Hi everyone, I just came by some old pictures I took in 1991 at Lamborghini Engineering and I wanted to share them with you. As far as I can remember, they produced Formula One engines for various teams such as Lotus, Ligier, Larousse, even Mac Laren tested one of their engines. We were received by Daniele Audetto who was I think the managing director of the facility at that time. Unfortunately I didn't take that much pictures that day because I was stopped by Mauro Forghieri himself who went crazy that someone took pictures in such a highly secured place... Luckily enough he accepted my apologies and I was able to save the pictures. It seems that little is known about that part of Lamborghini history which is not very successful indeed but still very interesting. Apart the badging on the motors, I don't know what were the real connections with Chrysler in an engineering point of view. Does anybody have more info? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
More pics... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
As far as I know it was a entire italian job, don't think that Mauro needed the help of chrysler... Senna was 2 seconds faster with the lambo engine in the McLaren test car than with the Peugeot engine, they only took the Peugeot because they paid whereas they would have had to pay for the better Lambo engine, result is known, after the nightmare with peugeot McLaren went into bed with Mercedes. Nice and interesting pictures!
Was the original thread title too descriptive? "Lamborghini Engineering" is only two words and is what it says on the sign.
Thanks for sharing! My understanding is that Lamborghini Engineering was set up at the personal direction of Lee Iacocca, and following Foghieri's departure from Ferrari in 1987 he was the ideal candidate to rrun the program - ultimately completely under-funded. Image Unavailable, Please Login
At that time, my cousin was the press officer of the Larrousse-Lamborghini Formula 1 team. He managed to arrange the appointment. I don't know what happened when they stopped Formula 1.
Some scans of the engine from a press kit, the press kit contains some dia pics aswell but i dont know how to display them here. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here is a very nice video taken at the Larrousse Calmels press conference in 1988 when they announced that they were to get the Lamborghini engine. See the Countaches and Mauro Forghieri's interview. http://www.ina.fr/video/CAC88010969/moteur-lamborghini-pour-l-equipe-de-f1-larrousse-calmels.fr.html
Here a few pics of the F1 cars (?) at the Museum Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
^^ fantastic! article from R&T special on Lamborghini, october 1988 Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
As Lamborghini was owned by Chrysler at the time, such projects were not overly funded. Resulting in some engineering by guess since they lacked the proper tools for modern analysis. We know that the engines were not terribly successful. When analyzing the engine under load conditions with a high speed camera the engineers found that the engine block was distorting up to 6mm. Very difficult to dial in the handling when the engine itself is moving under load.
Time to revive this thread! Look what a friend told me that was available on eBay! Formule 1 Motor Lamborghini | eBay Surely expensive, but what a piece! No affiliation. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Lol, regular ole oil filter spun on there...... Interesting price, I had the Tag Turbo motor for years back in the 90's. From an ad in Autoweek. Cheap, like a thousand bucks. Sold it for 1400 years later. Just sat in my condo on a stand in the livingroom. I wonder if I have pics. I should have bought the f1 car from Roy when he had it.
A number of years ago, a Lamborghini Formula 1 engine was for sale, that looked more like the real thing than this one. Ignition different and a fuel injection system, which was programmable, as far as I recall. I believe that it was Larousse. I though of buying it, but then common sense held me off ... . Cheers, Bernhard
If I recall well, I also saw one that was for sale at Goodwood. I also didn't have the guts to buy it!
A few vintage pictures from 1989. They were taken by the Larousse Lamborghini team. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login