LAMBORGHINI’S ORIGIN STORY is well-known; and if Ferruccio was to stand a chance of being taken seriously in the world of Italian exotics, he had to have an engine to rival the very best from Ferrari. So he approached Giotto Bizzarrini to design for him a world-beating (or at least Ferrari-beating) 12-cylinder. Even the earliest 3.5-litre incarnation of his quad-cam 60º V12 was an impressive powerplant, and it would live on for almost 50 years before a replacement arrived. The V12 became crucial to Lamborghini’s DNA and, even though there have been notable deviations – the Urraco’s V8, later the brilliant V10 of the Gallardo and Huracán – the V12 is a legend. Here’s a rundown of its six-decade history.
350GT
This is where it all started, Ferruccio’s first car, powered by the 270bhp 3.5-litre V12. The GT looks so restrained in comparison to what would follow, but it was Ferruccio’s desire to build a better roadgoing GT than Ferrari that got him started down this path. Naturally, there was soon a demand for more performance, which is why the following 400GT was a natural evolution, gaining a larger 3.9-litre version of the engine, pushing out 320bhp. A pair of these engines also found their way into Ferruccio’s personal Riva Aquarama speedboat (featured in Octane 129), which was apparently the fastest of its kind at the time.
MIURA
Adapting the V12 to sit transversely behind the cabin of the Miura was not so simple, and nor was making the gearbox work properly – it shared its oil with the engine. Unlike in the 400GT, which was all about tractability, the engine was tuned for outright peak power, with four downdraught triple-choke Weber carburettors helping it produce 345bhp. It was boosted to 365bhp and then 380bhp in the S and SV respectively. The Espada, Islero and Jarama also shared a variant of this 3.9-litre engine.
COUNTACH + LM002
The V12 went through several changes while it was sitting in the Countach. Early cars had a 3.9-litre, 370bhp unit, despite the fact that engineers wanted a much more powerful 5.0-litre version. In 1982 a 4.8-litre was offered in the LP500S, and in 1987 the ultimate 5.2-litre four-valve-per-cylinder LP5000 Quattrovalvole arrived. For emissions purposes some markets got fuel injection, though the carb-fed versions remained the most potent at 449bhp – and this figure is thought to have been very conservative. That engine, as well as a huge 7.2-litre marine-spec derivative, also found its way into the LM002 4x4.
DIABLO
For the next generation of mid-engined V12 Lamborghini, the Diablo, Bizzarrini’s V12 was given a
