Countach Downdraft 1985 to 1988.5

A striking image of the 88.5 Downdraft JLA12292
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So, lets review. Your source for your earlier suggestion which I queried is yet another suggestion, based on a theory. Understood.

 

Ive been blessed to own (multiples of) each variant built, the oldest being three 1975s, and the youngest two 1989s, covering many carb cars and 2 fuel-injected cars. Its given me a good basis for comparison, and I think this is an important point to make because, many opinions about Countachs are given based on a limited or singular exposure to the model. You really have to have tried them all to be objective.

 

Bianco Perlato/Bianco 1987 DD HLA12138 doing well in Scotland, last time I saw this car was circa 1988 at Castle Combe circuit
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Finally we almost agree, being Harrys car is a dd, to me its fair to give him credit for the first 100. The other 300 as you stated is market/ comback

 

Never referred to this article, cant wait to read it,thanks for posting, my stopwatch comment was based on different 0-60 magazine tests ranging from low 4s to low 5s,again thanks for posting this one,

 

Amazing beautiful thanks for sharing

 

My apologies for wasting this forums space and time with my useless life experience/observation back in the mid late 80s , no big deal, all good.

 

It is all good, experiences from anyone that has had contact with the Countach are always interesting. The fuel injected Countach is just another variant, we all have our favorite team. In the beginning I only separated the cars from four different categories, the anniversary, winged, not winged, and no flares with narrow tires.

 

Completely false,as in not one single dd was imported to the US before the Chrysler deal?Really, not one ?all dd crossed the Atlantic after the Chrysler buy out? Ok, then i was wrong, again my apologies to the comunity.

 

Beautiful colour!

 

Thanks, you live and learn, perhaps this Lambo chat is not my thing, i am used to a mix of seriousness, jokes and sarkasme, between guys, in combonation with the Car hobby, at least thats how my local enviroment is where we have La Ferrari and 918 Amongst the group,anyway no big deal ,as i stated ,you live and learn

 

When you say composites, do you mean the factory didnt use the same materials on F/I cars as it did DD?

 

By composites I mean the carbon-Kevlar engine bay and front trunk covers, and AFAIK the factory used the same materials throughout all QVs, both FI and DD.

The article is from 1985, so it details the new QV and highlights the differences from the previous LP500S.

 

Again, a random comment that suggests that all DDs tested by magazines were tested by the inaccurate stopwatch method, and this is false.

Granted Peter Dron used a stopwatch for Fast Lane in that one instance, but many others such as Sport Auto, Car & Driver, and Autocar used professional timing equipment.

I even posted proof of this recently with this post, http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/144608050-post2381.html showing that Autocar used state-of-the-art Leitz Correvit timing equipment. One has to actually read this stuff to receive the wisdom, or at least, not make random generalizations that misrepresent what really happened until you know for sure.

In the 1987 Autocar piece, the venue was Bruntingthorpe, a disused military airfield that boasts a runway a full two miles long, and the Leitz Correvit test gear recorded the DD going 4.9 secs to 60. As the magazine stated, "sixty miles an hour isn't quite available in first, so the 4.9 seconds it takes from a standstill includes that slow first gear-change." As we all know, the Countach gear-change is anything but fast! The DD did 100 mph in just over 10 secs, the standing 1/4-mile in 13.0 secs @ 113 mph, the standing km in 23.3 secs @ 146 mph, and zipped on to @ 180 mph.

Using the Leitz Correvit timing equipment managed by Leitz UK’s John Grist, an independent entity, these results are irrefutable for a standard car which was fitted with the restrictive box-muffler exhaust. The car was a customer car on loan from Portman Lamborghini, and my feeling is there was more to come, after all, &,500 rpm was max change each time, and they ran out of ground at 7,300 rpm for top speed.

FWIW, the Leitz Correvit timing equipment is a speed measuring device, which uses reflection from a road surface to accurately measure speed, unaffected by ride height, tyre size, or yaw angle, it indicates exactly what speed that at any point that the vehicle is doing. It was the world’s first optical speed-and-distance sensor as manufactured in 1981, popular in the F1 racecar & super-bike communities, so when the article was done in 1987, its was pure state-of-the-art for measuring speed.

The top illustration is a basic diagram showing the measuring concept, and the second image shows the LC equipment affixed to the rear of the Countach measuring its speed. The third image shows the car making multiple 2-way runs (for accuracy due to gradient differential).

I'm sure you'll agree, a bit better than a stopwatch, and this proves DD performance was not all stopwatch-measured, and was measured accurately in the period.
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Inside the car, the reading device for the LC speed-measuring system would be as shown
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For the June 1987 Sport Auto magazine, you can even see from the images that the DD was electronically timed. I see a radar sensor, and see electrinic equipment, and a wired 5th wheel.

Anyway, the resultant performance was 0-60 in 4.8 secs, top speed 179 mph, pretty consistent with the yellow DD in the UK with nary a stopwatch in sight
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Matthone's car parked in Melbourne, in this image it almost looks orange
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USA-based DD cruising around in New Hampshire
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Some nice Downdraft art I came across, to brighten up our day!
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JLA12283, Ive ridden in this one quite a few times, including some hair-raising laps around Goodwood!
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Original 88.5 with P7s still fitted, this is the one for sale in Berlin
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Ladies & gentlemen, we have paint!

A few test pieces and then we'll go all-out with GLA12997's body.
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I was under the same assumption as well, but oddly I have seen newer QVs with the front hood with the metal framing.

 

I dont think anyone implied that all DD tests were done by stopwatch. At least I did not. I implied that the FASTEST of a Countach, which is FastLane was done by stopwatch.

Anyways, Im well aware of both of the tests mentioned above. So again, going back to a simple performance discussion.

Neither of the cars mentioned above have catalytic converters which as everyone knows, rob good amounts of HP from any car. Additionally there are tons of variances. For example Bruntingthorpe in England compared to Michigan. Temperature makes a big difference in performance as well. Avg temps in England, are far lower than in Michigan. Lastly D/A and even track variances cause huge changes in recorded data. A tiny 2% negative downslope caused my car to run 4/10ths faster in the 1/4 mile.

Point is a difference of 4.9 to 5.1, or 13.00 vs 13.3 in the 1/4, can easily be made up by the removal of catalytic converters on an F/I, let alone any of the other variances.