Lancia D24 1953/1954 Race Car. Turin Autolook Week 2022

Lancia D24 1953/1954 Race Car. Turin Autolook Week 2022 

The Lancia D24 is a racing car made by the Turin-based company Lancia in the two-year period 1953/54.

In the early months of 1953, when the Lancia company decided to create a new competition car with an "open" bodywork to race in the Sport category and replace the D20 berlinetta which proved not to be sufficiently competitive against the best rival cars, it was thought of a rather innovative product, which in fact will be the D24.

However, the tight deadlines require the immediate realization of a bridge car - the D23, but the project for the D24 naturally does not stop, indeed it proceeds so quickly that the new creature is made to debut at the end of August, on the occasion of the first edition. of the “1000 km of the Nürburgring”. The D24, universally judged as one of the most beautiful racing cars of the period, comes with a respectable livery, a slender and harmonious line that improves the already appreciable aesthetics of the D23 and which of course is always due to Pininfarina's pencil.

The D24, which will reach international fame after the victory at the Carrera Panamericana in November 1953 (which will deserve the name of Lancia D24 Carrera), will tread the scene until the end of the 1954 season obtaining several prestige affirmations (Mille Miglia, Targa Florio, Giro di Sicilia) and will also be equipped - in the latest releases - by the 3.7-liter engine built for the machine destined to replace the D24, or the D25. As with all self-respecting racing cars, the D24 also undergoes several changes during its existence aimed at improving performance, now reliability: however, these refinements are not of great importance.

At the 1000 km of the Nürburgring scheduled for August 30, 1953, the new Lancia D24 appears. Although aesthetically quite similar to its predecessor D23, the D24 is mechanically almost completely new, since only the front brakes and suspensions are not subject to particular modifications. The engine that equips the D24, designed in mid-July by the designer Ettore Zaccone Mina, is still a six-cylinder 60 ° V with four overhead camshafts (two per bank) of 3.3 liters (to be exact the its displacement is 3284.35 cm³ obtained thanks to a bore of 88 mm and a stroke of 90 mm) but it has new castings for the monobloc, has modified heads, while the crankshaft now rotates on Vanderwell thin-shell bearings.

Ignition is always with two spark plugs per cylinder, with double distributor. The power supply is equipped with three vertical Weber 46 DCF3 double-barrel carburettors; the plant includes two aeronautical-type electric “Mona” pumps (in a subsequent period, an airplane “Mona” pump keyed onto one of the distribution shafts will be adopted). After the problems encountered at the debut at the Nürburgring (two cars forced to retire due to the breakdown of the battery most likely caused by too rigid fixing to the body) the battery is moved inside the passenger compartment, on the passenger side, sacrificing space for any co-pilot.

In its initial configuration, this engine delivers a maximum power of 245 horsepower at around 6200 rpm (the maximum rpm is around 6500 rpm). Comparing the dimensions of the 3.3-liter engine with the previous 3-liter one, there is an increase in length (6 cm) but above all a decrease in height (10 cm), which allows a significant lowering of the belt line of the car.

Compared to the D23, the engine lubrication system is new, which is now of the “dry sump” type. Since from the beginning the engine of these efficient sports cars built by Lancia had its Achilles heel in lubrication, it is obvious that, in the course of its short life, the drive unit installed on the D24s was subject to continuous repeated modifications of this technical detail. These changes have partly contributed to personalizing some aesthetic details of the D24 such as the air intakes placed on the right front fender: in the very first version there is only one air intake, positioned on the fender, but starting from 24 September 1953 (the novelty can be seen in the Bologna-Raticosa uphill race and is designed in view of participation in the Carrera Panamericana) a curious additional air intake is added, fixed by means of studs, just above the right front headlight, a detail that will characterize the D24. Only at the end of 1954, that is, at the end of his career, following further modifications to the system (and the assembly, on some D24s, of the new 3.7-liter D25 engine) this air intake will be eliminated. Engine power and rotation speed (and in some cases also displacement) of the engine undergo even significant variations, in contrast