Italia CRV

The **Italia CRV** is a series of fanonical Rally Cars created by JustAlex93.

## Description

The **CRV** (short for **C**omposite **R**acing **V**ehicle) is an experimental Group S rally car named for and developed with components made of composites consisting of sheets Kevlar and carbon fibre with steel honeycombs sandwiched between them. The use of these materials, especially in the chassis and wheel rims, was a means of saving weight and adding strength, making the car both durable and as light as a feather.

The CRV's powerplant is a 600 bhp twin-turbo Inline-4 racing engine with crossed valves (for each side of the cylinder, there's an intake and exhaust valve) so that the turbochargers could be fed with two separate manifolds. The turbos would work at different speeds. At lower speeds, only one turbo would be active, but the second would engage at higher speeds. For competition use, it would have had a limiter installed to artificially reduce the output to 300bhp to limit speeds.

The body shell design is a modified variation of the one used by the '86 model Gagliano Group B rally car, which the CRV was made to be a successor to for Group S. It is believed by some that Italia used computer-aided design (CAD) to design the bodywork, which included improved aerodynamics.

A small number of these cars were built. One of them was dismantled and then modified into the **CRV Tipo II**, which had a redesigned, compact coupe-type body shell, originally drafted as a design exercise. Supposedly, when both turbochargers in the original CRV (retrospectively designated as the **CRV Tipo I**) are active at high speeds, they provided a significant power boost that proved too challenging to keep under control. For this, the Tipo II was given smaller-diameter turbos. The Tipo II also used the same chassis and engine unit as the Tipo I.

When the regulations for Group S became revised, the engineering team at Italia had to go back to the drawing board. There, they drafted ideas of developing a smaller version of the Gagliano Gr. B, designated the **Tipo 42**, nicknamed the "**Gaglianito**". This new rally car would have been based on the Gagliano Gr. B's tubular chassis with mostly identical mechanical and transmission systems. The most notable change came in the form of the engine, a 1,430cc turbocharged unit making 300 bhp that would have complied with the revised regulations. The engine, because of it being smaller and producing less heat than the original's, provided for unique opportunities to improve on the Gagliano Gr. B's design, such as a smaller front radiator for improved frontal aerodynamics, along with room to fit a dual shock absorber suspension set-up that never got to be used in the Gagliano Gr. B. In addition, it would have had one intercooler placed someplace within the car to eliminate the need for a roof scoop, helping to make the Tipo 42 more compact and, again, improve aerodynamics.

Due to the shutting down of Group B (and the subsequent cancellation of Group S), the CRV never got to go racing and was left in the mothballs, to the disappointment of the vehicle's development team at Italia. Plus, the Tipo 42 design was left stillborn.

However, at one point during the early 1990s, Italia revisited the CRV concept by creating a third version of the car as a design exercise. They took the 1992 model Gagliano, using it as a basis for the new CRV. In addition to composite materials and an AWD drivetrain as used in the previous CRVs, certain technical elements of the Tipo 42, including the 300 bhp engine, were used in the new car, designated the **CRV Tipo 3**.

Years later, one of these rare prototype rally cars, an original CRV Tipo I, was obtained from an anonymous private collector and then modified for use in the MotorStorm Festival in Nevada.

The presence of RCI's officially-licensed replicars of the Enthusia Fuoco Bianco at the Nevada Festival in response to that Tipo I got the attention of Italia. They came to RCI, commissioning them to manufacture replicars of the CRV, three of the Tipo I and II variants each, to compete with the Fuoco Biancos. The CRV replicars were completed in time for the Festival held in the Australian outback.

## Trivia

* The CRV series are a fictionalized version of the prototype Lancia ECV series of Group S rally cars, which were to be the successor to the Lancia Delta S4.
	+ On the topic of the Delta S4, the '86 model Gagliano Group B mentioned in the above description is inspired by the Delta S4, the same as how the Gagliano from the games is inspired by the Delta HF Integrale.
* The body design of the CRV Tipo I is based on the ECV I with some aesthetic cues from other racing cars. In particular...
	+ Square headlights and wheel arches similar to those of the Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2.
	+ Quadruple tailpipes like the ones on the 1993 Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI touring car.
	+ Taillights like those seen on the Lancia Stratos HF.
* The body design of the CRV Tipo II is ostensibly based on the ECV2, with aesthetic elements from other rally cars. In particular...
	+ The taillights of the Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2.
	+ The singular tailpipe of the Peugeot 205 T16.
	+ The grille and fixed headlights of the Toyota MR2 222D.
	+ The wheel arches of the MG Metro 6R4.
	+ The rear wing of the Ford Escort RS Cosworth.
* The body design of the CRV Tipo 3, like the Gagliano featured in the original *MotorStorm*, is based on the 1992 Lancia Delta HF Integrale. In this case, the Delta Erre20 prepared by the Errani Team, with aesthetic cues from other cars, such as...
	+ The headlights and grille of the Peugeot 205 T16.
	+ The taillights of the MG Metro 6R4.
* The Tipo 42 Gaglianito is based on the Lancia-Abarth SE042 rally car design, which was never built. It has aesthetic cues from other cars, such as...
	+ The headlights of the Ford RS200 Evolution.
	+ The taillights of the Lancia Stratos HF.
	+ The side intakes of the MG Metro 6R4.
	+ The rear wing of the Ford Sierra RS500.

## Gallery

Tipo 42 GaglianitoCRV Tipo II WhiteCRV Tipo II RSR liveryCRV Tipo 3