My Little Piece of Heaven – Lancia Stratos HF
For those of you that think the pinnacle of driving is a million miles an hour, I’ll just tell you. It’s not. Not even close. The pinnacle of driving is taking an epic-ally good car on a great road that challenges not only you as the driver, but makes the car come alive.
Many modern supercars just aren’t able to do that. Why? Because their limits are so high. You can’t fully enjoy the experience unless on a track. However, what is possible is to take something that was built for rally and flogging the hell out of it on an epically great road.
I give you the Lancia Stratos HF.
The car might be cramped, loud, and overall not as good in the build quality area as many modern cars, but that noise, those bumps, the jiggle in the steering wheel all heighten your senses.
The car doesn’t feel like you are driving it, rather you feel at one with the car. You feel those bumps, you feel the road surface. You know exactly where to place your front wheels. It’s a driving sensation. And in a world that is so full of electronic nannies, and system to improve you the driver, this rewards you in a completely different way.
Sure I can pull off a Chris Harris style slide in a brand new M4 with little tutelage, but you need to have real skill to drive this car quickly and accurately. It’s just my little piece of heaven.