The development of the Lancia Stratos began in 1970, it was to be the world's first purpose built rally car with a revolutionary mid-ship design layout with FRP cowling front and back. Throughout the 1970s vehicle power became the key ingredient to a successful rally car and it was soon evident that the machine with the lightest weight and highest performance would be the car to beat.

Aware of this Lancia discarded their policy of building rally cars around stock production models and developed the Stratos - a pure bred rally car built to win the WRC Crown. Bertone announced the project at the Turin Motor Show in November 1970 and by the 1971 show the second prototype made its formal debut.

1972 was a year of evaluation for the car, it was entered into various events in order to test the design and iron out any problems that arose before entering the car into the WRC. Production then started in earnest in October 1973, however it was a full year before Lancia had built enough of the Stratos in order to reach the homologation requirements for Group 4 rallying.

The Stratos' first WRC event entered was the San Remo of 1975 winning the event and many more throughout the 1975 season incredibly winning the Constructors title in its first year of competition. One of the most recognisable liveries in motorsport then appeared on the Stratos the following season when Italian Airline 'Alitalia' became main sponsors of the car. The following three seasons Lancia won the Constructors Title, which included three consecutive wins at the Monte Carlo Rally 1975, 1976 and 1977. To this day the Stratos still ranks as the most voted favourite WRC car of all time and was without question a definitive rally car of the 1970s.

The model is the 1977 Monte Carlo Stratos with the famous 'Alitalia' livery as driven by Munari/Maiga. As with my Renault 5 build I will be removing the rear cowl as I have managed to locate a very rare Resin Engine transkit to add to the model. I also have picked up along with way some Studio 27 Wheels, P/E parts and a further small P/E set from Hasegawa and Acustion, as always I will be detailing it as much as I can.

Click above for build and completed pictures