The HF Symbol of Lancia Competition Cars

The HF symbol, the contraction of High Fidelity, owes its origin to the Lancia Hi. Fi. Club, which draws its members from loyal Lancia clients according to strict rules of elegibility which govern membership. The Club was founded in 1960 and the HF was taken as its logo.

The transposition of the Initials H and F on certain sports cars followed in 1961, when customers started to race Flaminia Pinina Farina in Grand Turismo events.

The "consecration" came with the launch of the legendary Fulvia coupe, and it became the official logo of the Company's sports cars, starting with the 1966 Fulvia HF coupe which remained almost unbeatable on the world rallies, until the mythical Stratos appeared on the scene to dominate rallying from 1974 - 1978.

In the mean time the HF Racing Team had been founded in 1963, initially as a simple association of amateur drivers unofficially backed by Lancia, but becoming the official sporting branch of the Company in 1965.

The HF symbol was adopted again in 1983 for the Delta turbo and thereafter on the Delta 4WD and the Integrale. With the introduction of the Evolution model of the Integrale, the letters were combined with the galloping red elephant. The elephants had been on the original badges for the Fulvia HF and the Stratos, at that time there were four elephants displayed.

There are contrasting stories and legends regarding the origin of this elephant, including the simple "the elephant never forgets". We do know that in 1953 the then Managing Director of Lancia, Gianni Lancia, chose it as a good luck token for the Company's first racing appearances. The symbol of the galloping elephant apparently originates in Eastern mythology as an auspicious emblem or symbol of victory, providing the trunk is stretched forward. This is how the elephant chosen by Gianni Lancia was drawn, first in light blue and later as now in bright red.

In order for a vehicle to be able to take part in FIA approved races it has to be produced to a minimum number of units by its manufacturer, 5000 for the GroupN class, 2500 for the GroupA class and 200 for the now extinct GroupB. These units have to be similar, in aspect and mechanically, to the ones that will effectively take part in racing i.e. if the racing vehicle has a 4 wheel drive transmission so must also have the homologation base vehicle. Certain mechanical and electronic parts that are present in the racing vehicle must also be present in the homologation base unit. If modifications are required to the competition version then a new series of street going vehicles that include them will have to be produced. These cars were bred by racing for racing.

Logically manufacturers try to size the homologation base vehicle so that its racing counterpart will be as competitive and versatile as possible. For instance FIA rules impose that a GroupN class car cannot exceed the wheel size of the homologation base vehicle. Consequently the bigger the wheels and wheel arches mounted on the homologation base vehicle the more supple the choice of competition wheels will be. Another example is the size of the turbocharger that, if fitted to the homologation base, will have to maintain the same model and size on the competition vehicle. These rules, and many others discussed in further detail here for the GroupN class and here for the GroupA class, have pushed manufacturers to produce road going versions of vehicles destined to competition, the so called "Homologation Specials". Of course solutions applicable to racing vehicles are not the best suited to street going cars. Additionally it only matters that the street going version has the required equipment, dimensions and is produced in sufficient numbers and no particular care is usually taken to its finish or road manners.

October 1st 1974 saw the FIA homologation of the first ever homologation special. It was the Lancia Stratos HF (pictures here, specification here), a purpose-built vehicle, homologated in Group 4 (500 identical cars produced over a period of 24 months were required to obtain the homologation), and produced in 492 road-going copies between 1973 and 1975. The Lancia Stratos essentially reversed the way car manufacturers used to approach racing. Instead of choosing a large scale production model and adapting it to the requirements of racing the Stratos was built as a race car that just happened to have a road-going version.
The Lancia Stratos introduced many of the issues that were to affect FIA homologation car runs. It was extremely difficult to sell as a road-going car as it was introduced in the middle of an oil crisis and only obtained type approval for road use in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland and of course Italy. Hence many "Stradale" versions lay unsold well into 1978 at which point they were essentially given away. The car was very approximately finished and ill-mannered as it was a competition car under disguise and numerous manufacturing short comings plagued its road-going version. Most of these concerns were to afflict its homologation successors with very few exceptions. Finally an issue that was to later afflict GroupB car homologation runs (200 identical cars produced over a period of 12 months were required to obtain the homologation) also affected the Stratos. At the time of its FIA homologation (see above) a maximum of 141 cars had been built, far less than the required 500. This was to be the case in GroupB production runs as well were far less than the required number of cars were to be produced...

Many manufacturers have produced such homologation-special vehicles and the list given below is almost exhaustive (unless otherwise stated the cars were homologated in the FIA GroupA):

Cars such as the Subaru Legacy, the early BMW M3, the Audi Coupe Quattro or the Mitsubishi Galant VR4 and others are not true homologation specials as their production numbers were not dictated by FIA regulations and their design did not directly derive from a competition counterpart. These cars were used in competition only because the base car was already, or was thought to be, adequate for competition purposes.

Most of the homologation specials are recognizable by the number of air vents fitted on their bonnet, front bumper and wheel arches as well as their oversized spoilers and other aerodynamic attributes. These vents, usually blanked on the street versions, are not required for street use but are essential for competition use and have to be present on the homologation base vehicle.

The majority of homologation special cars have not been produced in numbers exceeding those required for their FIA homologation and are, thus, relatively rare and rapidly becoming collectable. Additionally they are often very exciting to drive as, most of them, are in fact detuned competition vehicles under disguise. For a manufacturer producing special series of cars that share very few common parts with other models is an expensive adventure that almost always leads to financial losses. Since the emergence of the WRC class cars in 1997, which do not require street going counterparts and thus represent a serious financial gain for manufacturers, production of homologation specials ceased.

Unfortunately there will most probably never be a second run of production cars displaying the character of the cars described above. Stringent emission control laws, noise level requirements and security features have clogged today's production cars with excessive weight, the number one enemy of any sports car, while their engines feel anemic and characterless when compared to those fitted in most of the 70s, 80s and 90s homologation specials. An era in the car production industry has come to an end.

These cars have to be based on production models that have been built in numbers greater than 5000 units in order to get homologated. The GroupN cars are sometimes called production cars because they're supposed to be as close as possible to everyday, street cars. In fact the regulations are a bit vague and top GroupN cars have little in common with their street going counterparts. FIA regulations allow the following modifications to a GroupN car:

Note that these rules are subject to revision and changes relatively frequently. For more information please refer to the FIA complete guide to the allowed GroupN modifications here (Adobe Acrobat file).

Unfortunately the FIA GroupN is almost abandoned by the ruling authority. The above restrictions to the applicable modifications allowed in a GroupN car are subject to interpretation. The quality of a GroupN car can vary according to the owner's budget. For instance most winning GroupN cars are built from scratch using re-soldered seam-welded, works bodies (very expensive) whereas more affordable ones use normal everyday bodyshells. It is not rare to see GroupN cars equipped with turbo anti-lag systems even if the homologation cars are not equipped with one. Some GroupN cars are reputed more powerful than their GroupA counterparts...Worst even, it's not unusual to see GroupN car retiring from rallies with broken transmissions. I think that says it all. Overall the FIA GroupN is a hybrid between what GroupN was meant to be and the FIA GroupA.

To clarify the situation the FIA decided to modify the rules applicable to GroupN cars as of 2001. The major changes include:

With the above changes the FIA is trying to close the gap between GroupA and GroupN cars. Unfortunately this move also skyrockets the price of a GroupN car and very few competitors will now be able to afford competitive cars in this class. I personally think it would have been wiser to impose stricter controls on current GroupN and make sure they are as close to what is available in dealer showrooms rather than making the rules more liberal. A huge performance limiting factor would be to impose the use of OEM tire choices, this would bring costs down to reasonable levels and would be a de facto limit on power.
FIA's choice, on the other hand, clearly shows that its intention is to lead rallying into an elite sport, a bit like Formula1. This is, of course, conflicting with the sport's very nature and might well end up in a situation similar to what prevails in endurance racing where alternative organizations manage the races. Time will tell.

GroupN cars are used, mostly, by drivers who either have no extensive rallying experience and wish to learn or drivers who cannot afford the budget related to building a full GroupA car (which can cost up to 4 times the price of a GroupN car) not to speak of WRC class cars.

You will find in the following pages a brief history of some the cars involved in the WRC, their characteristics and peculiarities. Rallycars.com also includes up-to-date WRC statistics, current WRC standings as well as WRC driver profiles. I hope you'll enjoy the ride. If you have any comments or questions please use our feedback page.

In order to compete in the FIA GroupA a vehicle has to be produced to numbers above 2500 units to get the FIA homologation. No manufacturer can afford to produce the like of the monstrous, but exciting, Group B cars in this class (it would be financially impossible given the relatively important production numbers required). Nowadays rally cars resemble (at a distance) everyday cars much more than group B cars ever did, hence a more direct marketing impact and, thus, a more effective promotion of a car range for the manufacturers.

Note however that technology improvements (mainly in tires, brakes, transmission and engine management) make today's group A and WRC cars faster than the group B monsters were!

Note that these rules are subject to revision and changes relatively frequently. For more information please refer to the FIA complete guide to the allowed GroupA modifications here (Adobe Acrobat file).

Today's GroupA cars are real racing cars with no suspension, engine or drivetrain bushing, fully adjustable suspension, straight cut non-synchronized gears, sequential shifting and the like.

OK, you'll ask. If these 4WD turbocharged cars are so great how come they were matched, or even beaten in some cases, by Group F2 (2 liter non turbo, 2 wheel drive cars also known as kit cars belonging to the FIA A7 class). The answer to that question is weight. Group F2 cars weighted 300Kg less than their 4 wheel drive turbo charged counterparts and as you might already know, weight is the worst enemy of any race car. Additionally F2 cars could only match the 4WD cars on dry tarmac surfaces.

Group F2 cars were created to reduce the cost of building a rally car. Some of them such as the Peugeot 306 Maxi (picture here), Renault Maxi Megane (picture here), Renault Clio Maxi, the Citroën Xsara and others cost approximately the same or even more than the turbo charged 4x4 cars. The price argument was not valid. This category of rally car was created only because some manufacturers preferred to promote, through rallying, cars that were more appealing to the general public without spending on the development of four wheel drive transmissions.

The existence of F2 cars threatened the turbo charged 4 wheel drive cars. These cars were far less spectacular than the 4 wheel drive cars are. F2 cars were driven to extinction past 2001 due to FIA's decision to add 80Kg to their minimum weight and apply an intake restrictor to their normally aspirated engines. They were replaced by the far lesser Super 1600 class, cars that also comply with GroupA regulations but use 1600cm³ engines with approximately 200bhp and a weight lower than 1000kg. These cars do not constitute a menace to WRC class cars on any surface.

The dominance of the GroupA cars brought, eventually, Japanese manufacturers in the race. While this is was excellent challenge to European manufacturers it had a downside: very big amounts of money and huge budgets were now part of the game. Toyota, Mazda, Subaru, Nissan and lately Mitsubishi have joined the World Rally Championship with cars that the Europeans had initially a lot of trouble matching. While Japanese cars were excellent (and most probably better than European ones) they were so only because the manufacturers behind them spend enormous budgets on their development. Additionally all Japanese WRC contenders were backed by European race teams (such as RalliArt and Prodrive). Apparently European manufacturers did not realize, at the time, the impact of a model being World Rally Champion on their sales numbers and spent quite some time trying to match the performance of the Japanese models with much lower budgets. The situation changed dramatically with the return of Peugeot to the WRC and their three consecutive wins of the manufacturers championship in 2000, 2001 and 2002. This fact comes to prove that adequate budgets are the major winning factor in today's Word Rally Championship.

On the positive side, all Japanese racing cars are built in Europe by companies such as Prodrive (for Subaru), Ralliart (for Mitsubishi) and Toyota Team Europe. The know-how on building a pure breed is still in Europe.

On the negative side, the fact that today the amounts of money involved in rally racing are so important has changed the once "gentlemen" rallying world to an efficient and heartless machine reminding a lot the F1 championship. Rallying is, by nature, a sport very close to its public and therefore quite different to Formula 1. The FIA authorities must, at some point, realize that the attempt to transform rallying to something reminding the F1 Championship may eventually lead to the extinction of the sport as it opposes the very nature of rallying.

Group B - Group A cars have existed for a long time (at least 20 years although the term GroupA is more recent) but were eclipsed by the monstrous group B cars until 1986 (previously known as Group 4) when the latter were banned mainly due to Henri Toivonen's premature death in Corsica driving a Lancia S4 , Attilio Bettega's accident in a Lancia 037 (1985) and a dramatic incident involving a Ford RS200 driven by Joaquim Santos and spectators in the 1986 Portuguese rally. GroupB cars at the time had to be produced to only 200 samples in 12 consecutive months to get the FIA homologation and be able to race. The limited production numbers allowed manufacturers to produce cars whose overall cost would be prohibitive if they were to be produced massively. These cars' only purpose in life was rallying.

For more information please refer to the FIA complete guide to the allowed GroupB modifications here (Adobe Acrobat file).

The cars sometimes had 600+ Bhp engines and a weight below the ton mark. One can easily comprehend the danger the drivers and the spectators were facing. The FIA decided to ban GroupB cars in rallying starting in 1986. Some evolutions of old Group B cars are still being used in rallycross events and others in the European Mountain Championship. If you're a fan and lucky enough you might still see one in action. In 1996, for instance, I saw a Lancia Delta S4 racing in Switzerland for the European Hill Climbing Championship, what a thrill!

To give you an idea of the kind of performance GroupB cars were capable of I'll mention that in the 1986 season Henri Toivonen made two laps around the Estoril circuit, during a stage of the Portuguese rally, the fastest of which, in 1 minute and 18,1 seconds, would have qualified him in the sixth position of the F1 Grand Prix that same season. Ayrton Senna had the Pole Position in the 1986 Portuguese Grand Prix in 1 minute and 16,7 seconds...Toivonen was using the Lancia Delta S4 and was accompanied by his usual co-driver Sergio Cresto. Keep in mind however that current GroupA and WRC cars are even faster, overall, than GroupB cars used to be. This is mainly due to technology advances in tire formulations and suspension technology leading to GroupA cars being faster around corners but losing on straights as compared to GroupB cars.

Note also that the engine used in the Metro 6R4, a 3.5 lt. V6, was used to power the famous Jaguar XJ220 of the early 90s (it was fitted with twin turbos in the XJ220).