Lancia Beta Coupé - MotorsportsAlmanac.com

Lancia Beta Coupé FIA Group 4 car
Mauro Pregliasco on his way to fourth overall on the 1975 San Remo Rally.
Technical Specifications (1974/75)
The Lancia Beta Coupé was presented at
the Frankfurt Auto Show in autumn 1973.
Lancia house designer Pietro Castagnero
had penned the attractive lines. The Beta
Coupé – another front-wheel-drive coupé
from Lancia – was homologated into
Group 3 and Group 4 on October 1st,
1974 just in time for a début on Lancia’s
home event at San Remo. The base car
was only slightly modified externally. The
bodywork received flared wheel arches in
plastic while there were two engine
options. The Group 3 car used a 8-valve
head while the Group 4 car had a 16-valve
Abarth head from the 124 Rally Abarth.
The 8-valve car had 175 PS while the 16valve
engine was near 200 PS. Kenyan
Shekhar Mehta took his Beta Coupé to a
fine fourth place in the début.
PRODUCTION
Years : 1973-1984
Numbers built : 111801 cars
FIA Homologation ID : 3064
Homologated : 01/10/1974 into FIA Group 4
ENGINE
Model : Lancia 828 AC1
Type : 4-cylinder in-line, transversal, belt-driven DOHC, 4VPC
Capacity : 1840 cc (base engine : 1756 cc)
Bore x Stroke : 86.00 x 79.20 mm
Max Power : 195 PS @ 7700 rpm
Max Torque : 22 kgm @ 5500 rpm.
Fuel System : 2 x twin 48 mm Dell’ orto carburettors.
Ignition : Electronic with rpm limiter.
TRANSMISSION
Layout : Front transverse engine, front wheel drive
Gearbox : 5-speed Colotti (ZF) non-synchro, H-gate shift
Gear ratios : I: 3.500 II: 2.467 III: 1.895 IV: 1.522 V: 1.280
Clutch : 210 mm single dry plate
Final Drive : 4.462:1 (13/58 from Lancia Beta 1300) with limited slip differential
SUSPENSION
Front : MacPherson struts with lower wishbone, telescopic dampers and coil springs, anti-roll bar.
Rear : Twin transverse links, telescopic dampers, coil springs, anti-roll bar.
BRAKES
Front : Discs, 2-pot 45+34 mm calipers.
Rear : Discs, 1-pot 36mm caliper.
WHEELS
Front and rear : 7x13 (gravel) or 9x13 (tarmac)
TYRES
Front and rear : 195/50VR13 (gravel) or 235/50VR13 (tarmac)
STEERING
Type : ZF Rack and pinion (power-assisted from Sanremo 1975)
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase : 2350 mm
Front track : 1470 mm.(7xR13) 1520 mm (9xR13)
Rear track : 1465 mm.(7xR13) 1515 mm (9xR13)
Length : 3995 mm
Width : 1760 mm
Height : 1285 mm
Fuel Tank : 60 litres
Weight : 904 kg (960 kg)

PERFORMANCE
Top Speed : 151 km/h (at 7000 rpm in fifth gear.)
Speeds @ 7000 rpm : I: 55 km/h II:78 km/h III: 3st 102 km/h IV: 127 km/h
LANCIA BETA COUPÉ IN THE WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
The Lancia marque was taken over by Fiat in 1969. At the time Lancia used the little front-wheel-drive coupe Fulvia in
rally competition. In the beginning of the 1970s Fiat took over the competition activities with their 124 Rally Abarth.
This car was replaced by the futuristic looking Lancia Stratos in 1973. However Fiat also wanted to promote a more
standard looking car as well and therefore Lancia developed the new Beta Coupé to compete in parallel with the Stratos.
The Lancia Beta Coupé was presented at the Frankfurt Auto Show in autumn 1973. Lancia house designer Pietro
Castagnero had penned the attractive lines. The Beta Coupé – another front-wheel-drive coupé from Lancia – was
homologated into Group 3 and Group 4 on October 1 st, 1974 just in time for a début on Lancia’s home event at San Remo.
The base car was only slightly modified externally. The bodywork received flared wheel arches in plastic while there
were two engine options. The Group 3 car used a 8-valve head while the Group 4 car had a 16-valve Abarth head from
the 124 Rally Abarth. The 8-valve car had 175 PS while the 16-valve engine was near 200 PS. Kenyan Shekhar Mehta
took his Beta Coupé to a fine fourth place while Amilcare Ballestrieri crashed out. Simo Lampinen missed the start due
to receiving the wrong start time and he was excluded. The next events on the calendar took place in North America.
First of those was the Rideau Lakes Rally Canada. Lead driver Sandro Munari sat in the Stratos while Mauro Pregliasco
drove a Group 3 Beta Coupé and Simo Lampinen had a 16-valve Group 4 car. Pregliasco soon broke the engine while
Lampinen ran very successfully in his Beta. On muddy and snowy stages Lampinen’s Beta showed what it could do
and it was only Cesare Fiorio’s team orders on the last stage which handed the win to Munari’s Stratos while Lampinen
had to settle for second. The cars now headed for Michigan and the next rally which was the Press-On-Regardless.
Lancia entered the same cars and crew as in Canada. Lampinen was best Lancia car with a fourth place finish. Pregliasco
broke the exhaust manifold, and Munari’s Stratos with suspension maladies. Jean-Luc Thérier won in a front-wheeldrive
Renault 17 Gordini. For the next race of the year – the RAC – Lancia brought a Stratos again for Munari while both
Beta Coupé’s now were 16-valve Group 4 cars. Lancia had built two new cars for Simo Lampinen (Nº11 with L06635
TO) and Amilcare Ballestrieri (Nº19 with L06634 TO). The event had a super entry with many works and semi works
teams entered. The entries included four works Ford Escort RS1600’s (Mäkinen-Clark-Mikkola-Alén), four Opel
Ascona’s (Röhrl-Carlsson-Fall-Pond), three Saab 96 V4’s (Blomqvist-Eklund-Rainio), four Fiat 124 Abarth Rally
(Aaltonen-Kinnunen-Paganelli-Barbasio), three Datsun Violet 160J SSS (Källström-Sclater-Faulkner), two Toyota Corolla
Levin’s (Andersson-Waldegård) , Toyota Celica GT (Moss-Carlsson), Triumph Dolomite Sprint (Culcheth). Mäkinen
ultimately won the RAC, with Munari third. Lampinen had a troublesome rally with transmission and brake problems.
He however came home in tenth place as the best front-wheel-drive car. The last event of the 1974 Championship was
the Tour de Corse. Lancia brought four cars, three Stratos and one Group 4 Beta coupe for Mauro Pregliasco. Pregliasco
crashed out but Jean-Claude Andruet won the event for Lancia in a Stratos. For 1975 Lancia would once again be
campaigning the Stratos and Beta. The Monte Carlo Rally was once again the traditional curtain raiser for the Rally
season after the 1974 event was cancelled due to the oil crisis. Sandro Munari won the event in his Lancia Stratos while
the Beta Coupé driven by Amilcare Ballestrieri retired to to engine problems. For Sweden Lancia brought a Stratos for
Waldegård and a new Beta Coupé L91608 TO for Lampinen. Waldegård won the event while Lampinen come home a
fine third. For the Safari Rally in Kenya, Lancia entered three Strato’s and two Beta’s. Local drivers Shekhar Mehta and
Robin Ulyate drove the Beta Coupé’s. The Beta’s did not cope with the Safari conditions and Mehta retired with broken
front suspension while Ulyate broke the chassis. Munari came home second in a Stratos while Waldegård finished
fourth in a similar car. For Acropolis, Lampinen was once again driving a Beta supporting a Stratos. Lampinen was
forced to retire due to a broken Colotti gearbox. He got stuck in second gear. After Acropolis, Lancia was firmly in the
Championship lead and decided to skip the next three events at Morocco, Portugal and the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland.
They returned at their home event at San Remo. The Beta’s had been further developed with new power-steering,
adapted from the standard ZF system. A new limited slip differential was also in use. Waldegård used the Stratos while
Lampinen and Pregliasco used Group 4 Beta Coupé’s. Lampinen broke the front suspension while Pregliasco came
home fourth. Waldegård won in the Stratos. After Sanremo, the next event was the Tour de Corse, where Lancia only
used a Stratos for Darniche. The final race of the year came in Great Britain with the traditional end-of-season RAC Rally.
Two Stratos and a single Group 4 Beta were entered. Simo Lampinen took the Beta to tenth place and added one more
Championship point for the make and helped Lancia to win another World Championship for Manufacturers. For the
coming years the Fiat Group would now concentrate their effort on a new Group 4 car - The Fiat 131 Abarth Rally. This
car would serve the purpose to promote the Fiat 131 Mirafiori road car and be able to fight for overall wins while the
Stratos could be put in semi-retirement. The works team also used the Beta Coupé in the 1975 Italian Championship
with Mauro Pregliasco as lead driver. Jolly Club also entered drivers Beta Coupé’s. For 1976 the works cars were
disposed off to other teams. Anne-Charlotte Verney and Bernard Darniche used Beta Coupé’s in various French events
by Reseau Chardonnet – the French Lancia importer. German Karl-Arno Fischer bought one works car, which he used
in Germany during 1977 and 1978. Fischer also entered in the 1977 RAC Rally. Reseau Chardonnet also entered Beta
HPE’s in Group N at the 1982 Rally Monte Carlo. The production of the Beta Coupé (and HPE) came to a stop in 1984.
The Fiat Group used the 131 Abarth Rally in works trim from 1976 until the Lancia 037 Rally came along in 1983.

LANCIA BETA – VERSIONS
Version Presented Notes
Lancia Beta Berlina November 1972 Hatchback sedan, called Berlina, Limousine and Saloon.
Lancia Beta Coupé June 1973 Short-wheelbase coupe version.
Lancia Beta Spider 1974 Convertible version of the Coupé designed by Pininfarina,
built by Zagato.
Lancia Beta HPE 1975 Sports Wagon based on the Coupe but with the wheelbase of the Berlina.
Lancia Beta Montecarlo 1974 Mid-engined sports two-seater, designed by Pininfarina.
Lancia Trevi 1980 4-door Saloon version of the Berlina.
LANCIA BETA PRODUCTION NUMBERS
Model Years of production Numbers Notes
Beta 1972-1979 195 462 Hatchback saloon.
Trevi 1980-1984 36 784 Saloon
Beta Coupé 1973-1984 111 801 Coupé
Beta Spider 1974-1982 9 390 Open top car
Beta Montecarlo 1974-1981 7 595 Sports Coupé, which later evloved into the Lancia 037 Rally.
Beta HPE 1600 1975-1984 31 489 Sports Estate with base 1.6 litre engine.
Beta HPE 1800 1975-1978 1 785 Sports Estate with 1.8 litre engine.
Beta HPE 2000 1975-1984 35 615 Sports Estate with 2.0 litre engine. Total HPE production: 71 258
Beta HPE 2000 VX 1983-1984 2 369 HPE with Volumex compressor.
TOTAL BETA & TREVI 1972-1984 432 260
LANCIA BETA COUPÉ – RACE SUMMARY
Year Event Driver Car Result
1974 Rallye Sanremo Shekhar Mehta Lancia Beta Coupé 4
1974 Rallye Sanremo Amilcare Ballestrieri Lancia Beta Coupé DNF – crash
1974 Rallye Sanremo Simo Lampinen Lancia Beta Coupé DNS – excluded
1974 Rally Rideau Lakes Simo Lampinen Lancia Beta Coupé 2
1974 Press On Regardless Simo Lampinen Lancia Beta Coupé 4
1974 Press On Regardless Mauro Pregliasco Lancia Beta Coupé DNF – engine mounting
1974 RAC Rally Simo Lampinen Lancia Beta Coupé 10
1974 RAC Rally Amilcare Ballestrieri Lancia Beta Coupé DNF – engine
1974 Tour de Corse Amilcare Ballestrieri Lancia Beta Coupé DNF
1974 Tour de Corse Mauro Pregliasco Lancia Beta Coupé DNF – crash
1975 Rallye Monte-Carlo Amilcare Ballestrieri Lancia Beta Coupé DNF – engine (conrod)
1975 Swedish Rally Simo Lampinen Lancia Beta Coupé 3
1975 Safari Rally Shekhar Mehta Lancia Beta Coupé DNF – suspension
1975 Safari Rally Robin Ulyate Lancia Beta Coupé DNF – suspension
1975 Rally della Lana Bossetti Lancia Beta Coupé 2
1975 Rally de los Alpes Orientales Mauro Pregliasco Lancia Beta Coupé 2
1975 Rally de Sicilia Mauro Pregliasco Lancia Beta Coupé 2
1975 Rally of Piemonte Tony Carello Lancia Beta Coupé 4
1975 Rally Isola di Elba Maurizio Ambrogetti Lancia Beta Coupé DNF – gearbox
1975 Rally Isola di Elba Tony Carello Lancia Beta Coupé DNF
1975 Acropolis Rally Simo Lampinen Lancia Beta Coupé DNF – gearbox
1975 1000 Lakes Rally Simo Lampinen Lancia Beta Coupé 2
1975 Rallye Sanremo Mauro Pregliasco Lancia Beta Coupé 4
1975 RAC Rally Simo Lampinen Lancia Beta Coupé 10
1976 Barum Rallye Sioli Lancia Beta Coupé DNF
1977 RAC Rally Karl-Arno Fischer Lancia Beta Coupé DNF
1982 Rally Monte Carlo Maurice Chomat Lancia Beta HPE 38 (second in Gr N)
1982 Rally Monte Carlo Philippe Hamer Lancia Beta HPE 39 (third in Gr N)
1982 Rally Monte Carlo Tony Carello Lancia Beta HPE DNF

IMAGE GALLERY
Mauro Pregliasco in the Italian Rally Championship in 1975. The cockpit of the Beta Coupé.
Karl-Arno Fischer on the 1977 RAC Rally in his ex-works Beta Coupé.
SOURCES
http://usuarios.lycos.es/tododelado/
http://www.lancia-beta.de/
© Compilation by Rainer Nyberg 2004-04-22 Fact-sheet 04/027