Vicenzo Lancia’s eponymous company is 100 years old this year and, after much planning, a week of celebrations took place in Turin between September 4th and 10th.
With a huge amount of input from Paul Baker, the President of the U.K. Lancia Motor Club, the Lancia Club Italia laid on a very full program that kept nearly 600 Lancisti and 300 Lancias busy and happy for six days.
To keep such a huge gathering under control, they were split into four groups with each undertaking a different sequence of events each day. For many, the highlights were visits to the Fiat Test Track at La Mandria where a day was spent taking part in a timed regularity run around the circuit in the morning—your writer realizing he has a lot to learn in this particular area—with participants being allowed out for free laps in the afternoon. I soon found out how delightful a B24 convertible is to handle—thank you Ade Rudler—and later enjoyed experiencing just how fast one of these gorgeous cars can go and corner in the right hands.
A blast around the roof of the legendary Lingotto plant in Turin was a memorable end to one of the days that had started with a visit to the Fiat Research Centre at Orbassano and then moved, via one of many delightful lunches, to the Royal Castle at Racconigi before returning to Turin.
Each group consisted of around 90 cars and police escorts were provided to keep everyone moving, often through many red lights. Big thanks must go to Turin’s police for this and our best wishes to one of their members who was unfortunate enough to take a fall during an exceptionally heavy cloudburst.
The week culminated in an escorted run around Turin for all the cars on the Saturday morning and this was enlivened by the antics of some of Lancia’s most memorable late-model competition cars: the Alitalia Stratos, Martini 037, S4 and Integrale along with the Fulvia Rallye.
Photo: Peter Collins
Cars taking part during the week ranged from Ken Pritchard Jones’s Edwardian Gamma Tipo da Corsa racer through Lambdas, Aprilias, Aurelias and Flavias/Fulvias to the latest Ypsilon and many, many more.
During the week, an announcement was made that warmed every British and Australian Lancisti’s heart—that right-hand drive cars were to be made again and a return to the UK would happen in 2008. As I write, Alfa has just announced the 8C Competizione in Paris as a precursor to a return to the US—one can’t help but wonder if, eventually, Lancia might do the same!
by Peter Collins
