11/12/2022 0 Comments Pull the pin challenge level 37![]() While the front axle uses coilovers, the back is controlled by two Öhlins dampers that sit either side of a spring neatly threaded through beautiful forged wishbones. And overkill or not, it’s all damned easy on the eye. As a road car, which is how Betti describes the Evo37, the use of double dampers is total overkill, but it’s a set-up that Lancia pioneered with the 037, so it’s recreated here. Prise open the rear clamshell, with its exhibition window, and the real excitement begins. In terms of footprint, it means the car is as long as the Mazda MX-5 but about as wide as the BMW 5 Series, with the roofline lower than that of the Alpine A110. Subtle but at the same time unmistakable box arches give away the fact the tracks are slightly wider than what you will find on an 037 and the wheelbase is a little longer, but overall length is an exact match. Given the original bodyshell, the Evo37’s dimensions are also roughly the same as the car it pays tribute to. The engine is mounted behind the cockpit and spun 90deg lengthways compared with how it lay in the Beta Montecarlo, because that’s what the 037 engineers did back in the day to give them easier access to the gearbox for modifications and repairs. The car therefore features double-wishbone suspension at each end, with the links hung from tubular subframes wrought in chromoly steel. We’re mostly dealing with clean-sheet manufacturing, albeit manufacturing that quite closely follows the original 037 playbook. However, in reality there’s barely any ‘resto’ in here, other than the core bodyshell, which is sourced from an old Beta Montecarlo, just as it was for the 037 rally car. So the Evo37 is another restomod, the template being the last rear-wheel-drive machine to win the World Rally Championship, in the series’ most fearsome era. Then come the words of Luca Betti, the 43-year-old for whom this machine is essentially an extremely committed lockdown project, and who is on hand during our first go in the Evo37 at the Busca International kart circuit in Piedmont: “We wanted to create the Lancia 037 as though it were built today, with the same passion and the same characteristics.” And clearly the same ability to stop anyone, anywhere, dead in their tracks. The inspiration for the Evo37 is nothing less than the Pininfarina-styled, mid-engined Group B Lancia 037 of the 1980s. But none of this should come as a surprise. ![]()
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