At over 75, he's still driving his Lancia Delta, tuned to 700 hp!

In the very special world of European hillclimb racing, where ultralight prototypes and single-seaters now dominate the rankings, certain figures are more important for their longevity than for their titles. Austria's Felix Pailer belongs to this rare category.

The Highlander of hillclimbing

Born in 1949, he has spent over half a century in motor sport, including more than forty years in timed climbs. At 75, he's still going strong. Over the decades, he has become a regular at Austrian and Central European events, regularly taking part in national and regional rounds, as well as European Championship events such as Rechberg and Ilirska Bistrica.

His victory at the Rechbergrennen in 2007 is still often cited as one of the highlights of his career, while even in the 2020s he continues to score respectable results against modernized grids. This continuity has earned him a special popularity with the public and the paddock. Known by his nickname "Pailix", he embodies an artisanal and passionate approach to the discipline.

The Lancia Delta as a common thread

The car that has accompanied it for more than thirty years is a star of hillclimbing: a Lancia Delta HF Integrale that has been thoroughly transformed, just like the others we've had the opportunity to review in Europe. After its successful career in Group A, the Delta, produced in large numbers for rallying, spread to the hill-climbing championships, benefiting from some of the craziest preparations ever. When Pailer adopted this base, the preparation developed around 300 hp like the Groupe A rally car.

But the car evolved rapidly, prepared in particular with the support of competition tuning specialists, including Gabat Tuning, and modified year after year: reinforcement of the chassis, extreme widening of the body to accommodate wider tires, improved aerodynamics with front appendages and a large rear spoiler, optimization of the cooling and intake systems. One of the most spectacular features is the enormous cooling system fan, visible on the Delta's grille on steroids. For more than 20 years, this super Delta has been appearing on the track in a garish orange livery, leaving no fan unmoved!

Turbo!

In the course of its development, the Delta even underwent various engine architectures, including a phase using a turbocharged five-cylinder derived from another model in the Fiat group. The current configuration reverts to an extensively reworked turbocharged four-cylinder, unlike Bubnic, for example, which stuck with a 5-cylinder. The engine's displacement has been increased to around 2.1 liters, with a large turbocharger to boost power to between 650 and 670 hp, and torque in excess of 800 Nm. The latest figures even suggest 690 HP and 830 Nm, for acceleration from 0 to 100 in less than 2.7 seconds. All this power is transmitted to all four wheels, thus preserving one of the Delta's major assets: traction on re-acceleration, which is crucial on the winding and often irregular sections of a hill climb.

Weighing in at just under a ton, the car boasts an exceptional power-to-weight ratio for a closed car. Acceleration is astonishing in the many videos circulating on the web: Papy is putting up a good fight!