Lancia have always been renounced for their huge success within the world rally championship. The Statros, 037, Delta S4 and group A Intergrale have all been hugely successful. As well as competing in rallying, the Stratos and Monte Carlo (037 in Group B format) were used in racing as well.
The Monte Carlo turbo was used in 'Group 5' racing at the end on the 70s where it competed in endurance racing. Due to the racing group regulations all turbo charged cars had a factor of 1.4 applied to the displacement of the engine. As the Monte Carlo had a KKK turbocharged I4 1400 cc power plant that produced 370 bhp the car fell into the 2.0 litre/ 780kg class.
Over the years the Lancia went through a few changes where the power had been increased. The first variant had the 1400cc power plant tweaked to produce 490bhp and the second variant saw the displacement increase to 1773cc. The power didn't increase but the torque was greatly improved.
The 1773cc engine had been developed by Abarth to allow the Lancia to go 'Porsche hunting' but sadly it never made it to the track. Lancia spent more time developing a new car for the 'Group C' class that was due to start in 1982 instead of pursuing the Monte Carlo any furthur. In the few years that the Monte Carlo Turbo was used for competition racing it was very successful and showed that Lancia didn't just dominate in world rallying.
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