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Lancia’s Most Powerful Model, The Kimera 038 Has Been Let Loose
The Lancia Rally 037, together with the fierce rally versions of the Stratos and Delta, is perhaps Lancia’s most talked-about rally gun ever. The Rally 037 eventually passed the baton to the Delta, and so the 037 itself was not further developed as such, although an ‘038’ was being worked on. The Italian Kimera Automobili now continues where Lancia itself once left off. This is Kimera 038!
The Lancia Rally 037 is more or less known as ‘the last rally car without four-wheel drive’. Lancia held on to the rear-wheel drive with which it had been so successful for a long time with this spectacular gun and only switched to a four-wheel drive platform with the arrival of the Delta.
Kimera Automobili presented a beautiful, restomod-like remake of the 0037 in 2021 with rear-wheel drive. The Kimera EVO37 now gets a sequel: the Kimera EVO38. The biggest difference is that the ’38’ has the four-wheel drive that the real Lancia Rally 037 never got. There are also some optical differences. For example, the rear screens have been extended in a more brutal manner, so that an extra opening is created next to the rear lights. We also see some extra cooling openings on the left and right, but basically, the Kimera toy is and remains clearly a modern reincarnation of the ‘Tipo 151’ from the eighties.
In order not to unnecessarily end up with hyper-rare and expensive 037s, Kimera uses the Lancia Beta Montecarlo—also with a mid-engine—as a basis. Visually, nothing remains of that Montecarlo, although the original Lancia four-cylinder is reportedly the basis of the turbo block, pumped up to over 500 hp, that is located amidships in the Kimera. A manual gearbox distributes the drive forces to all wheels, and a sequential transmission with paddle shifters is still being worked on. Interestingly, according to its makers, the EVO38 is about as light as the rear-wheel-drive EVO37: just under 1,100 kg. To compensate for the extra drive shaft, Kimera uses more light materials elsewhere in the car, such as the visible carbon fiber here and there.
