Rally? You’ve already got one hand on the trophy

Son Freek, dad Huib, and Tina during the Tulip Rally. Tina is the car. Her full name is Celestina. Friends may call her Tina.

... When Casa Lancia preps your Lancia
Rallying is fun. Regularity rallies for classic cars. I’ve done them with friends, my daughter, son, wife, and son-in-law. There are one-day rallies, multi-day events, or even week-long adventures. You can start in the touring class and work your way up to the sport class and even the expert class.

Tulpenrallye 2002 Badge

Looking for a rally car? You’ve come to the right place. The Flavia and Fulvia are cars with great passive and active safety features. A solid body with crumple zones front and rear, four disc brakes all around. In the wild, they’re fast. Not highway beasts, but on country roads, they’re hard to catch. Lancia always does their homework. That includes the gearbox. The gear ratios are selected to make you quick on the white and yellow roads. Even with a 1100 cc Fulvia. Or a 1500 cc Flavia. I’ve done many rallies in my S1 Fulvia Rallye 1.3. At the starting line, everyone looks pityingly at your skinny tires and tiny exhaust, but by the first corner, you’ve passed them all. Fun.

Fulvia and Flavia achieve their high average speeds not so much from big engine power, but from superior handling and balance. If you can maintain speed through corners, you don’t need a powerful engine to accelerate quickly. Your engine will last longer and use less fuel. Did you know the Flavia was the first Italian front-wheel-drive car, and the Fulvia was the second?

Fantastic handling, even on very rough roads. Sharp steering. Brakes like a beast. Rock solid. Quick throttle response. Quiet. In a regularity rally, you want a car that offers a stable platform for the navigator. Then you’re in the right place with Lancia and Casa Lancia.

Michelin Map 1:200,000

If you feel your Fulvia or Flavia isn’t fast enough, please don’t start tuning the engine. Well, it’s your choice of course, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Make sure your bodywork is completely sound, your subframe, all the bushings, joints, and mounts in the suspension and steering, your springs and shock absorbers. No wide wheels. Just standard steel rims. The springs are very high-tech. There’s only one company in the world I trust to service them properly. With the right shock absorbers, you can hit speed bumps at 120 km/h. Speed bumps? You’re not obliged to take every bump at 120, of course. I just mean that thinking in terms of balance pays off more. Make sure the car is in order. Read the rally rules carefully. Do a few rallies. You’ll naturally notice whether the car is in balance with itself, the rally, and the driver and navigator. When everything and everyone is aligned, things just flow. You’ve already got one hand on the trophy.

Flaminia in the Tulip Rally

Fulvias and Flavias are now mostly over 50 years old. There’s a good chance of rust damage and/or crash damage. Collision repairs are rarely done properly. You can’t do it right without stripping the car completely. Straightening on a chassis bench doesn’t cut it. A bench can maybe get the doors and panels aligned okay, but it won’t get the suspension mounting points exactly where they need to be. Casa Lancia has the molds and methods to get it right again.

You’re always welcome for a snapshot inspection with us. If it’s your first visit with a Fulvia, Flavia, or Flaminia, the first hour of inspection is free. No obligations whatsoever.

Sliding Pillar Annebel and Huib with the Appia