ABARTH: 70 YEARS OF RACING
a letter of congratulations from Giovanni Agnelli of Fiat
in September 1971 – but it was not much more than a
nod, given that Fiat had now taken over the company,
and that was the end of that.1972-1977
After Fiat took Abarth over in 1971, it demanded that
there would be no more racing by Abarth. Enzo Osella
took over the continued development of the 2.0-litre
sports prototypes. During 1972, Arturo Merzario in the
latest SE 021 proved extremely quick, being faster
than one of the Alfa Romeo T33s at the Brands Hatch
1000km, then securing three wins in a row in the
European 2.0-litre championship during the summer at
Dijon, a very wet Silverstone and at Enna. The
following models were eventually named Osella PA1,
with PA standing for Prototipo Abarth. The Osella
marque is still alive and well.
Meanwhile, the Fiat Group had been tentatively
supporting 124 and 125 Berlinas in rallying. Then aserious view was taken of the sport with the arrival of
the 124 Spider Abarth – Tipo SE026 – in 1972. At first,
in virtually standard Group 3 form, the model was
developed into a perennial runner-up. In World Rally
Championship Group 4 form, its limited rear suspension
travel told against it. The 124 Rally was superseded by
the new Fiat 131 Berlina in 1976, which went on to win
the World Rally Championship.1978-1986
A period of huge success in rallying followed on from
the Fiat 131 Abarth with the subsequent all-new
Group B Lancia Rally SE 037. The latter took the 1983
World Rally Manufacturers Championship and won
innumerable rallies, both nationally and
internationally. It was followed by the fearsome Lancia
Delta S4 – with the Abarth type number SE 038 –
which ran up until the tragic accident in Corsica, from
which Henri Toivonen succumbed, as indeed did Group
B by the end of 1986.CLOCKWISE FROM TOP
LEFT: Glorious 131 Abarth;
Rauno Aaltonen on the
1974 RAC Rally; Lancia 037;
Miki Biasion's Delta
integrale at San Marino;
Lancia Delta S4