dOmInIX

We didn't have a single thread here about this car so here it is!




The devil for hard-core enthusiasts

You’ll arrive at the first 100 km/h before most of us can say “Silvio Berlusconi” (which is some 3,4 seconds), and the top speed is a staggering 338 km/h, provided you remove the rear wing, which adds downforce. Lamborghini say that they’ll only do a limited run of 80 GTs. This sounds very exclusive, but of course Lamborghini only builds some 250 cars every year, so it’s still a large chunk of the annual production. And 80 units might just be enough to fill the garages of those hard-core enthusiasts (i.e Mr. Rod Stewart, Nicholas Cage, Mike Tyson and Jason Kay of Jamiroquai-fame). Which insists on having the latest offering from the small factory in Sant’Agata, and who don’t consider purchasing a new Supercar as a major economical obstacle.

The Italian Playstation

On the outside Lamborghini has adopted the wider body from the race car for the GT, with the characteristic bulge in the front, and the inlets that feeds air to the oil coolers. The scissors-style doors are just as we remember them, though the new racing seats have done entry and exit a bit easier. What remained of the rear window is now completely gone, in favour of a new induction system. But don’t worry, because the limited vision is traded for a TV-camera in the rear wing. The television transmits images to a small LCD-screen in the cockpit, and when the system works it’s a source of constant entertainment. Stick in first with the new gear lever in forged aluminium (which very much reminds you of what you see in a Ferrari 550 Maranello...), take the V12 to 4000 rpm and drop the clutch. Some 575 bhp put two strips of rubber on the road, in a haze of blue smoke – and you can see it all, crystal-clear, on the TV-screen. Sony Playstation can go and eat my shorts.

Even better than Wagner

Add to this the mind-blowing rumble from a Lamborghini V12 (which makes a Mercedes-Benz 12-cylinder sound like a vacuum-cleaner), and you’ve get the picture. Lambos don’t come much more intoxicating than this. From the moment you fire up that V12, you know that your in for a treat. You couldn’t really call it a sound. It’s music. A crescendo. Like Wagner, Mozart and Beethoven all together in one. Once you’ve heard a Diablo in full chat, you’ll never ever forget it. And the GT is like every other Diablo – only better! The noise is apparently kept down by something called an “Exhaust Noise Control System”, the function of which remains a mystery. You can still hear a Diablo GT a mile off, which is a bit of a safety feature, since the GT will do 200 km/h in third gear.

A V12-engine reving like a V6

Both airbags went out to reduce the weight, but the 335 mm Brembo discs still have ABS. But by and large, a Diablo GT would be more at home on the Mulsanne straight than on public roads. The engine might be based around the 5,7 Litre V12, but once you start to read the specifications, you quickly realize that this is more race- than road-car. First of all the displacement is up to 6,0 litres. Then Lamborghini fitted a lighter crank, titanium conrods, and induction system and valve covers in magnesium. You’ve got a variable induction system, valve control and different cams. The loud pedal is now Drive-by-wire, and each of the 12 cylinders have an individual throttle. The result is a V12 that revs like a V6.


500 Euro per bhp

Turn in, and you’ll get just a touch of understeer. Feed in the throttle, and you can slide the rear ever so easy. The new front suspension has longer wishbones, and this has worked wonders for the feedback. For the unwary driver there’s still plenty of room to get things very wrong in a Diablo, but as long as you know what you’re doing, then the Devil from Sant’Agata will handle like a Lotus. Only with a lot more power. It’s rather hard to believe that Lamborghini has only shaved some 75 kilos of the weight – it feels like the cerb weight has been reduced by some 50 percent. And that engine just changes the tables around. It’s no easy task to get a couple of Pirelli P-Zero 335/30 ZR18s to let go. But with 575 bhp you can do it at will. The price? Well, 575 million lire will get you one of the 80 Diablo GTs, which works out to a cool million lire per bhp - a very Italian way to fix the price of a new car.

The Diablo GT has always been pointless

Of course a lot of people will argue that a Lamborghini is completely pointless these days, and a GT even more so (since the 140 litres of luggage space is now reduced to that carbon fibre brief case which comes with the car). But they are wrong. Cars like the Diablo GT have always been pointless. That is, confusing as it may sound, the whole point. If I had the money, I’d buy one on the spot. Of course I had to promise the editorial board that I wouldn’t do another Diablo-story for quite some time. And then Lamborghini introduced the brand-new 6.0-litre model. Oh well, they’ll learn to love it.







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The Artist

Man i love this car.. when i was young i thought this was the baddest thing ever..
amazing. it still looks fresh

Alx

yep i feel teh same way, this was a favorite of mine for a long time, and the Countach from cannonball run! Love them!

MikeJ

One of the greatest Lambos ever. Now all I need is the €220,000 (+ taxes) that a good one will set you back for.... which reminds me that it's time to check my lottery numbers.

bum-man

I like it better than the new one and I don't know why.

SDNR

Well it's obvious really - this thing is purely outrageous, irrational, absurd, vulgar, and ridiculous - that is what a true Italian supercar is all about. VAG have turned Lamborghini into a viable alternative to a Porsche, they have toned-down the insanity somehow.

At least those of us who love the eccentric spirit of "real" Italian supercars have the Zonda.

The Artist

exactly italian supercars need to be outrageous ..
Thank god for pagani

dOmInIX

I share your thoughts Roberto.

Zonda

Great idea to make a topic on this car! Saw this car last summer, and it is all an italian supercar should be! tolked to the owner as well, cool guy. But he said that it wouldn't go any faster than 320km/h.

A vid of it. And o whole bunch of other awsome cars.
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