1977 German Racing Championship: The Fiat X1/9 – an insider’s tip?

Sometime in late summer 1976, my friend and club mate Wolfgang Wolf – who had long since become one of the famous NSU acrobats – rang me up and asked: “Fancy coming to Italy with me? I’ve got a chance to test a little Group 5 Fiat over there.” As an inquisitive young reporter, I couldn’t say no.

The Silhouette Formula dominated

To understand this, one must recall that for the coming season, the German Racing Championship was set to switch entirely to the new Silhouette Formula – a formula in which, apart from the original construction and body shape, virtually everything else is unrestricted.

The major manufacturers such as BMW, Ford and Porsche focused on modifying models that had already been tried and tested in racing, or new models such as the BMW 3 Series, Ford Escort and Porsche 934.

In principle, however, the view was that comparatively exotic models such as the BMW M1, the Lotus Europa or the Lancia Beta Monte Carlo would also be promising contenders. Why? A prerequisite for considering the use of such models in Group 5 competition was that, in their original state – i.e. as production cars – they had to possess all the characteristics necessary to enable a successful conversion into a thoroughbred racing car. The vehicles mentioned, such as the 3 Series and the Escort, had to contend with the limitations of traditional design features such as engine position, drive type or track width. Meanwhile, the ‘exotic’ models, with their mid-engine layout, correspondingly optimal weight distribution, low aerodynamic drag and plenty of space for wide wheels, boasted a considerable technical advantage.

As a brief foreword, it should be noted that BMW took this approach with the M1 from the very first stage of development. The production version was developed precisely so that it simultaneously set the standard for, or took into account, all competition-relevant aspects with regard to Group 5.

Whether the Fiat Group approached the issue in exactly the same way with the Lancia Beta Monte Carlo is impossible to ascertain today, but its success – see Hans Heyer’s triumphant run in 1981 – speaks for itself.

Fiat X1/9 as a Group 5 racing car

The Italian racing car designer Gian Paolo Dallara from Varano near Parma also had the idea of utilising the extremely sporty characteristics of a production car model. Based on the small mid-engined Fiat X1/9 sports car designed by Bertone, he developed a 1,600 cc Group 5 racing car with a GRP body.

Wolfgang Wolf gets involved

This caught the attention of the tuning specialists led by Richard Leinberger, who had previously enjoyed success with Fiat racing cars from Weidensee in Franconia. With a kerb weight of just under 700 kg, they reasoned, and a 1.6-litre four-valve engine producing a good 220 hp, we should actually be able to cut a fine figure in the DRM’s junior class. And so they turned to Wolfgang Wolf, another representative of the ‘fast gardeners’ breed, whom they were able to recruit for the venture. They knew exactly what calibre of driver they had signed up – after all, he had, time and again over the years, left them and their regular driver Heinz Tubbesing in the dust with his NSU TTS.

Joint entry in the DRM agreed

The venue was the Autodromo di Varano: as mentioned at the outset, Dallara had invited them to test drive the X1/9. One hopeful after another was allowed to try their hand at the hot racer; Wolf felt at home straight away and made such a convincing impression that everyone involved agreed on the spot to a joint campaign in the DRM.

The project sounded so promising and almost like an insider tip that even Herbert Schnitzer briefly toyed with the idea... However, in the gruelling DRM campaign, the hoped-for success failed to materialise. Although the little Fiat often stood out with fast lap times, it regularly dropped out of the race, mainly due to gearbox damage, until it finally disappeared from the scene altogether. A shame, because in slightly more capable hands, it could have turned out well.

A similar project, which we have already reported on, fared not much differently. Harald Ertl took the opposite approach to the one described above: he took a TOC sports car monocoque and fitted it with a Lotus Europa silhouette. Add to that a 1.4-litre Zakspeed turbo – and the Group 5 rocket was ready. But it too only fizzled out briefly and vanished into orbit after just a few outings.