Petro_L article, Lancia MonteCarlo.

[Rupunzell]

The reason for being involved with the X1/9 & Scorpiacarlo has most to do with their chassis-suspension excellence. Without these fundamental excellence in their bones, most anything done to them will produce a lesser result.

“I did the setup of my Montecarlo Group 4 car and managed to win two historic Italian hill-climbing championships in the 2000 GTS class,” he tells me, “The chassis design is really excellent, with incredible torsional and flexural stiffness values for a production car. This allowed Pininfarina to be able to use the central part of the stock body to design and build the racing derivatives, winning in their respective world championships; the Beta Montecarlo Turbo Group 5 for the track, and the 037 for rallying."

~Stefano Ferrari, a mechanical engineer and former racing driver.

After A Decade Of Hill Climbing, This Mechanical Engineer Still Chooses The Lancia Montecarlo

And his family legacy with Lancia goes back nearly a century.

petrolicious.com

 

[RobM]

It's a good article. The photos are excellent. His engine bay looks bone stock and dirty.
You are right. The period road tests all commented that Lancia got the ride/handling balance just right. Ditto the X.