Greatest Racecar? Paddy Hopkirk’s Lancia Fulvia

In my era, the greatest car was definitely that Lancia Fulvia…the HF. I remember driving one and thinking, “Oh goodness, if we only had one of these, it would be much easier!” That was in the mid-1960s, and those cars had a lot of success in 1966 and 1967. I drove Ove Anderson’s car on the Turini stage and was very impressed with it. I nearly drove for Lancia after BMC closed, when Cesare Fiorio offered me a drive, but I was worried about the lira and the exchange rate and not being able to change my money, which was difficult in those days!

As I recall, the car started with a 1.2 engine before it got the “bigger” 1.3. They started out with that smaller engine but with twin Solex or Weber carburetors and could really rev with only a four-speed box, but with bigger valves they were getting 100 bhp. It doesn’t seem like much now, but it was impressive then. I think the 1.3 engine came in 1967 and that had just the Solex carbs, but the cars were stripped out and were very light in weight. Ove Andersson won the Monte in 1967, and then, I think, the Sanremo, the Acropolis, the Spanish Rally, and what he didn’t win in the works team, Sandro Munari did.