Lamborghini, or Automobili Lamborghini
S.p.A. as it’s officially called, produces some of the most
exciting sports cars in the word. Some of the newer Lamborghini
models are the Countach, the Diablo, the Gallardo and the
Murcielago.
Fact 1: Lamborghini is named after the founder of the
company Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916-1993). Ferruccio Lamborghini
founded the company in 1963 when he was 47 years old. The
factory is located in a small Italian village called Sant’Agata
Bolognese near Bologna.
Fact 2: Ferruccio Lamborghini was a successful tractor
manufacturer before he got interested in sports cars. His
interest in sports cars made him buy many different
high-performance cars including both Maseratis and Ferraris, but
he was never really happy with any of them and therefore decided
to built his own, perfect sports car,
Fact 3: Lamborghini used to be an independent company,
but today it is a subsidiary of the German company Audi AG. Audi
AG became the owner of Lamborghini in 1998. Lamborghini went
bankrupt in 1978 and was sold to Chrysler a long time before
Audi AG became the sole owner of the company.
Fact 4: The fastest Lamborghini is the Le Mans version
of the Murcielago R-GT model. It has been reported to have a top
speed of 370 km/h. The fastest street model from Lamborghini is
the Murcielago LP640 with an estimated top speed of 340 km/h.
Both of the models have a V12 engine with more than 6000 cc.
Fact 5: Several of the newer Lamborghini models
feature the familiar Lamborghini scissor doors that rotate up
and forward on a hinge near the front of the door. The Countach,
the Diablo and the Murcielago all have scissor doors, but the
Gallardo does not. Both the Countach and the Diablo are no
longer being produced, so the Murcielago is the only current
model with scissor doors.
Fact 6: No Lamborghini have ever been produced with
less than a V8 engine. Most of the Lamborghini models throughout
the history of the company have come with the legendary
Lamborghini V12 engine, but the newest model, Gallardo, only
have a V10 engine. No Lamborghini models with a V8 engine have
been since production of the Silhouette stopped in 1989.
Fact 7: The first Lamborghini was the 350GTV from
1963. It was extremely fast for its time with a top speed of 280
km/h. In 1964 a smaller version of the 350GTV appeared. The
smaller version was called 350GT and had a top speed of 240
km/h. The Countach from 1974 was the first Lamborghini to go
faster than 300 km/h.
Fact 8: In 1975 did Walter Wolf, a rich Canadian
businessman and F1 racing team owner, persuade Lamborghini to
produce three super powered Countach models. The Wolf Countach
had the same engine as the orginal Countach prototype and were
able to reach a top speed of 315 km/h.
