The first thing that catches your attention is the noise. It’s raucous. It’s loud. It’s chest thumping. Once the car enters your field of vision though, your eyes do the rest of the heavy lifting. The car is a white wedge that’s hurtling toward you at a great clip. The car is sideways with the rear pointing one way, then the driver catches some grip and flings the tail to the other side. It all happens in an instant but soon the car has moved on, away from your eyes… but the noise still lingers. This is a 1974 Lancia Stratos Group 4 rally race car, and it’s amazing.
Érik Comas is the owner. According to the video description, Comas grew up racing karts before moving on to Skylines, Porsche 911s, Touring Cars, and eventually climbed the ladder all the way up to Formula 1.
The Frenchman raced in Formula 1 from 1991 through 1994. If you remember the story of Ayrton Senna stopping mid race to help out a fellow driver who was injured, that driver was Comas. After his F1 career was done, Comas continued to race in Japan where he had a bit of success before finally retired from the sport as a professional.
He still drives his Stratos though, and he drives it rather well. He loves this car. The idea that it was built from the outset to be a race car is part of the appeal, as is the way the car drives. Comas seems to have found his automotive soulmate, and it’s shaped like the world’s best triangle.
[Source: Petrolicious]
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