1954 Lancia D24 Sport Spyder

In 1906 Italian Vincenzo Lancia entered into the automobile production business. When Vincenzo passed away in 1937, his son Gianni Lancia took control of the company. The Lancia brand automobiles would be produced until 1969, when they were merged with the Fiat Company. The Lancia Company is renowned for its innovations, designs, and inventions. Their accomplishments in racing, especially rally events, are also noteworthy. Their victories in Grand Prix racing were monumental but also forced the program to be sold to Ferrari.

After World War II, a war-torn Europe was ready to get back to racing. Gianni Lancia hired Vittorio Jano to aid in the deisgn of a new vehicle and to establish a racing program. Within a short amount of time, the Aurelia was introduced, which featured an independent suspension and a six-cylinder engine. A competition version soon followed, which was powered by a modified version of the V6 engine. The Lancia Aurelia B20 GT racing car quickly amassed many impressive wins including impressive class wins in rally events. This success brought enthusiasm to the racing program and the company embarked on a mission to create a racer that could compete for overall wins. The result was the D20 which was ready by early 1953. Under the bonnet was the V6 engine that had received much attention and now shared little with its production version. Displacement was increased to three-liters, and horsepower rose to nearly 250. To handle this amount of power the suspension, chassis, and braking was revised. The tubular space-frame chassis was now suspended in place by an independent suspension comprised of wishbones. While many of the mechanical designs were handled by Jano, who had experience with Alfa Romeo's racing program, the body construction was left to Pininfarina. The result was a lightweight body in coupe design.

When the flag dropped at the start of the Mille Miglia, there were four Lancia cars in contention. Competition proved to be very fierce, and only one of the D20s was able to crack the top three. Though the Lancia's proved to be agile and competitive, more was needed to become a contender for an overall victory. The decision was made to adapt a supercharger to the engine. At Le Mans, the D20s were poised for a victory. Sadly, this would not be as all three cars retired prematurely. The extra horsepower had been detrimental to the vehicle's reliability.

Additional work to improve the vehicle resulted in the D23. These changes included the removal of the superchargers and the coupe body abandoned in favor of an open configuration. Jano continued to work on an improved version of the vehicle that was more powerful and lighter while still retaining a high level of durability and reliability. The engine was enlarged to 3.3 liters which increased horsepower to around 265. The wheelbase was decreased slightly in an effort to improve handling and to shed some weight. The result of all this work was the D24.

The D24 debuted at Monza but failed to provide a podium finish for the Lancia team. This would be the start of a season plagued with mechanical problems that would force the vehicles to retire prematurely. There were some highlights to the 1953 season which included first, second, and third-place finishes at Carrera Pan Americana. A pair of victories at the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio were additional highlights. At the conclusion of the season, the company switched its efforts to the Grand Prix program. Their D50 would go on to capture the victories the Lancia Company had so desperately coveted. This endeavor brought the company to the brink of bankruptcy, resulting in Gianni leaving the company. The Grand Prix Company was later bought by Ferrari.

The career of the D-series Lancia Sport was as short as it was brilliant. The car - serial '0005' - made its debut in the 1954 Sebring 12-Hours classic, co-driven by Juan Fangio/Eugenio Castelloti, before scoring three consecutive victories - two driven by 'The Silver Fox' (Piero Taruffi) and one by that other great snowy-haired Italian veteran 'Gigi' Villoresi. Early in 1955, Lancia presented this car to President Peron of Argentina, who had it raced nationally in blue-and-yellow Argentine livery. Returned to Italy in the 1980s, '0005' was then restored to running order for the late Count Vittorio Zanon. It is one of only two D24 cars in existence, the other being in the Lancia Museum, and is truly one of the greatest icons of sports-racing history.

by Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2006