The book on Lancia’s endurance racers

Gianni Tonti, famous technical director at the Lancia race team, has just published a – no, the – book on three of his creations; the Lancia Beta Silhouettes, the LC1 and the LC2. It is a part of his Reparto Corse Lancia series.

Tonti is the father of many of the competition Lancias in the seventies and early eighties. Since a couple of years, Tonti is publishing his memoirs with the prestigious printing house Ephedis, titled ‘Reparto Corse Lancia’, or Lancia Competition Department.

Martini madness

Previous titles had the Lancia HF and the Lancia Stratos as subject. Now, Tonti has finished a new volume that looks on what was Lancia’s final effort in endurance racing in the seventies and eighties. These were the famous Martini years that started off with the Beta silhouette racers with which competitions manager Cesare Fiorio gave Italian talents like Michele Alboreto and Teo Fabi a chance to shine.

World champion

After the Beta, Lancia made a smart move with the LC1, that ran in the world endurance championship in the under 2-litre class. Lancia won the world title in 1981 with the LC1. The LC1’s successor, the LC2, was aimed straight at the new Porsche 956 in the new Group C category. By his own admission, the LC2 suffered because Lancia gave the rally program preference over the circuit activities.

English and Italian

In this new book, available in English and Italian, Gianni Tonti takes us behind the scenes and explains the development of the Beta models, the LC1 and the LC2. At 30 x 27 centimetres, this is a big book. It counts 480 pages, with plenty of room for the photographs and technical drawings. The book comes with a slipcase and costs 330 euros. The Italian edition is limited to 300 copies, the English edition to 400 copies.

You can buy the book straight from the editor here or with specialised bookshops.