That Time … We Ran Out Of Petrol

23 November 2016 Redazione Stories

LANCIA DELTA INTEGRALE EVO

Words by Antonio Iafelice

A serious bunch of years has passed from that day I saw it for the first time. It was a cold and rainy winter evening as I was briskly walking head down counting the minutes separating me from the warmth of home. I looked up just to cross the street, but it was at that moment that I froze. It was right in front of me, almost as if it had been waiting for me: the Lancia Delta Integrale Evoluzione. A long name but maybe necessary to make you understand what it represents by winning six consecutive World Rally Championships from 1987 to 1992, being so consecrated as a true legend. It was right there, under a street lamp that brought to light its winding bulges: that exaggeratedly rounded wheel arches and that curved bonnet full of air vents, result of the evolution of the model over time. Gently passing a hand on its wet body was so natural: in effect until then I had only seen it on TV or on some magazine always kept jealously over the years. I remember a well-known mag that once gave a poster of a Delta Integrale Evoluzione: I attached that to the wall of my room in zero time! The sensations inside of me were impossible to describe: seeing it for the first time live and being able to appreciate its aesthetic peculiarities that made history made me get into another dimension with no rain, no cold, no hurry to go back home. I had just met it and I did not want to separate from it, but fate had its time: a distinguished gentleman came up greeting me with a wave of his hand before sitting at the wheel, start the engine and leave . Two minutes and the Delta disappeared from my sight raising more than a cloud of water. From that evening several years have passed, but the Delta remained always in my thoughts.
After some time, destiny made its call, but this time it was more generous not only for crossing my path with another wonderful example of Lancia Delta Integrale Evoluzione, but because this time also gave me the opportunity to drive it. It was the realization of a dream: I finally managed to tighten the wheel of the car whose poster was still attached to the wall of my room. Clearly the expectations were very high, moreover, it could not be otherwise since the importance of my feelings towards this very car, but also for what it had represented in the racing world and the fame it has gained as “Rally Queen”. I decided to go for a drive on a mountain path unknown to most people, characterized by the right corners and made even more interesting by a more muddy road than usual because of the rain that fell during the night before. That Sunday morning I asked everything to that Delta.
I immediately blasted pedal to the metal to bind my first 5.7 seconds testing the 0-100 kph. I had the opportunity to try the brutal delivery happening courtesy of different “kicks” in the back. Indeed in those few seconds I easily called into question all of its 210 hp (not catalyzed) of the 2.0 Turbocharged engine. If the acceleration was completely satisfying, later in the test I noticed how you could not give the same rating to its torque. We can almost claim that it has a double soul: under 2,600 rpm is dead, over 2,600 is pretty mad. And the passage from death to life is marked by the typical kick in the back mentioned above, a little ‘how to turn a switch on or off. But this fact was a clear indicator of the sporty ambitions of the Delta. The perception of speed itself was accompanied by another fundamental peculiarity of the Delta: its grip. No wasting time on it, the Delta has a unique stability that gives way to handle corners with a certain joy. Entering turns rather fast and it’s possible to appreciate the incredible stability of the rear axle and the high accuracy with the result of having zero “tail-games” of the rear and no “screwing” of the front. Out of corners, however, you could push the throttle earlier by exploiting the slight tendency to oversteer given by its traction management which tends to power more the rear wheels. The Delta Integrale Evoluzione is simply fast, perhaps too much, considering that it was built from a quiet sedan that had no initial intention of being a sports car. In its latest evolution it reached 215 hp but with a chassis probably not accustomed to handle all that power. The emotions that the Delta Integrale Evoluzione gave me were directly proportional to its rev per minutes and inversely proportional to the level of fuel in the tank.
I finished that mountain road with the classic 32-teeth smile and with the Delta so muddy that seemed coming out a rally stage. I certainly enjoyed the Delta even more than I could ever fantasize during that seemingly endless time I only had the possibility to look at the poster in my room. On the other hand, the Delta asked for so much petrol but never stingy of emotions to give, it claimed until the last drop of fuel repaying me with the right emotions for all the love that I felt for it in all those years.

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AUDI RS4 AVANT (B7)

Words by Alessandro Marrone

I think I’ve never came back roaming the countryside near Piacenza from that fateful day when I ran out of petrol for three long and seemingly endless hours – it was mid-August and I was playing with an RS4 Avant. I’m talking about the model classified as B7, that produced from 2006 to 2008 and equipped with the powerful 420 horsepower V8, capable of unleashing Hell on Earth every time you decide to take off some dust from your right foot.
It all starts early in the morning, when the temperature in the air is pretty much pleasing: in this situation they hand me the key of that red wagon with those huge wheels and its shrill voice that is keep saying “Come on! Drive me!” – I have not even lost a minute and I enter in the luxurious cabin full of leather and technological vanguard, without bothering too much that the fuel indicator was only close to the middle line. I turn on the engine and while I give the car time to warm up its 4.2cc, I come down looking at the back, those two XL-sized tailpipes and those 255-inch tires that promise an almost infinite grip. The desire to leave is great and thanks to the fact of being in the heart of summer, I only have to wait a little and I can move. Immediately the instinct leads me to leave Milan’s city traffic – with Corso Sempione now behind, my direction is South, where to make the most of my time with it (only half a day) open rural roads with good visibility and a wink to the speedometer are awaiting me. I notice that the RS4 Avant is friendly enough to establish with the driver a relationship of mutual trust: the weight balance is so good that despite the power and its 430Nm of torque, oversteer, especially with dry asphalt, is nonexistent. Different story for understeer that peeks if it is you first to act in the wrong way entering or coming out of corners. The road widens, the sun begins to heat more intensively and the windows go down, giving way to the exhaust to free its voice without anything dividing my ears from that melodious roar, always present as soon as you touch the paddle to move down the gears. At that point, your back is pressed to the seat and you smile like a child who has just won a free ride at the Luna Park. Kilometers are eaten fast and hours as well – the many villages crossed are closing their shops for the lunch break and I take this opportunity to deepen my intimacy with this engine, real jewel by Audi. Yes, I know, it could seem a contorted expressions to say that perhaps I also hit my head with the best way to bring down the level of petrol in record time. And in fact, it’s precisely what happened.
The car begins to sob and worried as if I was put in front of the end of the world, I flow in my mind every possible cause, realizing that the fuel light was on (and clearly visible) in front of me, that’s it. I park on one side of the road and take a look at the sat-nav noting that the nearest petrol station, is anything but close – while kilometers left are 0! Well, not an ideal situation. With the engine that does not intend to start itself again, I get off and I observe my surroundings, a seemingly endless landscape one side to the other, with a scorching sun above me and an asphalt that would dissolve any slightest optimism under my feet. The hazard lights are flashing and during those endless minutes of wait I have the opportunity to reflect that I can consider myself lucky because it is (and to date, after about nine years, the only one) the first time that I am forced to pull over with an empty tank. I observe the RS4 and I smile like a fool, giving it a pat on the front pillar as to tell her, “Well come on, we obviously had fun” – and after some more hot wait a good man at the wheel of a tractor stops and offers to take me to the first petrol station where I can get a few liters of Unleaded Fuel in a small tank, just enough for coming back a bit later with the car and make a healthy and providential refueling. It’s getting late, Sun decreases its intensity and I head towards Milan, with a calmer pace and with a smile inside of me for having spent a day at the wheel of an exceptional sports car, so practical and powerful, but also because thanks to this adventure (sort of) lived with it, I am certain that next time I’ll be at the wheel of an RS4 I will keep my eyes firmly fixed on the fuel indicator and not only on the speedo.