In 1986 Lancia displayed the ECV1 (Experimental Composite Vehicle) at the Bologna Motorshow. It was a composite technology concept car testing the use of carbon kevlar, thermosetting and thermoplastic resins, glassfibre and honeycomb in-car production. It was also considered as Lancia’s prototype Group S rally car (a formula sadly never to exist due in part to Group B rally cars being banned).

Lancia had enjoyed success with the Group B Delta S4, and the new ECV1 shared some of its basic design. For example, the ECV1 used a rear engine layout, AWD, and the 1759cc twin turbo engine, which were all similar to the Group B Delta S4.

However, the ECV1 had a new experimental ‘triflux’ turbo system where the twin turbochargers were used sequentially depending on engine speed; and the ECV1 was considerably lighter (overall weight of 930kg!) due to its extensive carbon fibre construction (from the wheels to the roof).

We chose the ECV1 due to its rarity and its genuinely extreme technological breeding. The Lancia Delta S4 is well known for its rallying pedigree and would have been a worthy SEGA Rally contender, but why have a good quality, medium strength variety car when you can have the full flavour, max-strength, firebreathing beast of a motor. I particularly like it for its quirky appearance, almost van-like in fact, but make no mistake this unlock is insanely fast and quite tricky to tame.

Check out the official SEGA Rally
website now at www.segarally.com

Read
more SEGA Rally blogs - click here

Very early on in the SEGA Rally project it was decided that we wanted vehicles in the game that were just that little bit more extreme in appearance than the usual saloon based rally car.  The Baja Dune Buggy was a fairly obvious design choice as it is a very popular type of all terrain racing vehicle.

Like the previously mentioned Icelandic Racer I studied a lot reference imagery of off-road racing buggies and trucks, and using these as inspiration I came up with the design you see here.  The beauty of these kinds of unlicensed vehicles is that you have free rein over how they look, so the placement of lights, aerials, the engine and pretty much everything else is completely up to the artist creating it.

Obviously it needs to look realistic so you always try and use shapes and designs that look realistic.  Look at the suspension design for example, I was careful to mimic the external damping chambers and multi spring setups you might see on real off-road racers.  The interior is also built to look like something that could be feasible in the real world with the switches and buttons placed only where you would expect to find them.  The engine design was one of my favourite area’s, I wanted to build an engine type that was familiar yet not going to take me weeks to complete, so I chose an iconic V8 set up which also sounds sweet in the game.

I think we got it just right with the design and layout of this vehicle, its fun and purposeful looking, and out performs many of the less agile cars in the game due to its softer and greater travelling suspension setup.  That V8 motor hanging out the back packs a mighty punch as well!

Check out the official SEGA Rally
website now at www.segarally.com

Read
more SEGA Rally blogs - click here