Countach, the ultimate supercar

I don't see LP400 like a museum piece, I would change things on it but not irreversible, like those ugly ****ty wheels, they were a big fail since the first day of the release.

 

I've been under the impression that these "bicycle wheels" were the best option available in 1974, or am I wrong?

 

Not one for the purists, but I have to admit I do like this (and easily reversible in half hour or so)

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh64/my_stuff_4sale/lp400_zpsb4ccp13w.jpg

 

That sounds correct. Take a look at what the muscle cars came with. It's really no surprise that more than a few could spin the tires in all 4 gears. 6" wide rims on many! That leads to a really small rubber contact with the road. I think car companies used what ever size was available at the time. Correct me if wrong, but Walter Wolf got Pirelli to make the 345/35/15, the widest production tire at the time for a car.

 

the P7 was launched circa 1973 (although i'm 100% sure your right and not in 345 section at that time) so Lamborghini could have developed the lp400 to use 15" P7's from the start had they wished to. (albeit in smaller sizes than the later S series ones)

 

Countach was to have P7's but the tyre wasn't ready until '75 so the final development was done with the best available at the time - XWX - hence the weeny wheels.

Porsche Turbo was the first to wear the P7 in production.

John

 

The Silhouette snorkel prototype was tested over the winter of 75/76 with P7s but the Countach required a complete suspension redesign to accommodate them....

 

Lancia were using the P7 in '73 and '74 for tarmac rallying with the Stratos

 

They were around for racing but not ready for the street till '75 - at least a year after the first LP400 was delivered.

 

its been printed may times that the 930 was the first production car to use P7's which i find is debatable. the 930 may have been after the abarth 131 stradale which were only equipped with P7s in 75. I've also often ran across articles that 73 2.7 RS being the first production car in the world with larger rear tires than the front. I suppose the journalist didnt know about the mangusta, pantera, miura SV just to name a few production cars before it!

you can say abarth 131, p118 and 930 were the earliest for sure, but which one REALLY came first?

regards

you know better than anyone here that the P118 suspension required monkeying to accommodate them also

yes thats correct road legal p7 circa 75 were derived from the lancia gr4 cars who parks and dallara had developed. dallara was also a consultant at lambo during the development of the P118 and later p7 wolf cars as i recall.

another early adapter was the dallara x19 racecar shown with P7 road tires rather than slicks in turin 74. the bravo also had P7 at the same show that are often mistaken for 285 silh rears though the size were 275's. this is common mistake of 285 is also noted for the one off urraco bob rallye car. these 74 tires differ from the rally tires by having indistinguishable tread patterns and side walls of the street p7's

that sounds right!

 

It was just a problem of finance, take a look at the prototype, the designers knew what should be done to look right, 15'(?) size and wide wheels with a 5 liter engine...
I don't think it is a sin to convert a Countach LP400 closer to those features.
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Not finance, reality. Radiators wouldn't cool, race tyres not suitable for the road and so on..

 

My LP5000S with some of its stablemates today...
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Thanks. Travel well!

 

The prototype in the picture has the same wheels as the production LP400 cars did. There is nothing "bicycle" about the original rims. They were actually quite wide, at 7 1/2" in the front and 9" wide in the rear. In the early seventies, a 9" wide wheel was very wide. What makes the 'bicycle' perception is not the wheels, but the tires. The tires were quite narrow and tall for the wheels. The prototype wears a wider, and lower-profile tire on the wheel. Many people, myself included, put wider and lower profile tires on those wheels. I had 265/50VR14 tires mounted that looked great and were much wider than the XWX tires were. But, today, there are no wide 14" tires available with a high speed rating. I don't know why Lambo didn't use the Pirellis as on the prototype, or even the rear tires as used on the Miura SV. But they must have had their reason to go with the tall, skinny, old Michelins.

 

Sure the tyres were the widest road tyres available at the time. However the yellow prototype has the prototype style wheels with 20 'D' shaped holes, just like the pre-production Urracos [and Peter K's Urraco 15006]. Also to be seen here:http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/144007809-post21391.html

The production cars had a different design with 15 rectangular holes just like the production Urracos.

 

I read somewhere but forgot where, the LP500 had 15' rims...

 

From the March 1971 press kit:

"The LP 500 has Bertone - designed tyre rims and interesting tyres specially made by "Pirelli" for this vehicle. Their height-width ratio is 0,60, the lowest ever achieved."

French car magazine l'Autojournal from 14 May 1971 claims that the rims are 14''.

 

Check out evo mags latest articel on favorit wheel arches. I am on to somthing.

 

I believe it's mentioned earlier in this monster of a thread