RE: PH Carpool: Hawk Stratos

[gatster]

Get it here (apologies if this was already posted)...

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/4029367.htm

[paranoid airbag]

Looks lovely my dream kit would be a gd427. Anyone got £30k to spare?

[Baryonyx]

That is superb. I would love an Alitalia Hawk kit with yellow coffin spokes and an Alfa V6 in the back (as it must be easier to care for than the equivalent Ferrari item!).

[LayZ]

Awesome project, agree would like nice with a period-correct plate. Seeing the J-plate gets the PHers mind whirring.

[funwithrevs]

jamespink said:

Great job on the build, it looks (and doubtless sounds) fabulous! However having seen Clarkson squeezing in and struggling to drive it (very SWB, silly small cockpit, duff brakes, crazy steering) I concluded you would have to be a tiny rally driving guru to unleash even a road 3 litre version of it. Maybe that's what explains the 1000 mile total?

Duff brakes and crazy steering are probably options, but most of us go for good brakes and steering

Look out of the window to explain the 1000 miles. Not so much fun in the rain.

[spiritof'76]

Definately not Blib

[bertie]

rohrl said:

Lovely looking thing.

You can run it without the bodywork too if you like. Later ones even had a second set of lights inside so they'd still be road legal sans rear clamshell.

Why would you want to do that??

[Fastdruid]

bertie said:

rohrl said:

Lovely looking thing.

You can run it without the bodywork too if you like. Later ones even had a second set of lights inside so they'd still be road legal sans rear clamshell.

Why would you want to do that??

I suspect more so that it could still run/race sans bodywork after spanking it into a ditch/tree/post etc.

[bertie]

kyleecob said:

Do we think good Stratos replicas (like this one) will one day be worth a decent chunk off cash? Well screwed together 250 GTO reps (http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=52&i=24588) aren't cheap.

Hang on though, that GTO recreation was based on a Ferrari 250 itself, hardly comparable.

[M666 EVO]

Great bit of kit, well done on a fantastic build

[Deerfoot]

Always loved the Stratos.

Fantastic car.

[rohrl]

Fastdruid said:

bertie said:

rohrl said:

Lovely looking thing.

You can run it without the bodywork too if you like. Later ones even had a second set of lights inside so they'd still be road legal sans rear clamshell.

Why would you want to do that??

I suspect more so that it could still run/race sans bodywork after spanking it into a ditch/tree/post etc.

Exactly that. Stratos was a ground-up rally car, and not the crappy little sprints they call rallies nowadays either. Getting to the service area was what mattered, not looking pretty on the way.

[bertie]

rohrl said:

Fastdruid said:

bertie said:

rohrl said:

Lovely looking thing.

You can run it without the bodywork too if you like. Later ones even had a second set of lights inside so they'd still be road legal sans rear clamshell.

Why would you want to do that??

I suspect more so that it could still run/race sans bodywork after spanking it into a ditch/tree/post etc.

Exactly that. Stratos was a ground-up rally car, and not the crappy little sprints they call rallies nowadays either. Getting to the service area was what mattered, not looking pretty on the way.

So are you saying they built it with extra lights already in there just in case they smasshed the rear clam?
What about the front??

Just curious!

[Pickled]

Seen this in the flesh, really is cracking car! Owner told me about driving it in the snow with semi slicks on...

[TallTom]

spiritof'76 said:

Definately not Blib

I fit in the passenger seat of that believe it or not!...... was interesting getting out of it though!

[garypotter]

Great looking car, i hope you enjoy it on the road

[Mastodon2]

Is that not one of the nicest cars you've ever seen? If I had the money for one of these...dear lord.

[strangehighways]

I wonder how good the engine sounds, given its the busso v6? I remember the one on Top Gear sounded amazing when on its lap.

[rohrl]

bertie said:

So are you saying they built it with extra lights already in there just in case they smashed the rear clam?
What about the front??

Just curious!

Yes. Just a pair of lamps on either side, attached to the rear bulkhead you can see in the b&w pic above. No extra lamps at the front. With the weight distribution as it is in these it's all too easy to swing the back end too far and catch a tree, wall or whatever and lose some or all of the rear shell. The minor weight penalty of a few small lamp units is far outweighed by the cost of being disqualified for not being road legal. The same was done on Delta S4, not sure about 037.

Another possibly interesting Stratos fact is that Lancia tried 4-valve heads as well as a turbo in 1973 but couldn't get either to work reliably. Sandro Munari retired the turbo in the Tour de France and the 24-valve in the Targa Florio.

[strangehighways]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=954_1288042741