When Lancia unleashed the Stratos in 1974, the motorsport world was no longer the same. The thunderbolt drove the competition in the World Rally Championship into the ground and won three times in a row: 1974, 1975 and 1976. The mid-engined racer quickly became an absolute crowd favorite - also thanks to the brilliantly screaming Ferrari V6 engine. Now, a long 44 years later, the Stratos is back.
The "New Stratos" is the brainchild of Michael Stoschek: the motorsport enthusiast from Coburg won the Carrera Panamericana three times between 1999 and 2004 and the FIA European Rally Championship in 2006. In 2008, he and his son Maximilian commissioned Pininfarina to build a one-off car, the technical concept and design of which were largely determined by the enthusiasts. It took nine years before the course was set for a small series. In 2017, Michael and Maximilian Stoschek granted Manifattura Automobili Torino (MAT) the rights to build 25 New Stratos. The company, which was founded four years ago and has been relying on the chassis expertise of Bilstein since 2015, specializes in the design, development and production of one-offs and small series of racing and sports cars.
"MAT knows that we can build high-performance suspensions tailored to customer requirements," says Jochen Trettl, Managing Director of the Bilstein Service Center N.T.P. in Italy. Incidentally, the Stratos of the 1970s was already equipped with BILSTEIN shock absorbers. The 4.3-litre V8 of the New Stratos mobilizes 540 hp - enough for a sprint from zero to one hundred km/h in 3.3 seconds and a top speed of 274 to 330 km/h depending on the gear ratio. With its mid-engine concept, the Bolide focuses on agile handling, which is why the chassis is so important.
Customers can order the vehicle in two variants in this respect: with the MDS 2-way suspension for authentic rally and motorsport character or with the iRC feature, whereby the shock absorber characteristics are controlled via smartphone. MAT is highly satisfied with the collaboration: "Bilstein is able to support us with quick and competent answers. The reliability of the components and the company's extensive experience are the key factors for success," says company founder Paolo Garella, who is responsible for the project and previously worked at Pininfarina. Even though the performance of the chassis has already been significantly improved, the development of the New Stratos is "not yet complete", reveals Garella. But good things take time.
