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Petrolicious Pick: Lancia Delta S4 Group B

28 July, 2016

When a new video drops on the Petrolicious YouTube channel, we’re always excited to see what it’s all about. Recently we wrote an article on the Renault 5 Turbo, and asked the question of whether the Renault 5 Turbo was the ultimate ’80s hot hatch? The response from the readers was a loud one: no, nothing would beat the Lancia Delta. For John Campion, who immigrated to America in June 1984 — with only $26 in his back pocket — the Lancia range of vehicles was his choice of vehicle, too. 

After a few “lucky breaks” as he describes them, John was able to become a successful businessman in America. This meant, for his automotive passion, he was able to collect vehicles from his youth, mainly focusing on rally cars. And because the best rally cars that were ever produced were made in the ’80s, this is where his collection began. 

When you look at the specs of the Lancia Delta S4 Group B, they’re nothing short of phenomenal. The road-going Delta S4 weighed in at 1200kg, whereas the Group B version weighed in at a mere 890kg. This alone would aid in serious performance gains, however Lancia also wanted to work their magic on the engine. By pioneering twin-charge technology, Lancia was able to extract massive horsepower and response from their mid-mounted 1.7-litre engine. As turbochargers in the ’80s were nowhere near as sophisticated as they are now, if you wanted big power, it came at the expense of turbocharger lag.

Utilizing a supercharger with a bypass valve, Lancia was able to have almost instantaneous boost pressure at any rpm. Once the turbocharger was on full boost pressure, the bypass valve would cut the supercharger out of the equation. Official horsepower figures of the Group B version were 480hp, while some sources implied it was closer to 560hp. During testing, the Lancia’s engine managed to handle five bar (72psi) of boost pressure, with 1000hp as a result. 

We recommend turning the volume up for this one, so you can best enjoy the Group B sound! 

Janspeed recreates the Jaguar sports car

29 September, 2026

Thankfully, a few of these cars made it to New Zealand, the odd one being imported from the UK over the years. However, the 1988 British Racing Green example owned by Bill Slater in Upper Hutt was originally sold as a standard car but converted using the full Janspeed kit by the first owner within a couple of years of buying it.
Bill has owned a few other Jaguars. In fact, after he sold his Jaguar XJ12 in 2018, he found himself pining for another and, when the XJ-S came up for sale, he could not resist it. Having just sold the V12, he was not expecting much from the six-cylinder car other than more reliability and it being cheaper to keep on the road. Naturally, he had heard of the influence Janspeed had on the marque, but it was not until he took the car for a test drive that he became aware of just how superior it was to the car he had just sold. The price of a second-hand Janspeed XJ-S and that of a standard 3.6 XJ-S is quite comparable, making the Janspeed version an incredible bargain, even more so in comparison with other performance classic cars — or even modern cars, for that matter — which cost far more bucks for the bang.

The writing on the wall

25 September, 2026

Deven, a digital content producer in his 20s, says it was the rear-drive Nissan and Toyota drift cars that fired his imagination in his not-so-distant youth and soon had him wanting one of his own. However, like most of us, he had to start in something less glamorous – in his case, a 1997 Mitsubishi Galant. After that, he bought a four-litre V8 1991 Toyota Soarer, a big change from the Mitsubishi.
“It was my daily driver, and it wasn’t that bad to run back when petrol was affordable,” he says.
When he got fed up with filling it up, Deven bought a 1989 Ford Laser sedan, a 1.3-litre five-speed manual, to be his daily driver. It’s in very good condition, bought from a careful older driver, and he still runs it – although he will occasionally also drive the latest in a series of Nissan Laurel sedans. His current one, from 1993, has done the lowest number of kilometres yet, at 183,000. It has the single-cam version of the engine in his Skyline.
“I’ve had four different versions of that car. It was just a car I always liked. It’s really comfortable, quite luxurious. I bought it from a 90-year-old in Hamilton. It’s in mint condition, and everything is standard.”