Lancia D24 Spider Sport

D24 at a glance

Why Lancia went racing

Lancia was known for engineering firsts in road cars, from the monocoque Lambda to the first series-production V6 in the Aurelia. In 1951 private drivers began to win with the Aurelia B20 GT coupé. At that year's Mille Miglia, Giovanni Bracco and Umberto Maglioli finished second overall in a B20, behind only a Ferrari 340 America.

Gianni Lancia, the son of founder Vincenzo Lancia, ran the company at the time. Encouraged by these results, he set up a factory team, Scuderia Lancia. The old 1cars text notes that he wanted Lancia to compete with Alfa Romeo and Maserati on the race track as well as in the showroom. The brand's whole story is told in the history of Lancia.

From the D20 to the D24

The first purpose-built racer was the D20 Coupé Sport of 1953. It had an aluminium closed body by Pinin Farina and a V6 enlarged to 3.0 litres, with a supercharged 2.7-litre version rated at 176 kW (240 PS). Lancia soon decided to race open cars as well.

The D23 Sport Spider followed, and four were built. It used a 3.0-litre engine with 160 kW (217 PS) and a De Dion rear axle, and served as the base for the next step. The D24 Sport Spider was then built in record time during 1953. It had a shorter wheelbase than the D23 and a larger 3.3-litre V6. Its open body is credited to Pinin Farina, as on the earlier cars, and the founder of that coachbuilder is profiled on our Battista Pininfarina page.

Design and engineering

The D24 kept the D23's layout. A trellis frame of chrome-molybdenum steel tubes carried double-wishbone front suspension with a transverse leaf spring. At the rear, a De Dion tube also used a transverse leaf spring, and hydraulic dampers worked at both ends. The wheelbase was 2,400 mm (94.5 in).

The gearbox sat at the rear axle as a transaxle, which helped balance the weight. It had four speeds, synchronised from second gear, and a limited-slip differential, and Lancia could choose from eight final-drive ratios to suit each circuit. The rear drum brakes were mounted inboard, next to the differential, to reduce unsprung weight.

According to the old 1cars text, the cockpit was strictly functional. The passenger seat was covered, and a small windscreen protected only the driver. A large rev counter reading to 8,000 rpm sat behind the three-spoke wheel. An air-intake fairing behind the driver's seat was a visual signature of the car.

Engine and drivetrain

The engine was a 60-degree V6 of 3,284 cc (200.4 cu in), mounted at the front. Each bank had two overhead camshafts, and every cylinder had two spark plugs fired by two distributors. Dry-sump lubrication with a separate oil tank and radiator kept oil supply steady in long corners. Three twin-choke Weber carburettors with 46 mm throats fed the fuel.

Sources differ on the output. Lancia's heritage department quotes 245 PS (180 kW), while other references give 265 hp (198 kW). The gap may reflect development during the two seasons or different measuring standards. The 1cars power converter shows how PS, hp and kW relate.

By our calculation, the D24 carried only about 3.8–4.2 kg per kilowatt of power at its 750 kg dry weight. Its V6 produced roughly 55–60 kW per litre, a high figure for a naturally aspirated engine of the early 1950s. You can compare such figures with modern cars in the 1cars power-to-weight calculator.

Lancia D24 specifications

1953: victory in Mexico

The D24 made its debut at the Nürburgring 1000 km in 1953, where both cars retired. Both retired again at the Gran Premio Supercortemaggiore. The first win came on the Bologna–Raticosa hill climb, where Felice Bonetto finished ahead of a young Eugenio Castellotti.

The big success followed in November at the Carrera Panamericana in Mexico, a road race of more than 3,000 km. Juan Manuel Fangio won with Gino Bronzoni as co-driver, and Piero Taruffi finished second in another D24. The win was overshadowed by the death of Felice Bonetto, who crashed in the third car.

1954: Mille Miglia and Targa Florio

The 1954 season was the D24's best. Valenzano and Rubirosa finished second at the 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida. Taruffi won the Giro di Sicilia, and then came the Mille Miglia in May.

Alberto Ascari drove D24 number 602 and won in 11 hours, 26 minutes and 10 seconds, at an average of 139.645 km/h. By our calculation, that equals almost 1,600 km of Italian public roads. He finished more than half an hour ahead of Vittorio Marzotto's Ferrari 500 Mondial. Taruffi had led by four minutes at the halfway point before he crashed out. It remained Lancia's only overall win in the Mille Miglia.

Taruffi then won the Targa Florio in Sicily, ahead of Luigi Musso's Maserati, while Castellotti set the fastest lap at 93.116 km/h. Villoresi won the Oporto Grand Prix in Portugal with Castellotti second. Taruffi and Fangio also won their class in the RAC Tourist Trophy, and Castellotti collected a series of Italian hill climbs.

By our calculation, the 11 wins from 17 starts equal a success rate of about 65 %. The D24's chief rival was Ferrari, whose cars such as the Ferrari 750 Monza fought it in the same races.

After 1954: the D25 and Formula 1

The D25 followed the D24, and Lancia moved much of its racing effort into Formula 1 with the D50. The cost of these programmes strained the company's finances. In 1955 Lancia left racing, Gianni Lancia gave up control of the firm, and the D50 cars and equipment passed to Ferrari. The story of that team is in the history of Ferrari.

In 1955 the company's president presented a D24 to the Argentine president, Juan Perón. He raced it at national level in blue and yellow colours. The car returned to Italy in the 1980s and was restored by Count Vittorio Zanon.

Survivors and collecting today

Only two D24s are known to exist. One is the former Perón car, and the other belongs to the Lancia museum collection. With so few survivors and such a race record, a D24 almost never comes up for sale. The old 1cars text quoted a value of about 1.6 million US dollars, but no public sale confirms a current figure.

For collectors and historians, the D24 matters as one of the most successful Italian sports-racers of its time. It beat Ferrari in the 1954 Mille Miglia and gave both Fangio and Ascari major wins. Other Lancias are listed on the Lancia catalogue page, and more cars of the decade are in the 1cars classics of the 1950s.