Dallara dans l'ordre chronologique

In 1975 the X1/9 (the Italian pronunciation of X1/9, ics uno/nove) was chosen by Dallara to enter the World Championship for Makes (in the Group 5 Special Production class). The Dallara Icsunonove featured a modified X1/9 engine with a custom 16v cylinder-head and fundamental suspension and body/monocoque alterations, the most obvious of which are the massively flared wheel-arches and the over-sized rear wing.

A lot of drag in the X1/9 comes off the rear window area. The Dallara rear wing was fixed at the roof line and is intended to ‘clean up’ the air coming off the back window and rear of the car… and not to generate huge down force. Dallara personnel have suggested it was their best guess at the time rather than as the result of lots of wind tunnel testing.

The Dallara X1/9 retained the original passenger compartment, with front and rear space frames extended from the bulkheads to mount engine/box and suspension components. The initial Dallaras were built to Group 5 racing regulations.

Almost every part of the car was redesigned with one goal: to outperform the opposition. Heart of the project was the 4 valve/cylinder fuel injected engine that in the 1300 cc version produced an astonishing 192bhp@9700rpm, while the 1600 cc had ~210bhp@~1000rpm less.

This was a silhouette formula allowing for maximum mechanical and weight reduction mods. – yet keeping the car’s production body outline. Few production components remained. To reduce weight, suspension uprights were cast from magnesium alloy, lower suspension arms were specially fabricated including lightweight radius arms.

The fuel tank was re-located in front of the front bulkhead along with the brake and clutch master cylinders. In the earliest versions, the wing panels were retained – although now made of lightweight glass fibre. (In other words they didn’t make one-piece front or rear clamshells). Dallara achieved around 260 kg weight savings over standard.

В 1975-1976 годах по заказу канадского миллионера и владельца команды Formula 1 Walter Wolf были произведены два Lamborghini Countach LP400 в сотрудничестве с Dallara. Автомобили отличались модернизированным двигателем, регулируемым задним антикрылом, модернизированной подвеской, колесными дисками, шинами Pirelli P7 и прочими опциями.

Проект был начат в августе 1978 года, с октября проектированием занимался Джанни Тонти (инженер спортивного отдела Lancia с 1967 по 1984 года). Кузов (силует Lancia Beta Montecarlo), разработанный специалистами Pininfarina, построен из композитных материалов и искусственных смол. Инженер Жан Паоло Даллара спроектировал и создал несущую монококовую раму из стали и алюминия с передней рамой для передней оси и задней рамой для задней оси и двигателя. Автомобиль получил подвеску McPherson. Презентация автомобиля черного цвета с красными языками пламени состоялась 18 декабря 1978 года на заводе Pininfarina. Испытания на трассе начались в феврале 1979 года с двигателем Abarth 131 мощностью 220 л.с., первым гонщиком, нанятым Lancia, Риккардо Патрезе. А 22 апреля, по случаю Дня Фиата, на гоночной трассе Валлелунга, Патрезе впервые публично вывел машину на трассу.