Hill climbing is one of the oldest forms of motorized sports, predating the first-ever Grand Prix organized by the Automobile Club de France in 1906 at Le Mans on public roads. Both kinds of motorsport are still popular to this day, but on this occasion, we’ll focus on the older form of racing.
Or better put, on a car that makes hill climbing as entertaining as possible for the fans. Milan Bubnic and his Lancia Delta were captured on camera by Hillclimb Monsters, doing their thing during three events in 2019.
His all-wheel-drive hot hatchback isn’t your typical Integrale Evoluzione, but a modified monster that cranks out 700 horsepower from 2.0 liters of displacement. The car – which has been crashed then rebuilt by Bubnic in two months – can be admired in the following video at the Verzegnis, Ilirksa-Bistrica, and Cividale-Castelmonte hillclimbs in various iterations.
Shooting flames while downshifting is one thing, but hearing that marvelous engine singing the song of its people while the car is driven so hard sends shivers down one’s spine. As the YouTube comments section suggests, “this thing looks like it’s made out of radiators and boost” as well as Group B aesthetics. Tipping the scales at 1,050 kilograms, the hill climbing beast is seriously light given the blunderbuss hiding under the hood.
Revealed at the 1991 Frankfurt Motor Show, the first of two Evoluzione models was manufactured in limited numbers through 1992. The road-going car that you could buy from Lancia’s dealership network is rated at 210 PS (207 horsepower) and 300 Nm (221 pound-feet) of torque. The front and rear tracks are wider than preceding versions of the Delta, and the roof spoiler at the top of the hatch door is adjustable in three positions for improved aero.
In related news, Delta owners can now order Integrale and Integrale Evoluzione bumpers directly from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The Mopar e-Store in the UK offers all-new parts made with the original equipment from San Benigno plant for 1,035 and 1,170 pounds sterling.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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