Given a chance, many car enthusiasts would modify a base model rally car aesthetically to resemble a pedigree build (read Ricer). Fake it until you make it. Right? But what's the point in falsifying a lifestyle you don't enjoy the perks of? Hundreds of thousands of petrol heads worldwide spend their hard-earned money making legitimate builds – for the thrill, pride, and spirit of motorsports.
Jonny Smith of the Late Brake Show YouTube channel recently featured an iconic reborn Lancia Delta Integrale restomod, a.k.a. the Maturo Stradale by MCC (Maturo Competition Cars).
Based in Holland (not Italy as you'd expect), the workshop specializes in the 70s, 80s, and 90s rally cars, focusing on Lancia Deltas.
According to Marco Geeratz of Maturo Competition Cars, the company started with rally cars, and for the last 25 years, they have been building and rebuilding these performance cars to perfection.
Nostalgia is a powerful disease for Marco and his MCC team, developing the Maturo Stradale road car was out of their experience driving and working on the Lancia Delta Integrale.
Base model Lancia Delta is no fun
Photo: YouTube Screenshot/The Late Brake Show
The base model Lancia Delta isn't anything to write home about. It is a small family car developed by Lancia, spanning three generations from 1979 to 1994. On the other hand, its rally-bred sibling, the Lancia Delta Integrale, is considered one of the most incredible hot hatches ever developed.
If you are an avid car enthusiast, you understand the fuss with the Lancia Delta Integrale. The Martini-sponsored racer has quite the reputation in the racing world for dominating World Rally Championships (WRC) in the 1980s.
The Italian manufacturer's winning streak didn't happen by chance. It began with the Delta S4, a Group B car with 500 ponies (507 ps) to spare. Due to increased deadly accidents experienced in the 1986 season, Group B was canceled, and all the heat switched to Group A.
Just like Mitsubishi Motors' Galant VR-4 was introduced to comply with the restrictive Group A regulations of the WRC, Lancia modified the Delta HF 4WD into the contested Group – and the rest was history (six-time WRC title winner).
Though hastily developed (Lancia did not have a ready car for Group A), their new rally car won its maiden WRC season taking home both the Drivers' and Manufacturers' championship.
The Maturo Stradale was built to improve, not recreate
Photo: YouTube Screenshot/The Late Brake Show
Jonny of the Late Brake Show reviewed the Lancia Delta Integrale Evo 1 and the reborn restomod by MCC.
"Like all these amazing motorsports cars, it was based on an average car. The Delta was a pretty badly put-together thing," Jonny confessed. "The Delta Integrale has roughly plastics that we know. The driving position, even on an Integrale, is a bit weird. I mean, it feels like you're driving a bus," he added driving the Lancia Delta Integrale Evo I
The main idea behind Maturo Competition Cars is not to recreate the Deltas but to improve on them. Marco said they started the project from a motorsport vision – driving and working on the Group A Delta.
They built an exact copy of the winning Delta Integrale. Still, their biggest obstacle was manufacturing most of the parts (over 2,000) since they are not in production (currently over 30 years old).
The Maturo Stradale (Lancia Integrale restomod) is ideally the Lancia Delta Integrale rally car but with the skin of a road car. Marco said it took the team about 1,500 hours to build the restomod Integrale (minus development).
The Maturo Stradale has double the power of the classic
Photo: YouTube Screenshot/The Late Brake Show
Stock, the Lancia Delta Integrale Evoluzione came with a 16-valve 4-cylinder engine capable of 202 hp (205 ps) and 220 lb-ft (298 Nm) of torque. The in-line four was paired to a 5-speed manual transmission on a four-wheel-drive layout.
The Maturo Stradale, on the other hand, packs a turbocharged 2-liter 4-cylinder making double the power of the Integrale Evo I at 400 hp (405 ps) and 398 lb-ft (540 Nm) of torque. The team installed the original Group N 5-speed gearbox with strengthened gears, alloy casing, lightened flywheel, and high torque double-plated clutch for the transmission.
To make all that power, MCC used a Group A short block with cams, a wider timing belt, forged pistons, ARP head and crank bolts, steel gaskets, modern injectors and ignition, custom ECU, and a stainless steel 70 mm exhaust with Zircotec coated manifold.
Marco says the restomod has the same technical layout as the Lancia Delta Integrale Evoluzione, including the turbo (turbo internals improved).
The restomod development starts with an Intergrale 16v donor car (not an Evoluzione variant). It's fitted with a carbon fiber exterior body and roof skin. On the interior, the team uses a weld-in FIA-approved roll cage and a 250-plus points Domex welded reinforcement.
Marco believes their restomod (Maturo Stradale) is the best you can get from the Lancia Delta. Simply put, it has the underpinnings of the rally car with the skin of a road-going variant.
Since Maturo Competition Cars' objective with the Maturo Stradale was to honor Giorgetto Giugiaro (Lancia Delta designer), the differences between the restomod and Delta Evo I are minimal.
At the front, the team added a mesh where the Indicators were located on the classic (swapped out the classic indicators for LEDs). They also deleted the orange rear indicators for a full red backlight.
How does the Maturo Stardale restomod run? We recommend catching some of that action in the video below.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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