The Testarossa on the Grand Tour

Nordschleife with my Maranello

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This beautiful 25th anniversary on BAT, very soft price (175k) with less than 5 hours to go
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1989-lamborghini-countach/?utm_source=dailymail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019-03-21



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Not really, as they didnt test a Qv vs the testarossa.

 

Thats not a QV, and even then you can see the TR driver launched much more aggressively .

 

The 512 TR came out in 92, 2nd year of Diablo production. Why would you want to compare that to a much older Countach? The 512TR is comparable to the Diablo, which will kill the 512.

 

This is actually my video that I uploaded. If you watch the video, from aprox the 1:09 mark you can see that both cars are very evenly matched, even at times looking like the Countach still had a slight edge. At the end of the race, you can see where the Countach driver is in 4th, and is about to shift 5th, but hesitates, and simply lets off in 4th thereby showing the 512 instantly pulling away. Inmo, had the Countach not had the wing, it would of pulled the 512TR pretty good. A 512TR only makes around 15rwhp more than a regular Testarossa on a rwd dyno.

 

The 512 came out years after the Countach. It is not a fair comparison. The 512 was Ferrari's answer to the Diablo, as was the Maranello, and the Diablo killed both.

 

Ive had my 91 Testarossa now since last Oct. From the observations that Ive made with my 87 Countach, the Countach handles much better. It is much more stiff, and has much less body roll. In comparison the Testarossa feels like a Cadillac. On track of course this is a negative, but on the street this is one of the reasons why people say that the TR was more comfortable to drive. People making excuses that the Countach had better tires etc is laughable as well. Both on factory spec tires, both in the rain, same driver. Where the Countach lacks inmo over the TR, is brakes. The TR brakes are considerably better. The Countach certainly accelerates faster than the TR as well, and in this test the Countach had the rear wing attached which slows it down.

On a side note, Harry mentioned on Instagram that they ran the Countach on a dry track, and it set a very respectable time. Additionally Abbie Eaton on Instagram also mentioned, that for her the Countach was the better of the two hands down. In my younger days I always felt the Testarossa didnt hold a candle to the Countach. As the ultimate thrill ride I still feel that way, but have grown to love the Testarossa in its own right. Extremely happy to own both.

 

The 512TR is VASTLY different from a Testarossa. Even the chassis is different. It was certainly meant to rival the Diablo, and Ferrari kept it going until 1995. 4 years after the Diablo started production.

 

So here you are saying that its ok to compare an OLDER Countach which was competing with the Boxer to a much newer redesigned Testarossa when it purportedly loses, but if the Countach wins, then a fair test is with a 512TR which came out years after the Countach ceased production? Ah, I understand now. The Countach is no more difficult to shift than the Testarossa, under power its actually smoother and quicker. The Testa is notchier. Ergonomics? Well inmo neither are fantastic, but neither really wins over the other. The Testa with its huge bus like steering wheel requires you to wrap your knees around the wheel, the Countach seats are more supportive. Hard not to bang your knee going into reverse with the Testa. Both have good and bad points.

 

The direct competitor to the countach is the Testarossa. The Direct competitor to the Diablo is the 512, and Maranello. The Diablo disperses both.
Info from Harry who owns both the Countach and TR on Grand Tour.

I thought this episode of Grand Tour might spark a bit of debate!
The Countach was great throughout, never touched it mechanically over several days of filming, while the Testarossa had some big issues which meant we had to film this section of GT over three sessions. Basically, we started to hear a random knocking deep down in the TR engine on the first day of filming that got worse the more it was driven. It turned out to be a bearing coming loose on the water pump shaft, deep in the engine, which required the engine to be taken out and then stripped in order to fix.

Then when we got to the timed laps day, they did the filming in the morning when it was properly wet. I was a bit gutted to be honest but there was nothing I could do about it. When the lap times came in, there was surprise at just how much quicker the Countach was compared to the TR. I wasn't surprised at all.. After much discussion behind the scenes at GT during the day, there was concern the TR lap time might not be representative because the gap was so big, so they asked if they could do another set of (un-filmed) timed laps at the end of the day to check they were correct and by then the track was dry.

The result was a stunning lap-time for the Countach but the gap to the TR's dry lap-time remained the same, so it proved the morning's wet lap times were correct. It's just a shame they didn't run with the dry lap-times on the programme but as they didn't film the dry runs, they couldn't be used. Next time..

And now you also know why my new set of Pirelli P7 tyres are knackered after only approx 800miles of driving!

 

The purpose of this showdown was to put two cars that would have been around at the same time together on the track and in a drag race. Two cars that the world loves to generalize as comparable.

The 5000QV and the TR models used in this comparison are appropriate. Suggesting a 512TR should have been used doesnt make any sense. This wasnt a test of the best of a model or it would have been a 25th anniversary countach versus a 512M. And even then I bet the TR would have lost.

Ferrari has always targeted a more relaxed GT like experience with this genre of their cars from Daytona up to 812. Somehow Ferrari got into a pissing match with Lambo after the Miura came out because the Miura was better than their car at the time. By the end of the Countach, Lambo was heading in a different direction than ferrari. The 550M is a perfect example of just how divergent the Ferrari models would become when considering Lambo was well into their Diablo by this time.

The only thing the Testarossa and the Countach have in common is their outrageous designs and flagship positions at their time. But they both sought out to accomplish two different goals; one was a flashy Italian muscle car and one was a flashy Italian GT.

 

The 512tr was not the car competing against the Diablo. That was the F40
I remember every single magazine comparing those two cars.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparison-test/a15141339/judgment-day-ferrari-f40-meets-lamborghini-diablo-archived-comparison-test/

 

Countach is very easy to drive at fun speeds. A driver will reach a wrong opinion about the car if he/she drives it around the parking lot and down the block.

With more experience driving the car, the Countach becomes simple to master. In addition, the Countach has a lot of variations. The 1978-1990 cars may look similar, but a lot of mechanical differences were offered with different markets. Make sure you are comparing apples to apples.

 

Driven both I prefer the tr over the countach now comparing which one is more collectible and command more $ that will be countach just my opinion to have both is Awsome

 

The diablo is amazing having owned a 94 and 98 my 94 would walk away from a 512 tr

 

If the f40 was going against the diablo that just shows you how strong the diablo is

 

I'd love to get my hands on a 91 someday. Waiting patiently

 

The F40 was certainly not competing with the Diablo. The F40 is a stripped out race car, the Diablo was a GT car.. The F40's msrp was almost double that of the Diablo.

 

100% agree