What is the fastest Countach?

[CRXloon]

Originally Posted by spare_me_a_murci

"Only prototype was destroyed in barrier crash testing"

Originally Posted by Doucette

Crazy, why???

According to an old "Car" magazine article, by Georg Kacher, (sorry if the spelling's a little off), the Evolution Countach was produced as a way of progressing the then existing Countach, with a view to it being it's eventual replacement...

The main purpose of the car was to evaluate a "tub" chassis made from carbon fibre. As i am sure you know, each production Countach made had a tubular space-frame chassis, much like a Maserati "Birdcage", or Mercedes-Benz 300SL "Gullwing".

As i remember from subsequent articles, when the Evolution was crash tested, Lamborghini found that the vehicle's chassis would not "behave" correctly when the crash took place.

That is to say, the carbon-fibre chassis was so rigid that it would not "deform" and absorb the impact in a manner that would be safe to the occupants.

Also, the Evolution was uneconomical to repair, mostly because of the cost of producing and fitting a replacement chassis, (despite the fact that the crashed chassis may have appeared "undamaged": remember this was some years ago, when the properties of carbon fibre were not truly known), meaning the "production" Evolution would have been far easier to "write off", in the event of such a crash, than a standard production model.

I'm sure i also read in the same article that the Evolution had a "one-off" engine that was more powerful than the standard engine.

I'd love to see the factory rebuild the wreck, (assuming it still exists), and add it to thier museum...

[Doucette]

Thanks CRXloon. That's interesting information. It would have been nice to have an extra Evolution to save for the museum.

[edlebby]

"
CRXloon
01-04-2004, 03:34 PM
I've never seen any performance figures, but i know that Bob Wallace produced at least 2 twin-turbo versions of, (i think), the LP400S Countach during the 80's.

There were also a few other "turboed" and at least one supercharged Countach..."


does anyone have any more information about the twin turbo version Wallace created? - in particular, what computer he used for the conversion to fuel injection? - thx

[mr. lambo]

i would imagine the 89 anniversary would be the fastest

[mlochala]

Originally Posted by spare_me_a_murci

it seems that it was only an experiment...
while browsing www.lambocars.com I've found some other countash prototypes that were also destroyed that way! It seems that they make some protos, test them (unfortunately crashing them) and start working immediately on some other proto!

Too bad, this kind of Lambos would be great for a good colector or the Lamborghini Museum - just imagine the historic value they would have!!

It is my understanding that the decision to use the original prototype for the barrier crash test was a budget minded decision. An interesting thing to note about the original Countach prototype, though, was that it had a unibody type chassis (like a modern mass production car) rather than the triangulated space frame chassis that was used on all of the production cars.

As to the original question, bruciebonus is pretty much dead on with his answer. (What else do you expect from someone who is an actual owner?)

The 25th Anniversary was one of the fastest models, but the 5000S and the LP400 (pre-fenders and wings) were the fastest models at around 185-195mph. There were some claims by some Lamborghini test drivers and owners that a few of those cars even exceeded 200mph. Generally it is an accepted fact that once the cars were sufficiently broken in, they became much faster than when new.

The rear wings (and the occasional front wings) actually slowed the car down drastically. There is a huge misconception that they were needed to keep the car on the ground. The Countach, despite its low stance and fighter jet machismo, had relatively poor aerodynamics and a high coefficient of drag. The rear wings were just a cosmetic addition, albeit a very expensive cosmetic addition.