An elephant who made history
Fulvia coupe started its racing career to the Tour de Corse in 1965 with Leo Cella conquering the eighth absolute position.
The auto was tightly of series.
Only following this debut to the Fulvia it was practiced a weight reducing care and an injection of horses (from 83 to 87 HP).
In 1966 and 1967 the Fulvia Coupé taken part to some international competitions.
Particularly the season 1967 opened with the Rally of Montecarlo where the Fulvias came fourth and fifth (Cella and Munari) .At Sweden Rally Toivonen came sixth while to the Rally of the Flowers the Fulvia conquered a third place with Andersson.
In the massacring Rally of the Acropolis Andersson always came second. In the Rally of Spain the Fulvia got a shotgun: first Anderssons -Davemport and second Munari - Harris.
To the Rally of Corsica the prototype was introduced with motor of 1400 cc that won with Munari- Lombardini and it came second with Toivonen.
Munari won the Italian Championship Rally.
In 1968 at Geneva saloon the version Rally HF was introduced with the1300 engine. It was introduced the yellow-blue bicolored gang on the chest and the writing HF on the broadside.
1968 opened with an accident: during a transfer of the Rally of Montecarlo in an accident Lombardini , the Munari’s coequipier died.Three months later, always in an accident (with an Alfa Romeo) Leo Cella died. At the Montecarlo 1968 the Fulvia HF came sixth with Andersson-Davemport. At the rally of Sanremo the Fulvia HF came second (Moss-Nystrom) .At the Acropolis Rally the Fulvia HF conquered only the sixth place with Kallstrom. At the Rally of Corsica the prototype of the Fulvia HF began 1600 (fanalone) and conquered a second place with Aaltonen (four HFs 1600 started at the race) .Cavallari and Salvay won the Italian Championship rally.
In1969 Fulvia got the homologation in group 4 . Before the definitive homologation the Fulvia kept on winning with the HF 1300. The first victory of the HF 1600 confirmed in group 4 was gotten by Barbasio to the Rally of the Elba island . In1969 other successes were to the 84 hours of the Nurburgring (Kallstrom and Barbasio), the Rally of Spain and the RAC (Kallstrom) .Il 1969 Kallstrom-Haggbom won the European Championship and Munari-Mannucci the Italian Championship.
1970 opened with a modest sixth place to the Rally of Montecarlo (Ballestrieri-Audetto) with the withdrawals of the men of point of the team Lancia (Munari, Kallstrom and Fall) .To reach the 1970 first victory the HF 1600 owed attend the month of April (Ballestrieri - Audetto to the Rally of the 999 minutes) .
Other success came with Ballestrieri to the Rally of the 333 minutes and the Alpi Orientali and with Kallstrom - Haggbom (Rally of S. Martin of Castrozza) and Barbasio Mannucci (Rally of Baviera) and with Lampinen-Davemport to the TAP Rally and the 1000 Minutes.
The most important victory of 1970 was gotten by Kallstrom .Haggbom to the RAC.
In 1971 the Fulvia HF 1600 had an injection of horses (160 HP at 7200 rpm) for facing the competition more and more trained (Porsche, Fiat, Ford, Opel, Alpine) . At the Montecarlo rally Fulvia came sixth (Lampinen) while Kallstrom - Haggboms got the third place to the Rally of Sweden. At the Sanremo the HF 1600 came second with Ballestrieri and bystander with Barbasio.
The first victory of the season reached with Munari the Rally 999 Minutes. The same Munari repeated him to the Semperit Rally. Other victories came for worth of Lampinen-Davemport (Rally 4 Regions) and Barbasio Sodano (Rally of the Alpi Orientali) .Munari it finally won two competitions: The Rally of St. Martin of Castrozza and the 1000 Minutes. To end season Munari resulted second in the European championship while Barbasio and Sodano won the Italian Championship.
1972 was the year of the consecration for the HF 1600. The year began with the most famous victory of the HF 1600. Munari -Mannucci won in fact the prestigious Rally of Montecarlo against the Alpine Renaults. Munari repeated him to the Rally of Sicily and Lampinen-Davemport won in the rally of Morocco also grazing the victory to the rally of the Acropolis (won by the Fiat 124 spiders) .Ballestrieri and Bernacchini won the Rally Elan, Barbasio and Sodano won the rally of the Alpi Orientali while Munari and Mannucci won the St. Martin of Castrozza. At the sanremo Rally the Fulvia HF 1600 changed livery assuming the coloration of the sponsor Marlboro and it immediately won with Ballestrieri and Bernacchini.1972 saw Lancia win the Championship of the World in front of the Fiat and to the Porsche while Barbasio and Sodano encored the victory in the Italian Championship. Paradoxically the year of the most prestigious victory coincided with the beginning of the sunset of the star. In fact the Lancia had a new weapon: the Stratos.
1973 opened as of usual with the rally of Montecarlo where Munari, for a long time in head to the competition retired. Munari referred him winning the rally of the Costa Brava, the Rally of San Marino, the St. Martin of Castrozza and the rally of Sicily. Ballestrieri and Maiga won the Martha Rally, the 4 Regions and the Alpe Luna. Munari and Mannucci resulted European Champions, Ballestrieri-Maigas won the Italian Championship while in the World Rally Championship Lancia came only thirteenth. In 1973 the Stratos intensified its apparitions and for the Fulvia there was less and less space.
There was just one more age of history left for the car to write, and was Munari-Drew’s third place at the 1974 Safari Rally . This was the last official Fulvia’s outing. The 12 points wich Munari clinched in Kenya were a massive boost for the Stratos subsequent climb to the world championship at the end of the year.
And then. .... the Fulvia has kept on racing up to the expiration of its homologation in so many Rally leaving in me a great memory of a small great car that has made me dream when to the newscast (then in black and white) I felt the news on a certain first place of Munari to Montecarlo and I dreamt that one day or the other on I would have been driving that car…………...