Fancy a restomod Lancia Delta but the Automobili Amos is a bit impractical? Look no further than this, the four-door 360PS (265kW) Maturo Stradale, a Group A Integrale nipped, tucked and fettled for road use in 2022.
The claim is pretty simple: Group A rally car performance and thrills but in road car drag, with the associated comfort and accoutrement to boot. On the outside it looks like a tasteful roadgoing performance hatch. Underneath it packs a Group A spec 360PS punch.
That’s to say, Group A and then some, given the engine has been developed with lighter, more modern and more precise components, made from better materials. There’s a bigger intercooler, a carbon airbox and a rebuilt and revised version of the original Garrett turbo. There are also lighter valves, forged rods, forged pistons, modern injectors, flowed heads and more, while a modern ECU also makes for better control over its performance. Putting that power to the ground is a heavily revised version of the original five-speed gearbox, which Maturo highlights was notoriously fragile. It’s been upgraded for flat-shifting too, though Maturo warns “it’s not for the faint hearted”.
Part of what made these Lancias so lethally effective as both performance road cars and rally cars, was their all-wheel-drive system. F1-grade diffs and drive shafts bring a ridiculous twist tolerance, while the diffs themselves have been completely rebuilt and upgraded. There’s a new viscous centre diff too. Stopping the Maturo are 330mm and 282mm discs front and rear, with a hydraulic handbrake to boot – rally car for the road, remember? The suspension comprises four-way adjustable shocks derived from the rally spec cars Maturo has been building for years. There is also, if you so choose, an option for a hydraulic ride height control system.
Maturo Stradales will use a 16-valve Integrale chassis as their base, though they will each be stripped all the way back, repaired, primed and repainted. They’re strengthened with a custom roll cage too and with over 250 spot welds, each addressing known weak points in the Integrale structure. As is the norm with these extreme restomods, the antiquated materials of the old body make way for subtly engorged carbon fibre clothes. There’s a slightly more aggressive rear wing, a reprofiled snout with a more aggressive splitter and modernised lights.
On the inside, it’s the picture of retro modernised, with the familiar cuboidal Integrale shapes retrimmed in Alcantara and carbon. There’s titanium, anodised aluminium and leather everywhere too, though it’s all been tastefully applied with respect to the timeless original look, replacing certain low-quality parts without making the cabin a Pagani pastiche. The front seats are carbon buckets and the rears can be removed, if you fancy a set of four- or six-way harnesses.
So what do you think of the Maturo Stradale? We’re big fans, if only for the fact that it seems to lay on the modernised aspects a little thinner than some. It’s updated, but respectful of the original. No word on prices yet, though only ten are going to be made.