I think the word 'officially' should be taken with a grain of salt. This was the era of Hahne & the infamous "Dr Neumann" (I don't even want to mention his other alias) and the things that were going on at Automobili Lamborghini were rather irregular. Naturally, it came as no surprise that the factory was officially bankrupt a year later. True, the Frankfurt Countach Turbo engine was indeed a mock-up, and it was symbolic of the times. If ever there was a useless venture, it is the turbocharging of a Countach engine. A hopeless experiment of negligible reliability, it represents the ultimate in automotive vandalism. Thankfully, most Countach engines that were turboed (such as that of 1120004) have been dismantled and returned to standard configuration. Here is a pic of a Countach twin-turbo engine that is no more. * Warning: Graphic image, may offend some viewers. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Another Countach twin-turbo job. This time cooked up by someone called 'Albert'. Several were made. This one was fitted in Max Bobnar's LP400S and it came with some astonishing performance claims. Just how reliable it was is a matter of some conjecture! From what I have been told, these engines were characterized by fleeting moments of terrifying speed and driver exhilaration. But they were inevitably followed by a loud 'bang', complete loss of power, and a great cloud of smoke. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Joe, as much a disaster the 4 liter turbo engines were there is a later car that is a succes a guy i know own a 5000S 2 valvole car that has been sorted out and "performs in a faboluos wasy"is very reliable and with 750 quoted hp is fast in a silly way
I'll bet "very" and "quoted" are the operative words here. The LP5000S 2V engine isn't significantly different from the LP400S so reliability shouldn't have changed much. 750HP is about twice that of stock, I'd have to see it (on a dyno) to believe it.
This is one area that I am absolutely convinced that the only person with anything good to say will be the hapless owner who has engaged in "money shoveling" as 2NA puts it!
Thank you Mr. Sackey for the information about some twin turbo Countach. I'm indeed only interested in the mock-up engine; so, if it is up to Mr. Raymond, I can only but thank him a lot also. david.
i have to add couple of things here: - the guy owned all countach variants as well as a 4 liter countach and a tuned carbed Quattrovalvole (indeed already a fast car, with 455 claimed hp) - the 5 liter 2v engine has lower compression than the 4 liter and is the less stressed of all countach engines (and likely the best candidate for a turbo conversion) - it tooks a lot of time to build and tune it right - 750 hp are not RWHP, i do not know if they are his estimate or calculated, but i am SURE the owner has a good idea of how fast and reliable the car is compared to all stock variants and in his own word it IS seriously fast
I'm not challenging your integrity here just suggesting that the owner may be expressing some wishful thinking. If you can provide more information about this car (particularly the "nuts & bolts") I'm certain a few of us would enjoy seeing it.
The owner (I know him personally) has a full documentation about the build and testing of the engine, it has the power and he has dyno sheets...
-I drove this QV, it has my ignition box -the biturbo has different pistons and intercoolers -correct -720hp are proven last year without full boost. Perhaps I'm going to see him tomorrow if he joines the swiss general reunion, he still owes me a drive... I'll try to scan the mockup tomorrow, it's time for a sleep now.
i know, Tim neither i am with you, just adding some infos i know the car has still webers and the sistem remember somewhat the Albert one from Joe, but it has differences unfortunatly i cannot tell more, the guy is not a BS one, serious lambo fan and car guy 99% of cases i will cal BS on a good running turbo countach...this guy: i believe he is for for real! it is jealous about this car, i have pics but i promised to keep them for me, sorry
LC 3929: How your car will look after the restoration is complete? Here it is a long time ago with EE.60697 plates on. Note Britax belts. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
By the way, LC 3929 are you aware of how many LP400 were originally finished in Argento? Image Unavailable, Please Login
here the picture of the mock up Turbo nonsense, you can see that this setup would never work in a car... The LP500s BiTurbo delivered 704hp at 1,2bar when converted new, last year after an engine overhoul it delivered 748hp at 1,5bar. They will produce a video with a Reventon, I suppose the will turn down the boost to 0,8 bar to give the Reventon a slightly chance Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thank you, Raymond. Seems the very same image as on Serge Bellu's book 'La GT all'Italiana' -also in b/w there-. Maybe in the future some more images of this mock-up will arise. Despite it all, I happen to be interested in this. Does anybody know if this '7000' marine engine project image represents any official rendering or some magazine illustrator's preview only? When would it be dated; 1983, maybe? thanks, d. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The car exists, it's the L150, but the nonsense with the 7l engine is a fairytale, too huge for the CT chassis...
The L150 could have been based in this drawing. Since I am not certain what this drawing is or came from, I ask, does anybody know where and when this drawing appeared in a magazine? thanks, d.
It appeared in the May 1985 issue of Road & Track. The illustration is by Mark Stehrenberger for a piece entitled "New Italian Exotics" by Thos L. (Tom) Bryant. Stehrenberger's work regularly appeared in R&T in columns speculating on what might be forthcoming. Unfortunately, both the illustration and the article are based on speculation. Of note is the fact that the Countach L150 built for Patrick Mimran is roughly similar, but not the same as Stehrenberger's illustration, which erroneously suggested that this was to be the new production Countach. Best,
Many thanks. If I am not wrong, both the L150 -I think it was internally called 'aerodinamica'- and the carbon chasiss Evoluzione were both part of the same programm backed by Giulio Alfieri, who was convinced that a serious update of the Countach idea was what Lamborghini should develop as a successor to the mythical car. But, seems that Novaro, Sgarzi and Venturelli were very much against Alfieri in the wake of more power within the company, and somehow these would full back Marmiroli instead, in the pursue of the P132/Diablo. d.
I forgot to point out that the illustrated image was in fact not associated with a "7000 marine engine project".