The world of rallying has given us some fantastic road cars, and in the late 1980s, one of the most desirable heralded from Italy. Incredibly, the Lancia Delta was revealed as early as 1979, but though its Giugiaro styling looked neat and it was awarded European Car of the Year for 1980, it took a while for its sporting credentials to shine though. The first truly performance-oriented model was the turbocharged 1.6-litre HF model of 1983, which as followed in 1986 by the first four-wheel drive variant, the turbocharged 2.0-litre Delta HF 4WD. For 1988 though, Lancia took things a stage further with the iconic HF Integrale.
Boasting beefier bodywork and uprated running gear, the Integrale featured a turbocharged 8-valve engine making 185bhp with power sent to all four wheels via a 56:44 front/rear torque split. Performance was strong with 0-62mph dispatched in just 6.6 seconds. A year later came the punchier 16-valve model with 200bhp and a revised torque split (now a rear-biased 47:53), but Lancia wasn’t finished yet.
The 1991 Frankfurt Motor Show saw the debut of the Evoluzione version, featuring more power plus strengthened suspension and steering, steroidal bodywork and improved aerodynamic addenda,
