Thursday 30th July 2015

Delta Integrale: £15K Competition Update

Last time we heard from John he was stationary with the bonnet up - has the Lancia behaved itself since?

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The Lancia's snapped belt caused our Adrian Flux competition winner John Crook a bit of a scare in his last update but it seems this was an isolated hiccup and the Integrale is restored to full health and enjoying a busy summer of events.

We'll let John pick up the full story and say thanks again to Adrian Flux for sponsoring the competition in the first place.

 

 

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Among friends at Auto Integrale

Summer briefly arrived in the UK and it was time to make the most of it. I had made the trip to Reading to pick up the car from Auto Integrale. A great spectacle - in the middle of a quiet country lane you suddenly find yourself surrounded by around 10 Integrales in various states of health! Luckily mine was running tip top again and we were soon on our way back home. A long journey, but the car behaved itself impeccably.

The next time the cover was removed and the polished paintwork was exposed was for the annual pilgrimage to the Festival of Speed. After last year and the car not making it there (all because of a broken fuel cap!) I was determined. I was up at sunrise to check the car over. Everything was fine and the Italian once again behaved itself, enjoying a lovely run through the countryside down to Goodwood. It seemed like the other Festival attendees enjoyed the spectacle of a Integrale (albeit in traffic which it really doesn't like, cue fan at full speed) as much as I enjoyed being the pilot!

Once off the ramps it was back to enjoying the car

Before long we were parked up and looking at all kinds of exotica - including of course watching other Integrales battling it out round the rally course, even a S4 Delta in attendance. That takes some guts, hurtling past trees inches away from very expensive bodywork!

The Integrale ran home just as well as it had gone down there - it's in great form at the moment. Meaning various countryside runs for meals with friends and family are a very welcome excuse to get the rally legend out and about.

Its taken some time but I think I've now mastered how to drive a Integrale to get 100 per cent out of it. It's the little quirks like knowing when to apply throttle coming out of a corner so that the turbo spools just as you hit the apex. It's a car that takes time to truly master. Yes it is four-wheel drive and is very easy to drive quickly, but it's getting everything together so that you maximise the car's performance that takes time to adapt to. It's getting the last 10 per cent of performance out of the car that has been the challenge, but an exciting one. It's a very different car to modern machinery. Personally I'd say its all the better for it. You feel everything. The steering letting you know exactly the grip levels and road surface. The suspension - very firm but very sure footed. The understeer that acts as a warning that the limit is nearing and the mechanical feel of the gear shifts. It's still hard to believe that this is a 20-year-old car!

I fear that whatever car I may have next may not be able to replicate the feeling that the Integrale gives you when you perfectly link corners on a country road together.

Lancia has been out and about plenty this summer

However, there has been thought as to the time for a change. It would have nothing to do with the car's capabilities, but more my life situation. The car needs looking after substantially more than any other I've had. Maybe it's me being meticulous and it doesn't help that I'm unable to have the car living with me, meaning I get to drive it much less frequently than I'd like.

Therefore my mind has been wandering. Perhaps it's time for a change. For someone else to take over the loving of my Integrale. For someone else to have a grin every time they sit in those gorgeous Recaro seats. For someone else to patiently wait for the addictive boost to come on. I'm talking myself out of it already.

Time to let someone else enjoy it? Possibly...

I've nearly had the car two years now and I'm coming to the conclusion that's it been a great experience but I need something, dare I say it, more useable. It is a good one but it is still an Integrale. Things can and have gone wrong (luckily minor) but I fear the less I use it the less reward to effort ratio I'm receiving in return.

Therefore I'm currently looking at alternatives. My current thinking is a E46 M3 CS. In Interlagos Blue... This feels like a great compromise between the standard M3 and the CSL (the CSL wouldn't help with the 'getting something more useable' theory, not to mention the prices!).

All that I know is that it will be a very sad day seeing the Integrale go, knowing that with prices still rocketing skywards I'll probably never own another. It's occupying a lot of my time at the moment weighing up the pros and cons - and using man maths to work out how the Integrale potentially could stay in my life! Rest assured it won't be going tomorrow. I will be using it for some memorable trips over the next couple of months before it probably goes to a specialist to be sold. I will keep you all updated with my farewell months with my rally legend.

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Previous updates:
It took a while but John finally found his dream Lancia
Is it living up to the hype? Hell yeah!
MoT'd and ready for a summer of fun
There's an issue... with the fuel cap
It's a Sega Rally hero made real!
Oh no! Integrale on the side of the road

[X5TUU]

I think if I were you and finances permitted I would be tempted to put it away in dry storage for a point where circumstances change, it can be recommissioned and back in use and suck it up and get a cheaper daily/usable in the meantime

Great update though and good to hear it's back tip top