In 1978, the Stratos was no longer Fiats works rally car (Fiat being the owners of Lancia) as it was replaced by the Fiat Abarth 131. The Stratos was still competitive, and went on to win more rallies in 1978, 1979 and into the 1980s. Fiat however wanted a Fiat as their main rally car as they sold far more of the mass produced 131 than the limited production and slow selling Stratos, therefore any positive marketing value and sales resulting from rally wins would benefit the big selling Fiat rather than the exclusive Lancia. The Abarth 131 went on to win the 1978 Manufacturer's championship for Fiat, and it's Finish driver Markku Alen together with navigator Ilkka Kivimäki won the drivers championship. For the 8th rally of the season, the San Remo in Italy in October 1978, Alen elected to use the previous years car, the venerable Lancia Stratos. I'm not exactly sure why Alen decided to use the Stratos over the competitive 131, but it proved to be a good choice as he won the rally! He also won the rally of Portugal and the Finnish 1000 lakes rally on the way to the drivers championship.
Like the roadgoing versions, the rally Stratos shared it's 2.4 litre V6 and gearbox with the Ferrari Dino 246GT. The whole package was mounted transversely in a mid engined, rear wheel drive layout, allowing the overall length of the car to be kept short. This also allowed a short wheelbase that meant the Stratos had a reputation for nervous, twitchy handling. Not ideal for an inexperienced driver then, but ideal for a rally car as it allowed for rapid changes of direction in the hands of enormously skilled rally drivers. Along with such great rally cars such as the Ford Escort the Stratos was one of the finest rally cars of the 1970s.
This particular Stratos from the 1978 season has a superb looking Pirelli sponsored colour scheme, which looks quite different to the green, white and yellow colouring of the Alitalia sponsored Stratos's from the 1977 season. Otherwise it is essentially identical to the 1977 car.
Kyosho make this model of the Stratos and it is a great 1:18th. It has nice engine detail and a realistic competition interior. Other nice features include pop up headlights, large rear mudguards supported by chains and a set of extra night driving lights on the bonnet complete with a removable cover. Like my street version of the Stratos (also by Kyosho) the rear bodywork does not close completely flush which is somewhat annoying. This problem seems to be a random one with Kyoshos Stratos as my two 1977 rally Stratos's do not have this problem. Despite this problem I really like this model! It gets a solid 8/10 marks overall.
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