Lamborghini engineering
Lamborghini Engineering was a subsidiary of the Modena- based car manufacturer Lamborghini , which organized and carried out Lamborghini's Formula 1 involvement from 1989 to 1993 . Lamborghini Engineering was mainly active as an engine supplier for existing Formula 1 teams; In addition, the company also developed its own chassis for Formula 1, which, after some difficulties, was used by an independent team in the 1991 season .
Lamborghini Engineering as an engine manufacturer
background
The initiative for Lamborghini's Formula 1 entry went back to Lee Iacocca , who was President of the Chrysler Corporation in the 1980s . Chrysler was a co-owner of Lamborghini at the time. Iacocca was of the opinion that Lamborghini could only compete with Scuderia Ferrari in the long term if, in addition to building road sports cars - just like Ferrari - it was successful in international motorsport.
For the motorsport project, Lamborghini founded Lamborghini Engineering, a Modena-based subsidiary in 1988. Former Ferrari manager Daniele Audetto was appointed director, and technical director was Mauro Forghieri , an engineer who had worked for Scuderia Ferrari in the 1970s. At the time, Forghieri developed the legendary Ferrari 312T , with which Niki Lauda became Formula 1 World Champion in 1975.
The motors
In the course of 1988, a team led by Mauro Forghieri developed a naturally aspirated Formula 1 engine with twelve cylinders and a bank angle of 80 degrees. The engine block was made of light metal. The engine had four main bearings. It had four valves per cylinder and the camshafts were driven by toothed belts. The engine electronics initially came from Magneti Marelli . After the first practical application, however, Forghieri switched to Bosch electronics. The engine was named Lamborghini 3512 based on Ferrari's usual nomenclature (3.5 liter displacement, 12 cylinders). The first engines were completed in mid-September 1988, and test bench tests began shortly afterwards. Several newspaper reports indicate an initial output of around 610 to 620 hp. This level was slightly above the eight-cylinder Cosworth , but did not match the performance of the top engines from Honda , Ferrari or Renault . In the course of the following years, however, the power output increased continuously through consistent development work, so that from 1991 the Lamborghini engines were among the most powerful engines in the field.
The Lamborghini 3512 was used from 1989 to 1992 in various stages of development for various Formula 1 teams.
For the 1993 season, Lamborghini presented a new engine, which was given the designation C101. The basic concept (12 cylinders, 80 degrees cylinder angle) was retained, but apart from that a number of modifications were made.
The teams
From 1989 to 1993 Lamborghini Engineering supplied a number of different teams with the twelve-cylinder engines:
- In 1989 the French racing team Larrousse received the 3512 engine exclusively. There it was used in the Lola LC88B and in the Lola LC89 . The only success of the year was the sixth place for driver Philippe Alliot in the Spanish Grand Prix .
- In 1990 the 3512 engine was delivered to Larrousse (for the L90 model) and to the British Team Lotus (for the 102 ). Larrousse was able to show the significantly better results and with a total of eleven world championship points placed sixth in the constructors' standings (the placement was withdrawn from the racing team at the beginning of the following season because the vehicles built at Lola had been illegally reported as own designs). The best individual result was 3rd place for Aguri Suzuki at the Japanese Grand Prix . Lotus, on the other hand, got along much worse with the engine; Derek Warwick could only score three points.
- In 1991 the French team Ligier (model JS35 and JS 35B) and their own Modena team were supplied with the 3512 engine. Neither of the two teams was able to score points this year, with the drivers of the new Modena team mostly failing in the pre-qualification.
- In 1992, Minardi and Larrousse (which at the time went under the name Venturi-Larrousse) received the 3512 engine. At Minardi, the engine was installed in the first four races of the season in a previous year's M191 chassis , which had been designed for the Ferrari engine in 1991. It was only after the San Marino Grand Prix that Minardi produced a chassis (M192) tailored to the Lamborghini engine. Each of the two teams scored only one championship point during the season: Bertrand Gachot for Larrousse at the Monaco Grand Prix , and Christian Fittipaldi for Minardi in Japan .
- In 1993 Larrousse received the exclusive C101 engine. Once again, the successes remained manageable: Philippe Alliot reached 5th place in San Marino , his teammate Érik Comas 6th place in Monza .
- Lamborghini Engineering could not find a customer team for 1994. During the 1993 season, there had been intensive negotiations with McLaren about the use of the Lamborghini engine in the 1994 season. In fact, the talks got so far that the first test drives were carried out in autumn 1993. For this purpose, a McLaren MP4 / 8 chassis was converted and equipped with a C101 twelve-cylinder. The white painted car was tested by both Ayrton Senna and Mika Häkkinen and according to relevant press reports it achieved competitive times. However, McLaren team boss Ron Dennis made a short-term decision in October 1993 to purchase Peugeot engines, which was to begin in 1994 and initially planned for four years. In the absence of any other alternative, Chrysler immediately closed Lamborghini Engineering and withdrew from Formula 1 racing. The relationship between McLaren and Peugeot was short-lived. The connection was broken after just one year. McLaren formed a long-term alliance with Mercedes-Benz , while Peugeot entered into an alliance with the Jordan Grand Prix and later with Prost and finally gave up in 2002 in the Asiatech project with Arrows and Minardi.
In addition to the Formula 1 teams, the Lamborghini 3512 was also installed in the 1991 sports car world championship by the Austrian team Konrad Motorsport in the Konrad KM-011 group C vehicle . The vehicle was used as a driver duo in three races with team principal Frank Konrad and Stefan Johansson , but each time it was canceled.
Lamborghini Engineering as a chassis manufacturer and operator of a racing team
The development of its own chassis by Lamborghini Engineering goes back to 1989. During this season, the Mexican businessman Fernando Gonzales commissioned Luna Lamborghini Engineering to build a chassis for him according to Formula 1 rules. This chassis - together with the 3512 engine - was to be used by a team called GLAS (Gonzales Luna & Associados) in the 1991 Formula 1 season. Former Italian journalist Leopoldo Canettoli was the team leader. Mauro Forghieri then developed a chassis in the winter of 1989/90 together with the engineer Marco Tolentino, who was last employed by Eurobrun, which was named Lambo 290. It was unveiled to the public on the Thursday before the 1990 Mexican Grand Prix.
After the presentation, Gonzales Luna, the initiator of the project, disappeared from the public. Neither Lamborghini Engineering nor Chrysler were able to establish contact with him, and the proposed development work compensation of $ 20 million (according to other sources: $ 40 million) was also not paid.
The project was about to fail. During the summer of 1990, Lamborghini Engineering decided to continue the project under its own responsibility and to use it in the 1991 Formula 1 season under the name Modena Team . In the end, the motorsport use could be realized. At the end of 1990 the Belgian Eric van de Poele undertook the first test drives with the car; later he became a regular driver alongside Nicola Larini . However, the company had no countable successes and came to a quick end after only one year.
Individual evidence
- Adriano Cimarosti: "The Century of Racing", 1st edition Stuttgart 1997. ISBN 3-613-01848-9 .
- Patrice Burchkalter, Jean-Francois Galeron: "Tout sur la Formule 1 1991", Surrèsnes 1991, ISBN 2-87-636-067-5 (French)
- David Hodges: "Racing Cars from A – Z after 1945", 1st edition Stuttgart 1993
- Lamborghini - All models to date, Motorbuch Verlag (1988), ISBN 3-613-01231-6
- Lamborghini sports car after 1964, type compass, Motorbuch Verlag (2006), ISBN 3-613-02645-7
- Lamborghini The History of Sant'Agata Supercars, Anthony Pritchard, Heel, ISBN 3-89880-574-3