Diablo Performance Question

Many of you on this board have experiance driving the Diablo. Especially A.J. Here is my question. My Diablo SV is rated at 530Hp and about 445 lbs/ft Tq. With the Tubi the Hp is probably a little higher than 530. The first 3 gears of the 5 speed transmission are "pulling gears" while the last 2 are overdrive ratio's. When you look at the gear ratio's themselves it is obvious that the gear ratio's are "long". Car is designed to achieve a very high speed so it is geared accordingly. Lambo says the SV should do a 0-60 in 3.9. Now I have never done a standing start, all out 0-60 run and I never will as I want to protect the clutch. The engine pulls great and is smooth and solid but it just does not FEEL that it accellerating as fast as it should be with the power that it has. It may because I am used to some other very fast cars. I have a SL600 with the Twin Turbo V12 that would blow the lambo and most other cars away. Also I drive a MB S55AMG with a supercharged V8 that puts out almost 500HP. BTW, the Sl600 produces 590lbs/ft Tq at just 1800 RPM so that would explain why it goes like hell. However it is amost 1000lbs hevier than the LAmbo. So the SV with a 1000 lbs advantage and 530HP+ and 445 lbs TQ should brun pretty strong. Another diablo owner told me tha it is imperitive that you be in the correct gear when accellerating and have the rpm up around 4000 RPM which is the max TQ area. This is the only way to maximize accelleration in the Diablo. Especially with the "tall" gear ration's. I am curious what other Diablo owners take is in this. It is probably just me expecting to much especially driving the other cars that I have mentioned. What do you think??

 

That is one thing I have had in mind to be checked next time I take it in for an oil change. I want to see if the throttle bodies are open fully at wide open throttle.

 

Thanks for the reply: To clarify the part about using the proper gear to have the engine at 4000 RPM. To have the strongest pull/accelleration from 2nd or 3rd gear I was told, and I believe this is correct, have the engine turning at about 4000RPM and take it up to and just short of the red line. Then when you open the throttle fully you should experiance the fastest accelleration from that point as you are right in the highest part of the torque curve.
I know that Italian engines like this, Ferrari included, have never been big torque producers. The car is plenty quick and it may be just me expecting it to run like my SL600. The 600 is really incredible. IT is the only car that, when you open it up say around 30mph, makes you feel like the engine is trying to pull out and away from the car itself. Ferocious. All the time it is doing this the car is turbine smooth.

 

That is exactly how I feel. The lowest gear ratio going forward is, of course, first gear. Now I have never done it and do not intend to but perhaps the Diablo SV is capable of a 0-60 time of 3.9 as Lamborghini says. I would like to know if anyone had measured their accelleration time accurately 0-60, in a Diablo with the 5.7/530 HP engine. IF so, what did you come up with? This would be a good test for me to see just how well my car is doing, performance wise. Of course I would measure both the 0-60 and one quarter time but, I will not due it due to clutch concerns. It is just not worth it to me.
If the Diablo can due 0-60 in about 3.9 I would guess that once you come out of first gear the time from 60 to 120 would not be that impressive again due to taller gear ratio's and relatively lower torque. Sure would be nice to know though!

 

Yes I had read that. How would one know which gears the car came with? the short or tall one?

 

I will check it out Ralph. thanks.

 

Found this Ralph:

This way customers could order different compression ratio's on their car, and even different gear ratio's were possible. Three gear ratios were 'standard', a special one to obtain a higher top speed, the normal one and a special one for red light racing, the top speed was a little lower but the acceleration was faster.

 

Sk: That is very interesting. What do you do to get the best, rolling start accelleration out of your car??

 

A.J. I have the G-Tech Pro also but I hesitate to use it on the Lambo. The information you supplied is great. It always felt like the power was there, down low, right after I moved away from a dead stop and started to accellerate. Unfortunately for the G-Tech to work the car must be stopped because I would love to check a 30 to 100 run. If you get a chance, maybe using a sweep second hand on a watch, you could try this. First gear with engine at 4000RPM. Full accelleration from there until wherever you want to stop. Maybe 3rd gear and 80-90 or 100. Then I will do the same run and we can compare times. I know it will be subject to some error because we will be using a stop watch but it would give us a comparison. I could get someone to go with me and run the watch but that would add weight. If your solo when you do it then I must be also. I have a Tubi system and K&N filters.
Its interesting how Sharham said his roadster felt dead below 3000RPM and you were wondering about your car also until you made that run.

 

Great: I will get a couple of runs in also. I will bring my GF and let her run the watch, this way, except for the amount of gas in the tank our weights should be close to even. what should we shoot for 30 to 80 maybe? Might be easier to get that on a highway. what do you think? I can go higher if you want to.

 

Ok: Lets do rolling start, first gear. bring engine up to peak torque of 4000 rpm and then go for it until reaching 100. Important that we both start at the same point. First gear, 4000 RPM. How does this sound? It would help if you made a note of the outside air temperature locally if that is available to you.