Riccardo Errani and the Lancia Delta, it’s an old story, since this rally driver—who made his debut in 1982 in an Autobianchi A112 Abarth—had already been competing in a Lancia Delta HF Turbo as early as 1986! Forty years later, the Italian is still competing in historic rallying with the legendary Delta, having participated in the 2025 Targa Florio Historic Rally in an HF Integrale 16V!
Admittedly, over the course of four decades, the driver also raced in a Ford Escort, Skoda Octavias, Subaru Imprezas, and even Ford Mustangs, but the Italian car remains the favorite of the founder of the Errani team, based in Faenza (Minardi’s hometown!) in Emilia-Romagna.
The First ERR20 Hill Climb Race
In 2006, he celebrated the 20th anniversary of his collaboration with Lancia, which began in 1986 with a bold personal project: the ERRE20! «ERRE» stands for the Italian pronunciation of the letter R (Riccardo/Racing/Errani), and «20» represents both this anniversary and the planned limited series of twenty cars.
The first ERRE20 was not the orange Safari we’re talking about today. The project began with a “Delta Proto” hillclimb car with a truly spectacular look, thoroughly redesigned both aesthetically and mechanically. It was equipped with an engine producing over 500 ch. The goal was as much about performance as it was about promotion: to put the Delta back in the spotlight even though Lancia had long since left the world of competition. Media success was immediate, and the project quickly evolved into a full-fledged family of ERRE20 vehicles. Errani’s idea was quite unusual: to use the Delta’s legendary silhouette as a basis for experimenting with different concepts.
The Delta in Every Possible Way
A rally version, a rear-wheel-drive drift version, a hill climb/slalom version, a street-legal version, an extreme version with over 500 ch, a convertible, a limousine, a version adapted for people with disabilities, and finally the famous raised Safari. Some versions were rated between 300 and 580 ch depending on their intended use.
The official account mentioned a series of 20 cars, including about 5 racing versions and about 15 road-legal versions. Some variants never made it past the concept stage, and it is difficult today to know exactly how many were actually built. The records are incomplete, and several examples appear to have been modified multiple times over the course of their existence. One thing is certain: the design is polarizing!
The Safari: The Culmination of the Concept
In the same vein as the Amos Safarista restomod, which was released a few years later, the Delta Safari takes up the concept of a Delta that might have competed in a hypothetical Paris-Dakar or a modern Safari Rally—much like the 205 T16, which was repurposed for the Raid after the end of Group B: significantly raised suspension, off-road tires and massive suspension travel, a widened body, an imposing rear wing, and an engine rated at around 500 ch according to some sources. This engine is a 3-liter unit producing 500 ch, with 545 Nm of torque at 3,000 rpm. The car is limited to 200 km/h but accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.6 seconds!
This is obviously the kind of vehicle that sparks a lot of debate, with some people loving its boldness and others calling it blasphemy. Some believe the Delta has been extensively modified, while others suspect that a tubular chassis or components from a genuine off-road vehicle are hidden beneath the Delta bodywork. No publicly available technical documentation currently allows for a definitive conclusion. In a way, the ERRE20 is less a car than a slightly crazy declaration of love for the Delta and the world of Italian rallying.
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