In the 70s and 80s, Lada sold a large number of vehicles in Belgium. Back then, it was a kind of default choice for anyone who wanted to buy a new car but didn’t have a lot of money. A bit like Dacia in its early days but in this case it was an old modified 1960S Fiat 124 built in Soviet Union.
Even if it was cheap and cheerful, spacious and relatively well-equipped, its reputation wasn’t one of the best, however… many jokes were pulling its owners’ leg, like « How can you double the value of a Lada? Just fill the tank up! Obviously, it was no sports car at all, even though FIAT had turned it into a coupé and a convertible that would have a very long career. Nonetheless, it was an inexpensive rear-wheel drive car and therefore… it surely could be turned into a racing car !
Modified and improved in Lithuania
In the 70s and 80s, Eastern European pilots had to make do with whatever they could lay their hands on. Many were driving Eastern-block countries’ cars like FSOs (another FIAT 124 clone) in Poland, or2-stroke engined Wartburgs in German Democratic Republic… Renault was the most active Western carmaker in Eastern Europe rallies, even supplying racing Alpines to some Czech and Polish drivers. Strsys Brundza was born in 1947 and studied engineering. He started rallying in the late 1960s. Working as a test engineer at Moksvitch surely helped and he first raced on such cars. His co-driver was Anatolijus Brumas and soon they started taking notes like Western pilots. They could go faster, even using cars not really intended for rallying. Another novelty was their use of a test car for practicing and the setting up of a supporting structure with dedicated mechanics. Until then, it was often the driver and co-driver who managed everything.
The combination of these factors quickly made them famous in their home country. They were the first rally team to gain an almost professional status. Anatolijus Brumas went on to train young co-drivers in note-taking techniques while Statys Brundza decided to… become a tuner and car builder! He approached Avtoexport, the company building Ladas which was the country’s major car maker at the time. Thanks to him, the brand set up a national rally team using vehicles he had tuned and modified for racing. That’s how the VFTS company was set up in Vilnius. In a country where everything was planned, things were not easy. However, it goes without saying that the factory official backing as well as the prospect of pushing up national pride opened many doors !
A dynasty
In 1978, the very first VFTS rally car used a basic single-headlamp Lada 1200 body fitted with a 1300S derived engine. This body had more openings at the front and was supposed to cool the engine better. The car was 35 kg lighter than the production version, weighing in at 920 kg. No fiber glass or even aluminum doors here : eliminating the soundproofing and… the trim was easy to do, even if it was time-consuming. Of course, a roll bar was fitted. In true Western Group 2 and 4 fashion, wing extensions and a spoiler were fitted. It would have been simple just to reuse one of the Abarth 131 rally cars’ engine, but that would have been too easy!
The engine block was enlarged from 1300 to 1600 cm3 and extensively modified : all the moving parts (crankshaft, connecting rods, pistons, etc.) were new, like the cylinder head and distribution. The stock transmission was modified too, just like the rear axle. Discs were fitted to all four wheels, they were even vented ones up the front. Of course, the steering was modified to be more direct while the stock suspension had been discarded and replaced by more efficient parts. As a result, the VFTS could boast 150 bhp… true, that’s not stellar power by today’s standards but at the time it was far from being ridiculous. Depending on the axle and gearbox ratios, the little Lada could top 120 MPH and accelerate from 0 to 60 MPH in just over 8 seconds… such performance were worthy of a GTI but achieved with an old 1960s saloon car! From one success to the next, Statys Brundza developed his project further, bringing it into line with Group B regulations. The car was homologated by the FIA on 1 October 1982.
In all, around thirty vehicles were assembled by hand and sold all over the world : Norway, Bulgaria, Spain, Panama… and even Cameroon! Lada VFTS cars were entered in major events in Finland, Sweden and Germany. Admittedly, they never were in the top ten : their tiny power figures and a brick-like body saw to that… However, they were reliable enough and made it to the end regularly: 18th overall in the 1982 Mille Lacs, 32nd overall in the 1983 ADAC rally, etc. From 1985 onwards, VFTS studied another far sharper Group B rapply car : this time it was based on a Samara and fitted with a 300 BHP 1,800 cm3, 16-valve turbocharged engine in the back ! In a way, this could have been the Eastern block Delta S4, no less ! The project was another victim of the Group B racing cars ban.
Even today, a good VFTS pilot can do well on some surfaces and aim for class victory. The car is reliable and robust, relatively economical and easy to maintain. Today, many drivers still assemble Lada VFTS replicas for historic races… it is very popular in Hungary, for example. Stasys Brundzabuilt rally cars for many years and then imported Volvo trucks as well as Volkswagen and Audi cars in his country. He made quite a bit of money… re-exporting new cars abroad, eventually seriously upsetting both companies and he lost the import contract. More recently, he set up a car museum and about 20 years ago he became one of the Lithuanian prime minister advisors on road safety matters.
