My Beta Coupe race car!

[grahamS53]

There i was mindlessly wandering about the old tinternet and what pops up? A picture of my Beta Coupe race car that I built and raced for seven odd years in various" modified" championships, did not fancy the Intermarque as liked being out with the big Camaro's SD1 Rovers and Holdens (she was a class C car up to 2200cc N/A but over 1600cc) but we raced with the Class A "big boys" with grids full to the legal limit for the circuit we were on apart from once at Donington when they had some sort of dispensation to start 4 extra so 36 cars on the grid   It was great fun as the two classes were so different, the big bangers would go down the straights and off the line like dragsters but be on the brakes so much earlier than the C cars, made for very interesting races. Anyway its nice to see the old girl has not been changed, just the name in the side window and the race number (mine was 53 hence my forum name) all the other stickers are all as i sold her. The last thing i knew was she appeared on Ebay for sale but the then owner, that promissed to return the photo proofs that I had lent him from when Car and Conversion mag did an article on her, never came back to me and I just assumed she was gone. Nice to see her being used as meant. G

[131Steve]

Hi Graham, great photo, must be so good to see the car again at full bore.  I always thought the Beta coupe was a good looking car, this looks like an early one?

I drove a Beta Monte Carlo a few times (series one) but the brakes  ....everything they say is true...

Did you make any engine mods to the Beta?

Steve

[grahamS53]

Hi Steve. She was actually a late 81 built car (XOO189X) I bought her of the only owner, an old boy in Southend, and she was what was known as a "Hi-Fi" model and numbered as number 30 off the hundread built. They were basically re-trimed by Tickford, had gold and black wheels,special side sripes (now gone) the number on each side in front of the back wheels just above the sill (still there) a one off rear spoiler which is still on the car and were called Hi-Fi as they had a special Voxon stereo with a Grahic Equaliser as standard, blinding good stereo back then. Funny story but typically Italian, when I started to strip her and pulled the back seat out, the body shell was marked behind the seat as car number 32 but the car was badged outside as car number 30? Often wondered if shell 30 was badged as 32 of if they were all wrong from then on in??
The only thing original where the engine was concerned was the head casting and block, everything else was built one off by my then engine builder, bore was out to its maximum giving her , from memory 2187cc head was of a 105TC so gave us bigger standard valve sizes to start with before oversizing them, pistons I had made in America as one offs "unfinished" above the top ring, the engine builder then machined them from there, cranks were lightened rebalanced, crack tested etc etc etc.as were the rods, cams were one off built for us to the builders specs by kent cams, she ran twin 45s DCOE side draughts, tried down-draughts, hence the extra vent in the bonnet, but just suffered to much fuel surge in the long corners (yes she went round corners!) so put her on side draughts with a positive pressure air box fed from where the inner headlamp used to be, did you notice in the pics, only two headlights, I cut and shut two grills to extend the grill to cover the missing lights, acording to the regs we raced under all original lighting had to be maintained, one advantage of running the only Lancia in the series, no one knows about them and not another to compare to, no one ever noticed Regs said to run the original type of gearbox which being 5 speed no prob, but ran it with a 1300cc final drive and a LSD that Alquati Italy supplied me that was originally made for the front diff in a Rally Integrale, but again my engineer "engineered" it,into a Beta diff housing, that really helped. Shocks all round were fully adjustable Leda units with 2.5" springs running 375 rate on the front and 700!! on the back with the droop on the back hog tied to only allow 1" of droop, yep the arse end was solid, no nasty grip pushing you out in a corner, turn in and it cocked a wheel no understeer which they are famous for, like all FWD cars. All very good fun, brakes were Tarox vented/grooved integrale discs on the front with Willwood 4 pot calipers, standard size Tarox discs on the back with standard calipers running no servo and through a adjustable bias control, there was much more but I am risking being very boring G

[mirafiori76]

Hey Graham,

Read your story and one question remains...why the H*ll did you sell the car. You seem to be so full of love for it?
I once had the opportunity to buy a Beta coupe for just F 100,00. Wich is now 300 Euro's. Didn't have the money then, but i wish i had.
How was it to race? With front wheel drive, i mean? And the sore brakes?

[Rob 131]

Interesting Story.

The Lancia Beta IMO is 2nd to the 131. Great Cars.

[grahamS53]

Hey Graham,

Read your story and one question remains...why the H*ll did you sell the car. You seem to be so full of love for it?
I once had the opportunity to buy a Beta coupe for just F 100,00. Wich is now 300 Euro's. Didn't have the money then, but i wish i had.
How was it to race? With front wheel drive, i mean? And the sore brakes?

Why did i sell it? Well to be honest. When I first joined the race series it was a very clubman type feel about it, very welcoming and while I ran round at the back with my funny italian car, everyone was friendly. But as time went on two things happened. Firstly the championship itself under various sponsors titles became more like a semi professional series and attracted some big money entrants. This had a knock on effect that made things very political, a kind of them and us started to come about, people were accusing each other of cheating all the time and there were even cases of cars being interfered with. On top of all this my car was developing into a car capable of, if not winning (which we did in Mondelo Park) at least a regular top 5 finish, So no longer a thing to joke about in the paddock with all the other Ford owners, so I started to find out who my friends really were, one season i was even accused of fitting a super charger as "them lancias have them hidden thats why they are so quick!!" Doh  but you laugh, the championships scrutineer still checked it out! With all this going on and when you think about the costs involved, when i saw my oil warning light flash on as i exited Clearways at Brands Hatch i pulled up onto the grass, just past the pit lane exit. Got out and walked out of the championship, had enough of all the politics, nastyness and back stabbing and was not prepared to pay for the pleasure anymore. Shame but "Sh+t happens"! THe engine was finally re-built a couple of years later but not put back in and the car was on display in various showrooms i had at the time. Then, out of the blue, the engine builder contacted me as he had a buyer for the old girl if i wanted to sell. I was never going to race her again, so let her go. He did a deal with his client to fit the motor and run the car and thats the last I heard until it appeared on Ebay, dont know if it was sold on or its that man that is now running it.
How was she to race? Bloody good fun!!  But it was not just the racing, it was the development under a very tight budget, we had to make/design everthing from scratch, nothing available like the Fords "off the shelf" and we built her in my garage in the back garden, my next door neighbour was my chief mechanic/pit boss, he went on to do the job for Honda Swindon in the BTCC etc, my brother often drove the transporter (Old Transit with a caravan on the back) so it was a bunch of mates going racing and sticking it to the big boys when ever we could.
Rob, funny thing with the choice of the coupe to go racing in. My friend that raced minis ,came round to my house and we were discussing me joining his club and going racing. I decided there and then that it was a good idea, baring in mind i knew nothing about building race cars but as far as I was concerned was Britains next Dammon Hill , I happened to of just sold a 131 Super and bought the Coupe, if I had still had the 131 I would of used that as the only reason the Lancia was picked was it was on my driveway! Me thinks it would of been a bit easier if I had used the 131  G

[mirafiori76]

Some story, Graham.
Something like that is what happened to me as well. I think things like that happen all over the world. Once i raced my Abarth replica just for fun. Later on i had the Stradale to do the same. There i was with my 1976 oldie between new Lamborghini's and Ferrari's. I quit because of various reasons. First was the fact i had laid down a lot of money for my red girl and drove carefully between all of those hotheads in their expensive Italians. Always checking in my mirrors or over my shoulder if not one idiot came to close. They even drove off the track for fun   These were cars over 300.000 i'm talking about  
Second, the Dutch Ferrari organisation took over. The did spend a lot of money and smaller clubs with their Fiats, Autobianchi's or Lancia's were pushed away.
And then there were those people who came up to me and totally turned down my car...   No matter the 131 was threefold world rally champion, it was no race car in their opinion.
Anyway, it was no fun anymore and i quit. I don't think i will ever enter the racetracks again. Times have changed