Octane March 2009

[donw]

Tucked away on page 132 in Maket Analysis.

Octanes hot little number LANCIA DELTA INTEGRALE 1986-1994

"Back in the late eighties, there was only one rally car to (be) seen in if you wanted a shot at looking as cool as your F1 or Le Mans counterpart - a Lancia Delta Integrale (why do they always use a capital i ?) in Martini livery. With its twin-cam turbo spiyying and popping as it tackled the forest stages, it also finally allowed rallying to emerge from the long shadow cast by group B.  The roadgoing counterpart was rather handy, too- originally treated to 165bhp and 4WD in a package smaller, more stylish, and a damned sight more agile than a Golf GTI.

The Integrale was launched in 1986 (initially as the HF4WD) and caught the imagination of the go-faster brigade, who appreciated the Audi quattro-beating pace and poise at a realistic price.

In its ultimate Evo2 incarnation from 1993, the Integrale pushed out 215bhp and a top speed of over 140mph - and you'll pay anything up to £20,000 for the best examples today.

But if you want true Integrale nirvana, go for the 8V - its drastically undervalued in comparison with the later 16V (and if anything, even sweeter to drive), an example worth keeping forever can currently be yours for around £5000. The only way is up...  Keith Adams

If you can ignore the "printing" errors of missing words etc it comes accross as an enthusiastic suggestion for serious collector consideration lets hope it gets some original cars properly looked after.

Don