Italia Gagliano Group B

The **Italia Gagliano Group B** is a fanonical Rally Car created by JustAlex93.

## Details

The Tasso Tipo B (co-developed by Italia and Enthusia) was able to clinch the 1983 WRC Championship title from the Bolter rally car, which Wulff was struggling to get reliability and dry performance out of. However, it was beginning to struggle to keep pace with the ever-improving Bolter in many events.

With that, Italia went to work designing an AWD rally car to compete with Wulff, even though they themselves have no experience in developing AWD drivetrains and chassis.

In 1983, using one of the Tasso prototypes, #037-3, as a basis, they modified it into a developmental model of their new AWD rally monster. This test vehicle is named the **Mechano**, after a popular Japanese giant robot. The Mechano carried an early version of what would become the new AWD car's engine, an F1-inspired, ten-thousand revs-per-minute Inline-4 which would be twincharged, meaning that it has both a turbocharger and a supercharger. The twincharging system relied on pneumatic actuators and release valves to reduce turbo lag at lower RPMs, as well as to improve throttle response on tight rally stages. The prototype engine produced 700 bhp.

This prototype is all about the engine and the chassis, and the mechanicals having been left purely as a Tasso prototype. This was done by Italia so that they could get the twincharging concept onto the La Mandria test track to get an understanding on how the car would work under various conditions. The main objectives for the tests were to see how the car would drive, and also the cooling, especially of the compressed air and engine oil. The Mechano's rear wing not only created a large amount of downforce, but also pushed air into the engine bay for its two intercoolers. It proved to be a step in the right direction. A new two-stage intercooler was also used in the Mechano, with the car given a new clamshell to house the engine. Test drivers reported a significant increase in horsepower and torque, but with weaknesses in the exhaust system and heat management. The engine reportedly proved too potent for the rear wheel drive chassis, making the car difficult to drive.

After testing with the Mechano was finished, a new fully-tubular spaceframe chassis was developed, a direct evolution of the Tasso's chassis, retaining most of the latter's features, such as a mid-engine layout and the lack of a rear bumper replaced by large roll-up mudflaps. Due to the skyrocketing of Group B's popularity, Italia decided that for marketing purposes, their new rally car would emulate their Gagliano family car, even though the latter is front-engined and front-wheel drive. Nonetheless, the new rally car was designated the "Gagliano Group B" to denote its intended purpose.

However, because Italia had little experience in developing AWD systems, they had to team up with Hartland to develop the drivetrain for the new rally car, which consisted of front and rear YE limited-slip differentials. However, what made the Gagliano Group B's drivetrain truly work is a planetary gear center diff equipped with a viscous coupling supplied by Farquharson Racing Components (FRC). The front diff could be disengaged to make the Gagliano Group B an RWD car, but this feature is never used in competition, due to the car having better performance in AWD with its settings biased towards the rear (75%).

Despite the extra weight of the AWD drivetrain, Italia's engineers implemented a smaller 1,759cc version of the new engine. When paired with the FISA multiplication factor of 1.4 for forced induction, the engine would put the car into the 2,000-2,500cc class. This also allows the Gagliano Group B to weigh in at as little as 1,960 lbs (890 kg), leading the engineering team to try and make the car as light as possible.

The engineers in the Gagliano Group B project were one of the first rally teams to use computer-assisted torsion and bending figures and tests, though initial safety concerns were put forward about the construction of the spaceframe and the bodywork. Based on data collected from the tests of the prototype, reinforcements were made accordingly. The tests had shown that though the car could be made as light as 1,960 lbs as per class regulations, the chassis and bodywork proved to be too brittle to withstand repeated abuse, so reinforcements were made to make the Gagliano Group B reliable enough for competition. In actual rally form, the resulting strict minimum race weight is 2,100 lbs (950 kg). For rougher rallies, further reinforcements had to be made, resulting in a weight rating of 2,315 lbs (1,050 kg).

The bodywork was developed around many, many hours of wind tunnel testing of various different versions of aerodynamic appendages. This kind of extensive development and testing was something seldom seen for a rally car. The finalized form of the bodywork was made of a light carbon/Kevlar composite, which at the time was a new and expensive material. The doors were hollow with a thin Kevlar skin, and the windows are composite acrylic. The front and rear sections open up in a clamshell fashion, and could be quickly removed for ease of maintenance. The bonnet featured a wickerbill to aid in radiator cooling, and could be opened independently from the rest of the clamshell to allow easier access to the spare tire. The rear section features large side scoops to feed air into the two intercoolers (one for the supercharger, the other for the turbocharger). It also has a roof scoop, which provides fresh air for the intake and oil cooler. A large, flexible front air dam paired with a deflector roof spoiler aided aerodynamics.

Because of its features, the Gagliano Group B is considered to be the most technically advanced rally car of its day.

It was officially homologated in time for the 1985 RAC rally, where it racked up an incredible 1-2 finish in the capable hands of Finnish drivers Hermani Viitanen and Konsta Salo. The feat was repeated at the 1986 Monte Carlo Rally, ending over a year of Mirage dominance. The Gagliano Group B had shown to be reliable without much major issues and was very fast on all types of surfaces.

As per regulations, Italia made 200 units of a road-legal "Stradale" model of the car to be sold to the public.

However, the Gagliano Group B was not without any faults, as it often had to undergo chassis repairs and even full rebuilds after each rally, making it questionable for rougher events. This was confirmed when Italia chose to use the older Tasso Tipo B for the Safari Rally. The crews complained of the cabin getting very hot because of heat radiating from the engine being positioned right behind the seats, and from the transmission that is positioned between the seats. As such, most rally cars were fitted extra heat-reflective mats, hiding some of the cabin's bare composite panels. Another serious problem is that the accelerator pedal would get stuck in the composite floorboard after the latter would crack from repeated abuse.

The engine's power output was also a matter of question. Officially, the engine is rated at 450 bhp, but most insiders agree that it is likely closer to 550 bhp. Even more power was believed to be in the works. Rumor has it was that Hermani Viitanen drove two test laps on the F1 circuit in Estoril, Portugal with a 800+ bhp version of the twincharged engine and came within a few seconds of the qualifying lap times made by the Formula One racers at the time. Konsta Salo later said in an interview that the Gagliano Group B that he was given to drive in the 1986 Olympus Rally featured an upgraded engine tuned to produce up to 750 bhp. Independent tests proved the Gagliano Group B to be the fastest accelerating Group B car on the tarmac, with a time of 2.4 seconds for the 0-100 km/h (62 mph) dash.

The Gagliano Group B's weight-minimizing philosophy would lead to the disastrous event which brought about the end of the Group B formula (though there was more to it than that); It was at the Tour de Corse in May of 1986 that a car driven by Hermani Viitanen and his Italian-American co-driver, Sandro Certa, had inexplicably flipped over the stone wall in the 18th stage, rolled down the rocky embankment through some bushes, got hanged in some trees, and caught on fire. Both men were killed in the blaze.

The accident had no witnesses close enough to see exactly what had happened, but some did report of having seen a huge ball of fire shooting up from the treeline. The main theory is that when the Gagliano Group B fell into the trees, its aluminum fuel tank (positioned partly underneath the front seats) was punctured by branches and that a hot component ignited the gas. The team had removed the skid plates to reduce weight and improve performance, leaving the fuel tank completely exposed to all outside elements. The fire burned through the cabin relatively quickly, preventing Viitanen and Certa from escaping.

Another thing worth noting was that Viitanen reported that he wasn't feeling well the morning before the accident, and showed some symptoms of the flu. However, this didn't prevent him from posting fastest stage times until his untimely death. Moreover, Viitanen also remarked how the Gagliano Group B's immense performance was practically impossible to keep up with, both physically and mentally, especially at a rally event as grueling as the Tour de Corse.

As ill-fated that the Gagliano Group B was, it could arguably be considered as the most fully exploited embodiment of the Group B class regulations and a true achievement for Italia's rallying program. A small consolation was provided by victories at the European and Italian Rally Championships in the capable hands of Flavio Tesoro and Damaso Termine, respectively.

With Group B banned, the Italia-RSR team tried finding new official uses for the Gagliano Group B. A few ventures landed one car in slalom (autocross), driven to victory by a factory test driver. Another car was driven to second place in the 24 Hours of Chamonix snow-ice race by Bardouin Sardou and Marco Bonadies. Though this had officially ended the Italia chapter of the car's history, it continued to be successfully raced by privateers for many years in disciplines such as autocross, rallycross, rally sprints, and hillclimb.

Although the Gagliano Group B competed for only a single season in the WRC, its technology and the lessons learned from it would serve as the basis for a newer Gagliano rally car for Group A, which would bring about Italia's record-breaking WRC manufacturer's title winning streak from 1987 to 1992.

Certain 'Stormers participating in the MotorStorm Festival felt that things would be a bit more interesting with the Gagliano Group B alongside its Group A successor. With that, Mash and the M.R.A. procured a number of such cars, a few or so unsold originals, plus several officially-licensed replicars manufactured by RCI SpA, along with a few more Stradale models that were converted into racing machines. Addressing the frailty of certain areas, the mechanics took to making some much-needed reinforcements to ensure that it could handle the brutal style of off-road racing typical of MotorStorm.

## Gallery

Recess Super Oil LiveryItalia-Totaled liveryMarleau Cigarettes liveryWhiteRedBlack, frontBlack, rear
## Trivia

* Similar to the Gagliano being inspired by the Lancia Delta HF Integrale, the Gagliano Group B is inspired by the Lancia Delta S4. Visually, it has the headlights of the Peugeot 405 Turbo-16, and the tail lights of the Toyota 222D, both of which being Group S rally car prototypes.
* Hermani Viitanen, who is an expy of and similarly to Henri Toivonen with the Lancia Delta S4, was remarked as being the one man who could truly tame the Italia Gagliano Group B.