Lancia Delta S4
The Delta S4 was Group B's technological apex: twincharged (supercharger plus turbo), mid-engined, four-wheel drive, and devastatingly fast — a career of barely one season that ended with the era itself at Corsica 1986.
History
Abarth's answer to the 205 T16 abandoned every link to the road Delta beyond the silhouette. The S4's spaceframe chassis carried a mid-mounted 1.8-litre four that solved Group B's central problem — turbo lag versus top-end power — by combining a Volumex supercharger for low revs with a KKK turbo taking over above 4,000 rpm. Output was quoted at 480 hp; period engineers spoke of well over 500 in qualifying trim, in a car under a tonne.
The S4 won on debut at the 1985 RAC Rally with Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto, and Toivonen's early-1986 form — including a Monte Carlo victory of crushing superiority — made him the season favourite. Their deaths at the Tour de Corse in May 1986 precipitated Group B's immediate ban for 1987, freezing the S4's career at its peak and binding the car permanently to rallying's darkest chapter.
Around 70 Stradale homologation cars (of a nominal 200) were actually completed, making even the road version genuinely rare. Works race chassis are tracked individually through Abarth records; most reside in collections and museums, surfacing rarely and trading privately at seven figures.
Palmarès
In one full season and fragments of two others: victory on debut at the 1985 RAC, the 1986 Monte Carlo Rally with Toivonen, Argentina and Olympus wins with Miki Biasion and Markku Alén, and second place in the 1986 manufacturers' championship — a record whose brevity is precisely its legend.
What to check before you buy
The S4 market divides into works/Ex-Corse chassis (Abarth-documented, museum-tier) and Stradales, whose real production of ~70 cars makes originality forensic work: correct twincharge hardware, magnesium components and interior trim are regularly missing after period competition use or restoration shortcuts. Engine rebuilds require one of a handful of specialists in Italy and cost accordingly. For competition cars, period entry-list verification is non-negotiable — the type's fame has attracted more 'recreations' than almost any Group B model.
Did you know
- The twincharge system pre-dated Volkswagen's road-car TSI twincharging by two decades — Abarth solved lag with hardware, not electronics.
- Toivonen's Monte Carlo 1986 pace led rivals to admit privately the S4 was operating in a category of its own — some stage times would have qualified mid-field in that year's F1 Monaco GP, a persistent (if apocryphal) paddock claim.
- Lancia tested an Evoluzione 2 with active aero and over 600 hp that never raced — the ban arrived first; the prototype survives in the Fiat heritage collection.
In the marketplace now
View all →No exact Lancia Delta S4 listed right now — here is closely related machinery on the market.
