Home / Social media / Cars / The Kimera K39 is a further evolution of the amazing Group B-inspired cars

THE KIMERA K39 IS A FURTHER EVOLUTION OF THE AMAZING GROUP B-INSPIRED CARS

Published: 2024-06-28 10:08:34 Last Updated: 2024-06-28 10:20:17

It wasn’t too long ago that the Kimera 037 was revealed to the world, and it was an instant hit even though most people would never see one of these cars in the metal. The Kimera 037 was built as a tribute car to celebrate the infamous Lancia Stradale 037 Group B rally car from the early 80s. The original Lancia 037 is quite rare these days because there were just over 200 units created for homologation purposes for the car to be able to compete in the rally series and a handful of the 200 have been crashed or are hidden away as part of private collections. The car is one of the rarest homologation cars in existence, and that means their value is quite high. Kimera knows this, and instead of trying to find old cars for the restomod project, the company simply created its own cars from scratch, like the Kimera 037. Luca Betti, creator and founder of Kimera Automobili is a Group B fan and loved the fact that most of the fastest and iconic cars from the era had Italian roots and he wanted to create cars that would celebrate that, and also elevate the world of Italian cars and creators. That first car from Kimera, the 037, was limited to just 37 units and with the way the cars represented all things Italian, many local collectors bought the cars before they were built. As far as we can tell, all the cars are within Italian borders, or in close neighbouring countries. To say the idea of a Group B revival car from a bespoke manufacturer was a success is a bit of an understatement. In a short time span, Betti’s team of talented designers and car builders released an evolution of the Kimera 037, and it was aptly named the Kimera 038. The main difference, in a nutshell, was that the 038 saw power distributed to all four wheels to make it a proper AWD fun car, not that the rear-wheel drive Kimera 037 wasn’t fun. Having the car revealed in a full Martini Racing livery helped make the car look even cooler and it made the 80s and 90s rally fans very, very happy. But now there’s a new one, the Kimera 039…

According to KImera, “the new K39 draws strong inspiration from the legendary “Silhouette” which raced for the Martini Racing team between 1979 and 1982 in the World Sportscar Championship. Unlike the previous restomods, the EVO37 and EVO38, this car is designated with the letter "K" because it is not an evolution of an existing donor car, but a Kimera in its own right. The K39 will have a sophisticated and extremely light monocoque chassis in carbon fibre with a load-bearing engine and the latest generation mechanics, with also a push-rod system both at the front and rear. Moreover, all the bodywork and cabin components will be made of carbon fibre, with a design that, while respecting the car from which it takes inspiration, guarantees consistent aerodynamic efficiency and a load designed specifically for Pikes Peak and circuit races aimed at the GT – Endurance categories. The engine is currently being studied and built, but Kimera is working on a twin-turbo V8 with an architecture similar to the one of the legendary LC2, the pinnacle of Team Martini Racing's Sport Prototype cars, which was later fitted to another equally legendary car. Kimera is also evaluating the possible application of a KERS system with MGU-H and MGU-K units similar to those used on Formula 1 engines, with a significant power increase that should bring the power-to-weight ratio to 1:1. In the coming months, the technical package of the K39 will be completed and further details will be revealed. Although the K39 project was conceived for the brand's sports car programmes, the interest and demand of Kimera's existing customers for this project led to the immediate assumption that a small series could be built for an extremely restricted public. Alongside the development of the racing car, Kimera will work on a “customer version”. This work programme will rise to the possibility of involving some customers in each creation and construction phase of the K39, including the testing of the competition model so that certain aspects can also be borrowed from the “customer version”. Therefore. Kimera Automobili does not simply want to give customers the possibility of owning an exclusive car, but also access to a unique experience that consists of active participation in the journey of an automotive brand towards its sporting consecration, as well as the birth of an iconic car. Kimera Automobili is in a special place, almost unique in the automotive scene: a young company with a dimension that still allows those who approach the brand to truly access an almost lost world of passion and expertise, creating cars that can still be defined as “few-offs”.”

Take a look at the YouTube video that shows off this awesome evolution of the Kimera 037 from a few years back. It must be said that this is one fo the coolest promo vids we've seen for a car, there's some proper emotion in it and if you're Italian you'll feel super patriotic: K39 Reveal - Kimera Automobili | Kimera Automobili

Be sure to check out our YouTube channel here for more exciting and exclusive SXdrv content! And don't forget to smash that subscribe button!

Article Tags: Cars Bespoke SXdrv K39 038 037 Kimera Group B Rally Lancia