Thursday 22nd April 2021

Lancia 037 reborn as 550hp Kimera EV037

Last rear-drive World Rally Championship-winning car the latest to get modern-day makeover

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While it’s fair to say that the arrival of Audi’s all-wheel drive Quattro changed the face of rallying forever, the Lancia 037 ensured that it didn’t have an easy time doing it. The Italian machine stood up to the next generation of twin-axle-powered car with a more traditional rear-drive setup, winning the title in 1983 – the Audi’s third year – in spectacular fashion. Of course, it was to be an isolated blip in the otherwise unhindered rise of all-wheel-drive WRC, but that only made the 037’s achievement all the more legendary.

It’s that iconic story that is being celebrated with the latest creation of Italian firm, Kimera Automobili, which is developing an 037 homage called the EVO37. It’s not a restomod but rather an all-new car, created to emulate the original rally car’s looks, handling and performance. To ensure upmost accuracy, the company has apparently enlisted the help of engineers who were involved in the original Lancia project, including the man who developed the 037’s turbocharged and supercharged four-pot motor, Claudio Lombardi.

In keeping with that setup, the new car will use a turbocharged and supercharged 2.0-litre engine, engineered to adhere to today’s emissions and fuelling standards, but capable of producing an anticipated 550hp, over 200hp more than even the original rally car. That’ll be with a manual gearbox or optional sequential gearbox, in a package that’s set to tip the scales at just 950kg, giving it a power-to-weight ratio of 579hp per tonne. To emphasise how mad that is, it’s exactly 7hp more than a McLaren 765LT, a car that can sprint from 0-124mph in 7.2 seconds. And once 37 RWD cars are made, apparently Kimera will make 10 ‘Integrale’ all-wheel drive machines. Well, why not?

Obviously, this Lancia is going to be about more than just outright performance; it's the high drama and viscerality of an eighties rallying-inspired package that Kimera is going for. That’s set to be carried into the car’s design, as far as we can see in the shadowy preview video. We’ll see the covers come off when it’s been put out on track for a shakedown, scheduled to take place in exactly a month on May 22, before customer cars are produced. The price for each will be £430,000, which is a substantial, but not surprising sum for this sort of machine. We're certainly tempted. 

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[robsprocket]

"the man who developed the 037’s turbocharged and supercharged four-pot motor" didn't the 037 only had a supercharger, it was the Delta S4 that had both.

[Welshbeef]

Wasn’t the 037 NA only?

[rb26]

The original was supercharged

[Kawasicki]

Nice project!

[Slowlygettingit]

Simply YES!




More mundane thoughts - that’s not bad value and can I have mine in Martini livery please

[ducnick]

Anyone fancy lending me £400,000 for a couple of yrs?

[Venisonpie]

Yes feckin please.

[The Vambo]

Vapourware.

[Gameface]

If it happens, that will be something really special.

[anonymous-user]

oh lord thats sounds just sooooo gooood, i wonder if they could make a 10k version for us mere mortals

[stuckmojo]

robsprocket said:

"the man who developed the 037’s turbocharged and supercharged four-pot motor" didn't the 037 only had a supercharger, it was the Delta S4 that had both.

Correct, the 037 was only supercharged.

Still.

Mini rant - I hate these stupid teaser videos. Show the bloody thing!

[Evoman]

Fast forward to 11mins into this video with Chris Harris experiencing the 037 as a passenger on a Pirrelli tyre test day. That supercharged Lampredi twin cam, ooooh!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mXgWWNJVdYA

[I would rather be sailing]

Just had a messy personal accident. Yes please.

[GTRene]

I wanted to order one, but then I saw the price better with my reading glasses, damn, one zero more then I wanted to see.

lovely such do-overs.

[GTRene]

Maybe Toyota can do a (MR2) 222D do-over, they made at the time a few 600hp (and more) AWD with 2.2 Turbo rally cars, but did not came in action? anyways, strange car but also lovely :-) a monster.







https://rallygroupbshrine.org/group-s/toyota-mr2-2...

[Jerseyhpc]

I’ll park that next to the Stratos recreation in my mental garage. Now we need a new Escort RS1700T from that lot in Wales and that section will be complete.

[filski666]

IT HAS TURBOFANS!!!!

Edited by filski666 on Friday 23 April 07:49

[Greedydog]

Potentially fantastic but we regularly see articles about new exciting limited production vehicles from small unknown manufacturers, how many of these actually make it to customers?

It might be interesting to see a follow up on some of these to see if they ever make it to production and, if not, how many punters have had their fingers burned.... TVR anyone?

[cookie1600]

LBW2020 said:

oh lord thats sounds just sooooo gooood, i wonder if they could make a 10k version for us mere mortals

£10k is a bit ambitious, but if you could stretch a bit further:

http://rallylegendrecreations.com/

Or a bit nearer your budget, but not quite with all the bells and whistles of it's 037 evolution:

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1183698

[kbee540]

I'm sure the car is great and lovely, but I really want to punch the marketing turd that made this strobing nonsense of a video squarely in the face. If you're proud of the car, let's bloody well see it and stop with all the silliness. Rant over.