Some Lancia Delta HF Integrales are built for the rally stage, others for the road. But of course they’re all closely related to one another, siblings rather than cousins, all basically the same deep down, even if they pull on different uniforms each morning.
But what about this Integrale? It isn’t a rally car like Biasion or Kankunnen knew them despite its period-correct Martini livery, white Speedline wheels and red mud flaps. Instead it’s a different sort of rally car, kitted out for the kinds of rallies that go on for days if not weeks, spanning vast distances across countries or even continents, rallies like rallies used to be, always with one nut holding the wheel and another clutching a stack of maps and a road book.
Not that I’m crossing continents, countries or even a single county today. But within the confines of Bicester Heritage I have all I need – a handling track to give the Integrale a bit of a workout, the first time I’ll have had a proper go in one of these cars, and plenty of time to poke around HERO-ERA, the endurance rallying organisation that owns the Lancia and many others, making its fleet of historic and classic rally cars available for hire for events right around the world.
