Only seven of the cars – which bear one of the most iconic liveries in motor sport – were built and this year they will help to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Group C racing.
Group C regulations were introduced by the FIA at the start of 1982 for the World Sportscar Championship and the LC2 – complete with then F1 drivers Michele Alboreto, Riccardo Patrese and Teo Fabi – was Lancia’s response to the all-conquering Porsche 956s.
It was powered by a twin-turbocharged Ferrari V8 (a unit adapted
from the Ferrari 308 GTBi QV), which although more powerful than the
Porsche’s, proved to be the Lancia’s undoing, because it was hampered by
reliability issues and high fuel consumption in an era when teams were
restricted to a limited amount of petrol.
The result was a car
that failed to convert stunning outright speed into victories, meaning
that the LC2 recorded only three wins from 51 starts. But the LC2s have already proved competitive in the Historic series – in what are in effect sprint races.
The three cars owned by Roger Wills, Duncan McKay and Rupert Clevely will join Porsche 956s and 962s as well as other contemporary Group C crowd-pleasers from Jaguar, Nissan and Mercedes, plus more-obscure machinery such as the Courage also owned by Roger Wills, Paul Stubber in the amazing Chevrolet-powered Veskanda and Adrian Watt in the Argo JM19C.
Event director Nick Wigley said: “The two Group C races are always among the highlights at the Silverstone Classic – particularly the one staged at dusk on Saturday evening. The sights and sounds of these fantastic cars racing at sunset is just magical, bringing back great memories of those epic Le Mans battles from the ’80s. With Group C turning 30 this year, we hoped for something really special and the presence of three Martini-coloured LC2s is just that.”
To find out more visit the event’s website.
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