 then, becuase I remember being in Twiglees forest and listening to Alen's Stratos in the distance for several minutes. But then it suddenly stopped and he never did reach us on the stage. It was a very aweinspiring npise though.

We also followed Munari's Stratos on the road from Penmachno to Clocaenog one year - we let him past but then found we could keep up with him. I think he got a raw deal from the comparisons with Waldegaard and Alen on gravel - I thought that Sandro was a lot better on the rough stuff than people ever gave him credit for - 3rd and 4th places finishes on the RAC in those days were not easily achieved, especially in a car that wasn't really designed for loose surfaces.

But I have to say that the sound of good Cosworth BDG in a well-driven Ford Escort in a British forest takes a lot of beating for aural pleasure!

The modern turbocharged and restricted WRC and GpN cars are really a let down in this respect.

[VAR1016]

Originally posted by Ian McKean

But Munari wasn't really "on it". I don't think he was too happy on secret routes on gravel. He certainly did not take the car by the scruff of the neck like Waldegard and Alen did in the RAC, although he was a top driver on practiced tarmac. Maybe it wasn't set up right when I saw it, or had a mechanical problem.

Maybe Munari did have problems that day.

I recall a friend (a talented driver) telling me that he had taken his Fulvia 1.3HF over one of the Monte Carlo rally stages and achieved a time relatively close to Munari's.

However, he was rather crestfallen when he realised that whilst he had made his time in the summer, Munari had set his in the snow!

"Evo One" may be able to recall the actual time difference.

PdeRL

[Ian McKean]

Originally posted by VAR1016


Maybe Munari did have problems that day.

I recall a friend (a talented driver) telling me that he had taken his Fulvia 1.3HF over one of the Monte Carlo rally stages and achieved a time relatively close to Munari's.

However, he was rather crestfallen when he realised that whilst he had made his time in the summer, Munari had set his in the snow!

"Evo One" may be able to recall the actual time difference.

PdeRL

I did not mean to cast aspersions on Munari's skill, but merely to report what I saw that day. The same applied to my comment on P-I Walfridsson.

This thread prompted me to look at the Hawk site. According to them (biased of course but it may be true) their car is a very close replica of the original, and can be used for rallying. Does anybody have any experience or opinions of the Hawk and views as to why it has never been used successfully in rallies like the Darrian T90. I mention the Darrian because it is very successful and also 2WD and rear-engined. Why do you think more quick amateurs haven't built Hawks instead of Darrians?

[diego]

I seem to recall that Karl Ludvigsen published an account of driving the Stratos in Road & Track sometime in the last ten years... could anyone help me with:

1) The publication date of the article

2) The text of the article, if possible?

Many thanks.

[RS2000]

The Stratos originally had a 12 valve engine. The 24 valve was homologated during its period of peak success but it had to revert under later regs. That is part of the reason for its later poorer performances but Fiat group politics (rally the Fiat 131, Lancia race GTs, Ferrari F1) really killed it off. Alen persuaded Fiorio to give him a Stratos for one final RAC but it wasnt really the car to beat any longer. Like the TR7, visibility on unseen stages on the RAC was the killer. Munari, much like Rohrl, hated the RAC rally and performed accordingly. As a competitor on the 75 RAC, I still have the road book and could probably tell whether roadside servicing was allowed at that point if I knew exactly where it was! In those days a great deal of roadside servicing was still allowed but not everywhere.
I personally hated the sound of the Stratos (which was almost certainly illegal in the UK and could have been excluded from the RAC if regulations had been enforced - only recently there was discussion of them changing exhausts for scrutineering and then changing back).

[diego]

Originally posted by diego
I seem to recall that Karl Ludvigsen published an account of driving the Stratos in Road & Track sometime in the last ten years... could anyone help me with:

1) The publication date of the article

2) The text of the article, if possible?

Many thanks.

[VAR1016]

Originally posted by RS2000
I personally hated the sound of the Stratos (which was almost certainly illegal in the UK ...).

Really?

Oooh.

Some years ago a friend used to race a 24-valve Stratos in England; my spine still tingles when I recall its glorious 8000rpm.

PdeRL

[Tim Murray]

I remember being fascinated by the Chequered Flag Stratos when the service team was fettling it at some event or other. They were revving the engine, and each time it decelerated after being revved the intake system emitted a series of clear musical notes of decreasing frequency. I never noticed this on any other Stratos.

I too also recall standing in a Welsh forest listening to this glorious, spine-tingling engine note approaching, and watching this car with no rear bodywork flash past - it looked very strange and foreshortened.

[VAR1016]

Originally posted by Tim Murray
I remember being fascinated by the Chequered Flag Stratos when the service team was fettling it at some event or other. They were revving the engine, and each time it decelerated after being revved the intake system emitted a series of clear musical notes of decreasing frequency. I never noticed this on any other Stratos.

I too also recall standing in a Welsh forest listening to this glorious, spine-tingling engine note approaching, and watching this car with no rear bodywork flash past - it looked very strange and foreshortened.

I think that my friend's car was the Chequered Flag car in fact. there is a picture of it in Allen Staniforth's book.

PdeRL

[john winfield]

I was tootling along a South Nottinghamshire country lane yesterday when I spotted something interesting and exotic heading my way, at some speed. It whooshed by and I realised it was Sandro Munari. Well, maybe it wasn't Sandro himself, but it was a Stratos, in full rally trim. After a bit of research I find that LB up near Newark make Stratos replicas, so I expect it was one of theirs. Beautiful.

 

Exciting times at the moment on the roads round here. Last week, on another country road, a Plymouth Superbird pulled out in front of me. I didn't make a fuss - that would have been petty - as the car's driver had to put ten feet of bonnet out in the carriageway, just to check for traffic. 

[Adrian Beese]

I remember Tom Pryce going well in the Chequered Flag Stratos until it caught fire somewhere near Epynt I think.

[Ian G]

Just noticed this Thread,we had one imported into Australia in the mid 1970's,Ron Marks drove it without a great deal of success,handful on our loose gravel tracks but certainly made a great impression. 

As mentioned earlier,despite heavy mufflers,it sounded great in the cold air of Australian Forests but TBH was disappointed with its looks up close,to me its all out of proportion but certainly looks a lot better in Photo's.

 

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[BRG]

I remember Tom Pryce going well in the Chequered Flag Stratos until it caught fire somewhere near Epynt I think.

Well, it was the 1975 Tour of Epynt so...

[Henri Greuter]

Just noticed this Thread,we had one imported into Australia in the mid 1970's,Ron Marks drove it without a great deal of success,handful on our loose gravel tracks but certainly made a great impression. 

As mentioned earlier,despite heavy mufflers,it sounded great in the cold air of Australian Forests but TBH was disappointed with its looks up close,to me its all out of proportion but certainly looks a lot better in Photo's.

 

https://www.facebook...228344721194522

 

About the proportions, maybe that was because the car was designed to containe everything that was neeeded within the smallest possible enveloppe which was the made look dramatic with streamilining. but there was nothing redundant installed/fitted on the car.

But still, 50 years later, it still looks soooooooo futuristic and purposeful. I know the current cars can drive circles around it on a special stage but none of the post 2K cars looked so good and so neat as an Alitalia Stratos.