The original Stratos was one of the most successful rally cars of all time. Although it only won three WRC titles, it was widely accepted that if should have won more.
It was first displayed by Bertone at the Turin motor show way back in 1970, Lancia picked up on it and the rest is history. After decades of waiting, and countless kit car versions later we are finally going to see an all-new Stratos. Or so we thought in 2011, much like the original, the car was dependent on Ferrari parts, parts they didn’t agree to supply this time.
Fast forward to 2018 and there is a new company willing to build that car, with Ferrari parts, but this time isn’t getting blocked. It will be a limited run, but if you have the money, you can now order one of these gorgeous machines.
Stoschek V Ferrari
After years of development and millions of Euros investment, Michael Stoschek was ready to unveil the Stratos. So confident was he, that he gave the keys to the then CEO of Ferrari to hopefully get their blessing.
In front of the media all seemed well with the world, literally signing off on the project! However, behind closed doors, where it mattered most things took a turn for the worst. Ferrari refused to supply the company with any Ferrari F430s they would need to build the Stratos, effectively killing the project.
This may seem heavy-handed, but at the time the F430 was still hard to come by and was one of Ferrari’s greatest achievements in automotive engineering, so handing that over to anyone, even if they were improving it didn’t sit right with them. It is just business, after all, nothing personal.
Manifattura Automobili Torino, Or MAT Stratos
Another 7 years had to go by before they could revisit this almost mythical project, for Stratos enthusiasts the world over, it was time to celebrate.
The F430 was now old news and freely available on the used market, so finally, they had the platform for their little Stratos. We say little because it is significantly smaller than the car it is based on, it also gets a manual transmission, something you couldn’t get with the Ferrari. The lines are all from the old Stratos, the only real evidence of the Ferrari base is the soundtrack, but the original was much the same, to the delight of all the enthusiasts lining up to order one of these cars.
Although it should be noted, those enthusiasts need to be rich enthusiasts, costing more than half a million dollars sans the required Ferrari donor car.
Better Than A Ferrari
Frankly speaking, with that kind of price tag it better be! It certainly is though, with all the emphasis going to the driving experience, and much like any other track-focused vehicle, the daily drivability takes a back seat in favor of pure adrenalin.
Significantly lighter than the car it is based on, and 540 horses (around 8 more than the F430) the car has all the speed you would expect from a supercar in this price range. Connecting the driver to the road and the powerplant thru the manual transmission is likely the biggest difference though, it reveals the true nature of the peaky engine that just wants to rev for days. When it comes to the pure driver experience, there are few cars that will match the Stratos.
Summary
For a car that has been in the development phase for over 15 years, it is great to just see it finally come to life. With so many ups, downs and plot twists just the fact that it actually finally got a limited production run is something of a success story.
The car itself is no kit car either, it is bespoke coach-building at its finest. It takes an already brilliant car and makes it even better, not without flaws though. It is so focused on being what it wants to be that it removes much of what made the Ferrari it is based on so great. The engine is wonderful, when the revs are up and you gunning it through a canyon road you will love the feel of the manual transmission, in the city, you will long for the automatic after stalling it or over-revving it several times. On longer trips, a few creature comforts and any level of actual comfort would also be appreciated, but you won’t get any of that, just a place to store your helmet.
This is not a Ferrari; it isn’t even a real road car. This is everything that made the Lancia Stratos so special brought into the 21st century, if you can afford this you can probably afford a separate daily driver and reserve this for those special occasions.