Countach Downdraft 1985 to 1988.5 | Page 22 | FerrariChat

Countach Downdraft 1985 to 1988.5

Discussion in 'LamborghiniChat.com' started by joe sackey, Oct 25, 2015.

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  1. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Correct, all the QVs and 25th sent directly to Australia from the factory had these, as did the Fosters Blue car.
     
  2. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Joe Sackey
    #527 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I'm good with the wing, but it would never be part of my buying criteria, a good car would be the priority, a wing can always be added.

    When I purchased my first Downdraft 26 years ago, it came with the wing. Over the years I owned it, I took it off, put it back on, and finally took it off again.

    As Valentino will tell you, the wing does nothing, it actually slows down the car, but it does admittedly look good, so its for aesthetics only.

    These days, I have a decidedly no-wing preference.
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  3. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    #528 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Rob,

    I was wrong when I stated that the wing does nothing, for which I apologize.

    This image proves that it is useful after all.

    Best,
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  4. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Joe Sackey
    #529 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I think with the passage of time the overall uncluttered wedge-shape of the car will lend itself to being appreciated better without the wing, as seen below.

    But there is no denying the car has presence with a wing.
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  5. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Joe Sackey
    #530 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
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  6. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Joe Sackey
    #531 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  7. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    #532 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Rob,

    Back in the day (late 1980s), Portman Lamborghini's Del Hopkins came up with a solution for guys (like me) who couldn't decide whether they wanted a wing or not.

    They manufactured a color-coded shaped plate that fastened onto the trunk-lid using the same mounting-holes that the wing does.

    Here below you can just about see it's application in this image, slightly out-of-focus, but you get the idea.

    Saved you buying another rear trunk-lid!
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  8. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    #533 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Patrick, your exhaust looks very different from what I know to be the Ansa F1 sport exhaust as seen below
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  9. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Joe Sackey
    #534 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  10. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    #535 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Giulio Alfieri played a huge role in helping Patrick Mimran rescue the Lamborghini breed and establish it as the global brand that it is today.

    Alfieri became the technical director of Automobili Lamborghini after his tenure at Maserati and a stint in F1, and developed the Countach from LP400S to the LP500S, through to the Countach Downdraft. Luigi Marmirolli was hired by him as his successor in 1985.

    In 1985, the Lamborghini stand at the Geneva Motor Show presented the new version of the Countach, the Quattrovalvole. Alfieri redesigned the entire classic Lamborghini engine, which had first been created by Bizzarrini nearly 22 years earlier, and served the Countach in Sidedraft version for 14 years. He increased its displacement to add power, and by using heads with four valves per cylinder, the 5167-cc engine climbed to 455 hp at 7000 rpm, a power level that put the Countach well ahead of all its traditional rivals.

    This amazing Ingegnere will be remembered for several successful sports cars including the Maserati Tipo 60 "Birdcage" and of course, the Countach.

    Below is a nice portrait that I felt belonged in this thread.
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  11. Countachqv

    Countachqv Formula 3

    Apr 25, 2007
    2,350
    USA/France
    #536 Countachqv, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Took some quick picture hoping someone did not change it during a service by something else !
    I guess the shields may make it look different. I do have the stickers and the 4 "canisters"
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  12. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

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    #537 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Its a sport exhaust for sure, I see the bolted-on shields, but its a custom unit, not an Ansa. The edges of the canisters/mufflers are not bevel-shaped into the pipes as the Ansa system was/is. Also, the tips of your system are quite different from those of the Ansa units. Ansa stickers can be applied to any set of exhaust tips.

    That said I bet it sounds good!

    Below is an original Ansa sport exhaust unit. This unit has been faithfully replicated in stainless steel by Quicksilver. The remade Ansa units of recent times have exhaust tips that are a bigger diameter than original, and if you've been used to the original units, this difference is quite noticeable.
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  13. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

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    #538 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
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  14. Jalpa_Mike

    Jalpa_Mike F1 Rookie

    Apr 2, 2004
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    #539 Jalpa_Mike, Nov 7, 2015
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  15. Jalpa_Mike

    Jalpa_Mike F1 Rookie

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    #540 Jalpa_Mike, Nov 7, 2015
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  16. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

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    Durable & nice-sounding system, they have gotten considerably better with the tube-shaping @ the bends!

    Ive seen a recently-produced system (refinished in black to be correct-for-period) and it looks flawless.
     
  17. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    #542 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Does anyone with a Downdraft have a PPG paint sticker on the car?

    If so where is it mounted? On underside of the rear trunk-lid, underside of the front trunk-lid, or beside the driver-side headlamp lifting mechanism?

    25th Anniversario stickers used for illustrative purposes.
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  18. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    #543 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  19. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Joe Sackey
    #544 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  20. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    #545 joe sackey, Nov 7, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    During DD production, besides Ubaldo Sgarzi, the management team comprised of (from left-to-right) Daniele Audetto, Gianfranco Venturelli & Patrick Mimran's Mr. Fix-It, Emile Novarro.
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  21. Autosport

    Autosport Karting

    May 25, 2013
    211
    Did Lamborghini actually offer that color called Fosters Blue ? Because it really looks to me like Blu Miura, or "Bleu Miura" as my PPG paint sticker says ?
     
  22. joe sackey

    joe sackey Five Time F1 World Champ

    May 23, 2006
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    Joe Sackey
    #547 joe sackey, Nov 8, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    The two blues that were offered as standard colors for the QV were PPG 2.463.924 Blu Acapulco Metalizzato (Dark blue metallic) & PPG 2.463.739 Blu Tahiti Metallizzato (Medium blue metallic) as shown on the paint sample below.

    That said, of course you could special order anything you liked, so far as you were willing to pay the special cost!

    Fosters Blue was ordered (as I understand it) by a major Fosters beer distributor in Australia, for promotional purposes at motorsports events. In fact he had a special Fosters Blue trailer built complete with logos to transport it to events. As you can see the firm's logo has a blue background in the same shade the car was finished in.

    And yes, I agree it looks similar to Bleu Miura. Perhaps it was actually Bleu Miura and they simply re-named it 'Fosters Blue' for the Australian owner? In that era, paints were sometimes re-named. Remember the car was built in 1986.

    BTW, where is your PPG paint sticker on your car located?
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  23. Grim Reaper tr

    Grim Reaper tr Karting

    Oct 6, 2014
    135
    Hi Joe,

    There is quite a story with the Fosters Countach.

    The car was specially ordered by the largest beer brewer in Australia and was a prize in a competition as part of a promotion as Fosters were the major sponsor for the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix at the time.....to win the car you had to buy a slab (24 pack) of Fosters beer.

    IIRC the colour was a special "one off" and matched the Fosters blue on the company's beer cans? The car was airfreighted to Australia direct from Italy from memory as cargo on an Alitalia 747 jumbo jet and not via the local dealer/distributor IIRC

    The winner declined the car and took the equivalent value in $ cash which was an option.

    The car was then owned/onsold by Australian Motorsport legend and tyre king, Mr Bob Jane who had the car in his showroom surrounded by Aston Martin Lagondas for a long time...which is where the pictures you posted came from.

    IIRC the car also had a special matching leather interior trim in light blue or crema with matching blue piping....memory is hazy as it was a long time ago!

    The car was repainted red and the last I heard it was in very sad condition and had not run in many years and was living under a tarpaulin cover under a carport in suburban Sydney.

    Is this the car restored/running in Hong Kong?

    I'd love to know as it was a very special car with many memories for me.

    Grim
     
  24. Maser

    Maser Formula Junior

    Jun 2, 2011
    254
    UK
    Full Name:
    Harry Metcalfe
    #549 Maser, Nov 8, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Here's a couple of Countach photos from an evo magazine track-evening.

    The Countach QV is not exactly ideal for track work in standard form, for starters being 6ft 2ins and wearing a helmet in a Countach is never a good idea, the braking-power/performance ratio is completely out of kilter and the sports exhaust on my car meant track noise limits generally got destroyed and my sessions usually ended with the sight of a black flag to bring me in before the local council noise police closed the event down.

    Still, anyone on track or trackside seemed to love the sight of a Countach QV at full noise..
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  25. raymondQV

    raymondQV F1 Rookie

    Aug 22, 2007
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    Well, you need to mount Semi Slicks on the front to correct understeer or open toe in on the rear suspension slightly like Lamborghini did on Munaris suggestion on the 25th, plus install larger brake calipers, then the car is really amazing to drive.
    GLA12997 has AP 4pod race calipers with Ferodo DS2500 pads, brakes almost as good as a modern car.
    http://www.countach.ch/Brakes/index.html

    I also know a number of Countach with Alcan Calipers, also a huge improvement against the original ATE Brakes from the BMW 728i.
     

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