PICS! Goodwood Italiano Breakfast Club

Right then, Fiats. As it was formed in 1899, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino is one of the oldest and most prestigious of car manufacturers in the world (ignoring some older but largely hateful French rubbish, lol). For someone like myself who was quite badly scarred and traumatised by ownership of £50-and-still-overpriced Fiats back in the 80s, it's sometimes an effort to remind yourself that they've been responsible for some truly iconic vehicles over their century-plus of life. Shall we start off humble, though? The Fiat 500 (not to be confused with either the pre-war original 500...the Topolino or "little mouse" that guested in the second excellent Cars film, lol... nor the wretched bloated overpriced tinsel that blights every school run and Kensington cafe pavement today). Iconic is probably too light a word for these; this is literally one of the cars responsible for motorising the world. If it wasn't for this amazing piece of packaging we'd still be rocking about on motorcycles and sidecars and moving goods by donkey cart, This little number really did make affordable motorised transport an achievable dream for the masses



When Fiat were owners of Ferrari following the latters' troubled economic times, it was a golden opportunity for cross-fertilisation of the marques. Much as Enzo Ferrari is often pictured by history as a heartless power-crazed megalomaniac, it's unarguable that he loved his family. When he was a racing driver for Alfa Romeo, he pledged to his long-suffering wife Laura Gaurello that he'd quit th eincredibly dnagerous sport were they ever to have a child. True to his word, on the birth of Alfredo Ferrari, Enzo hung up his gloves and helmet and concentrated his efforts on running the legendary Scuderia Ferrari race team, first for Alfa then for himself. Alfredino ("little Alfie" or Dino as he was more frequently known) went on to become an exceptional engineer in his own right before being fatally struck down by muscular dystrophy at the all-too-young age of 24. Even on his death bed, he was discussing the designs for his new engine with fellow engineer Vittorio Jano, the Hungarian genius behind many Alfa and Ferrari successes. Dino would never see his engine, nor the marque of cars that bore his name, but it was made a reality following his passing and both Ferrari and Fiat seized upon the accessibility and versatility of the 2 and 2.4 litre V6 to produce cars that were still aspirational, but not so far beyond the means of mere humans that they were an irrelevant dream like many Ferraris.

The Fiat Dino was created as both open and coupe grand tourers, a classy long-legged sporting pedigree but still within reach. It was very different to the "Ferrari" Dino that was very much a sportscar; cheaper than any "real" Ferrari but hardly a cheap car for all that. Despite this, the Fiat Dino hardly set the sales chart alive in the UK, and it's a rare thing over here. I'm not sure I ever remember seeing one on the street, so it was a treat to see several at Goodwood. Ironic, really, when some commentators claim the Fiat Dino only saw production as management realised Ferrari alone could never produce enough volume numbers to homologate the Dino V6 for racing, primarily Formula 2. Previously my only real experience of them was the Wheeler Dealers episode where one was restored. What a lovely shape they are, too. Make no mistake, these are proper sportsters too in the old front-engine rear-drive tradition. The 2-litre engined cars were built by Fiat, but the 2.4 litre cars were made by Ferrari. In addition, the coupes were bodied by Bertone but the Spiders in particular were bodied by Pinifarina and assembled on the Ferrari lines along with the 246 Dino Ferraris.





This silver Coupe in particular was one of the most immaculate cars I've ever seen. The owner was justifiably proud of it; a truly incredible restoration inside and out with just the right amount of modification to keep it modern and relevant too. Awesome!















Lovely as the Coupes are, the rarer Pininfarina-bodied Spider definitely has a bit more of a Ferrari swoop and swagger about its lines







Now then, variable valve timing... bet you thought of Honda then, didn't you? In actual fact, VVT was first patented in America in the 1920s. However, Fiat were the first to patent it for a specific automobile application including timing and lift alterations, back in 1970. Despite this, Alfa were the first to actually use it, on the Spider of 1980. It took Fiat themselves until 1995 to bring their own version to market, and then it was on the MkI Punto-chassised Barchetta (Italian for "little boat"). Strange but true.





It was funny cos I recently scored a back issue of Car magazine from August 1974 wherein was a group test of RX-4 vs Capri 3-litre vs Fiat 124 Coupe (they didn't really like any of the cars for the record!) and I thought jeez, when was the last time anyone saw a Fiat 124 Coupe on the road? Surely they must have all gone back to the soil long since? Well, apparently not. This one proves the old adage that there isn't a vehicle yet made that doesn't suit Wellers!



Here's another rarity...



The original Multipla (there were a couple of the new version there, but I didn't take any pics of them save in the background of other photos. Because they're the ugliest car ever made, bar none, and I felt physically ill every time I pointed the camera at one). Based on the Fiat 600 platform this was another truly inspirational vehicle, re-writing the rulebooks for utilitarian and versatile transport. From aft of the drivers seat a double bench or completely flat floor could be configured, explaining why this was both practical workhorse, family hack and taxi of choice in much of Italy for years. Even if it does look a bit odd, like it's driving backwards, lol. "Dashboard" redefines "minimalist"!







Of course, Fiat are usually associated with exactly this kind of functional but unexciting transport, largely due to their ability to use subsidiary companies to market their performance undertakings. However, they do every so often chuck one in from the leftfield, and once upon a time the X1/9 was going to be the sportscar for everyman. Aimed at the lucrative American sportscar market, it was the mid-engine rear-drive semi-exotic European sportscar affluent young bloods were meant to throw their bonus down on. And to some extent, it succeeded remarkably, even in more domestic markets. It never quite overcame the problems of overweight, underpower, terrible build quality and shocking steel that basically evaporated on contact with moisture... but within any measurable criteria it was a massive success. also helps it looks cool as hell in the futuristic style of the time, penned by none other than Gandini (yeah, him what done the Countach). This one's had some love, fair to say

OK, I’m sure many of you regulars who choose to wade through the drivel on these threads will be aware that I’ve a bit of a thing for a certain kind of Ferrari. Derived from a leftover super-lightweight evolution of the previous ultimate Ferrari, the GTO, it was never intended as a racer but rather the ultimate roadcar. It was briefly the fastest production car in the world. It flowed more exhaust through the wastegate pipe than the cylinder exhaust. It was utterly devoid of compromise, the first fifty made not even having the luxury of opening windows. It was built with low weight, high power and effective aero as the only considerations. It was so focussed it had neither carpets nor stereo, nor even doorhandles and all the windows were plastic. It even neatly sidesteps all those naming conundrums by re-writing the rules there too. It was the last car signed off by Enzo Ferrari before his death, and it was the one he intended to be his finest achievement. But lest I start to sound as pompous and overblown as Clarkson, I’d best get on with some pics



Yeah, you’d guessed anyway, hadn’t you? Could only be one thing, couldn’t it. And yeah, there have been faster and more shocking and better looking and certainly better appointed cars since, but there’s only ever one best ever!



I’ve only ever seen two F40s in one place before once, at the Festival of Speed. There were four here today! One of them I only noticed as it was leaving! It snuck under my radar in a very stealth coat of Fast and Loud jet black although I later found I’d managed to get it in the background of some of the pics and didn’t even notice. See if you can spot it



This one you’re currently looking at made quite a stir by turning up late and having to drive through the crowd to its parking spot. People tend to notice an F40 driving past their ankles! I have to say, until that excellent resto mod job on Fast and Loud I’d never really noticed the room for improvement in F40 wheel size and offset, but I’d have to concede now it’s brought to our attention that they might have a point.





I’m not going to go over the specs and clutter the thread up with superlatives. You all know what you’re looking at, lol. The second one we came across obligingly had its rear clamshell open so we could peer in at the stupidly potent twin-turbo v8. This is actually one of the smaller engines Ferrari offered, coming from the 288 GTO as it did (if you’ve been keeping up with the Name Game you’ll know that’s a 2.8 litre V8). But the twin IHI turbos make up for a lot of the displacement deficit, and many commentators agree Ferrari undersold the actual power output, the claimed potential of 478PS at 7000 rpm is accepted to fall short of the real grunt available, generally over 500HP! The car was the first production car to crack 200mph, achieved as much by its extremely low coefficient of drag and substantial aerodynamic efficiency holding it to the road.



The engine bay demonstrates as ably as the exterior the no-compromise ethos of the engineering. The many undertrays and diffuser strakes, coupled with the low roofline and aerodynamic shape, meant that the engine bay could not be sealed due to the demands of the turbocharged engine for heat management. If you look at how everything is tightly packaged within the louvred rear screen you get a lesson in efficiency.



The turbos are directly on the exhaust manifolds, close as possible for fast spool, the airboxes are mounted a mere few inches from the intercooler intake, the wastegate nestles snugly between the two turbine housings and feeds a single massive central dump pipe. Likewise, the intercoolers sit right on top of the compressor housings. The turbos may be small to those of us now used to rotary gasflow in rainforest-killing amounts and all those alleged 1000-bhp Skylines and Supras, but it’s about response and reaction, relentless speed not laggy sledgehammer grunt. This is a sportscar, not a blunt instrument.








You’ve no idea how long I had to wait for this clear shot, by the way. Not unsurprisingly, everyone and their dog on seeing an open F40 engine bay want to wander over and stick their mullet right inside!



The third red one was up the opposite end of the track, which was good because just as the first got me carried away with the extreme bodywork and mad aero, the second gave me a chance to explore the amazing packaging of the engine bay, the third gave me a chance to catch up on what I missed. Namely, the interior. Those Gas Monkeys might have been rather scathing about the fact it seems to be lined with “trunk liner” …I prefer to think of it as the same thing they coated Action Man’s hair with, myself… but somehow you can’t imagine it any other way. After all, the gauges are there if you need them, not so you can gaze adoringly at them. The interior is dour and unremarkable because you’re meant to be keeping your eyes on the damned road! After all, the first fifty cars came with lexan sliding window inserts, it was only later you got the luxury of a wind-down window. Yeah, maybe the sort of people who would spend a million dollars on a car were used to being treated slightly more cossetingly, but you have to admire Ferrari for sticking to their design vision on this one. Anyway, stop complaining, you got aircon. And absolutely beautiful carbon-kevlar backed seats







I’m a bit unnecessary after all those F40s now, better slow things down a bit now. Actually, I’m not sure that the new 458 Italia is actually much slower than an F40…probably not in fact. The top speed is comparable, at 202 mph for the Italia, but since it boasts the highest relative power output for displacement of any mass production car ever at 127PS per litre and since its 4.5 litre V8 (458, yeah? Please try to keep up at the back) boasts a face-witheringly brisk 562bhp at 9000rpm, I guess it’s fair to hypothesise it’s a fairly rapid event getting there!



There were LOADS of the damned things here today. In keeping with many modern cars I have to say I’m not vastly enamoured of the overall shape, but oh my! Some of the detail touches are rather engrossing. From the work-of art LED festooned headlights to the self-deflecting aero splitter splines, to the mad diffuser strategy… everywhere you look there’s something to like. So here, have a look;

















It’s alleged that the resurrection of the California name came at the expense of another famous old Italian marque. The front-engined hardtop coupe-convertible was originally intended to be a Maserati, but in order to recoup the extreme cost of development the decision was made by Fiat top brass to rebadge it as a Ferrari to justify the high price. This has always been denied by Fiat, but it certainly has some very Maserati-alike design features in it. There were a surprising number here as well, though that makes it even more unfathomable that I completely failed to get a single decent full-body photo of a one of them. Sorry, you’ll have to make do with detail shots. If it’s of any consolation, they do feature my current second favourite Ferrari headlight?











Now, this is more like it. Another one-time fastest production car, and much-loved of anyone who ever wanted rolled-up jacket sleeves, esperdrills and a Miami Vice lifestyle. Of course, it’s a commonly told tale that Ferrari themselves never gave this car its best known name of Daytona. It was awarded by the press to the 1-2-3 finish of the three prototype P330s at the 1967 Daytona 24-hrs race. The actual car designation was the much less romantic 365 GTB, which if you’ve been keeping up in class will lead you to decipher this is a V12 engined car wherein each cylinder displaces 365cc. Hence the loooooooong bonnet, with that epic Colombo-designed quad-cam v12 stretched out in front. Given the epic and legendary nature of these cars, I was surprised to only see this one here, but one is better than none! This is shown to be a later production car; the first ones had fixed headlights behind glass. These were banned in 1971 by American legislation that prohibited glass headlight covers for safety reasons. Oddly, given that the later pop-ups were also later banned on safety grounds. I think safety legislators just work on banning anything that looks good on the principle that must mean people are enjoying it…









I’m really not quite sure what the story is with our next car here. The Monza series of Fezzas were an attempt to diversify into different areas of competition where the Colombo V12 mainstay race engine was ineligible. To this end the front-engined open sportscar family was spawned, pulled around by a Lampredi-designed four pot.



The Monza 860 was a derivation from the earlier 857 (The Name Game leads us to the conclusion this was a 3.4 litre four as each cylinder was 860cc, as revealed in the name). However, a peer at the ID plate screwed to the dash shows this car claims a 3-litre V6, although it does claim a 1956 manufacture date, which is the correct year for the body and chassis. Of course, there was no such engine back then and even the Dino never got to three litres, the 308 Dino being a V8. So I dunno. Don’t know if this is an original Monza with an engine swap, or a replica or what. Happy to be told if anyone knows, lol



Much like the earlier 196 replica, though, it doesn’t really matter what the hell it is when it’s this utterly gorgeous, does it?









Since we recently touched back on the Dino engine, shall we have some Ferrari examples of its home? For me the shape of the 206 and 246 Dinos is one of the best ever wrapped around a car. It’s easily my second favourite Ferrari (and yes, pedants, I’m aware it was never officially badged as a Ferrari). Although many comparisons could be drawn to Enzo’s rival Henry Ford (semi-autonomous marque set up to honour the legacy of a dead son, hard-headed reluctance to compromise, megalomaniacal domination of their empire, etc), the man himself saw the Dino range as a way to compete with upstart Porsche and their 911. Despite that it was the entry-level route to Ferrari goodness, they didn’t cut corners on the Dino. It was a proper racer for the road, and the mid-engined layout was a very bold move on a road car in its day. That it happened to be stunningly good-looking was a nice bonus!













Back in the day (assuming the day was the style vacuum of the late 80s) the shock and awe in the Ferrari stable came from the resurrection of the Testarossa name. Things always sound more exotic in Italian, it's true (would anyone buy a Fiat "Point", "Type" or "Road", for example, if they translated the names into English?) but in this case "Red Head" I guess does sound fairly exotic anyway...well it conjures up images in my mind at least. Anyway, the Testarossa was the successor to the Berlinetta Boxer (in the Name Game, Boxer is the horizontally-opposed nature of the piston layout, Berlinetta derives from the Italian meaning "little saloon" or coupe, basically. The Testarossa, being a flat-12, throws another spanner into the mix by being named after the overall displacement in litres at 512, not the displacement of one cylinder as per V12s. Got all that? Good) and was designed to address the flaws of that model. To this ends, it featured massive rear-mounted twin radiators to overcome the BBs problems of packaging and overheating the cabin by running radiator lines from the rear engine to front radiator. The problem this caused was the immense width of the rear of the car, already wide due to the flat-12 engine. The gaps between doors and radiator pods were filled with the distinctive side strakes in order to comply with safety legislation. It was truly a triumph of packaging, keeping the huge engine mid-mounted between the axles and still finding room for a larger cabin and storage space, but it came at the expense of the car being relatively massive. And with the hindsight of a time of more restrained tastes, rather vulgar to be fair. Despite the hugely overblown styling, they sold about 10 000 of the things, so it's odd that you almost never see them any more. Could it be that even Ferrari owners are embarrassable?



The 360 Modena, despite being arguably a continuation of the 355, in actual fact featured an all-new aluminium spaceframe and panelling, thus massively improving over its predecessor's power-to-weight ratio. It also had clever stuff like titanium conrods to keep weight down and give the reciprocating mass an easier life. Annoyingly, it deviated from the Name Game tradition by being a V8 but by only using overall capacity for all three numerals, ignoring the traditional last one being the engine configuration designation. This continued onto the successor, the F430, then reverted to type for it's successor, the 458. I think they're just taking the curse word... Anyway, given how damned many Ferrari flogged over its six year lifespan, I was surprised there weren't more around. This race-liveried example caught my eye though. Not sure if it's genuinely one of the hopped-up versions such as a Challenge Stradale or just a stocker in a flash suit. IIRC all the competition versions such as the GTs and Modena Challenge weren't road-legal







Again, very few F430s around although there was this Spyder that I felt motivated to pap a bit. I guess if you're going to have something as close the male menopause on wheels as a convertible Fezza you may as well have the engine on show under glass as well, lol







And going back to the 355 (remember, breaking the rules of the Name Game by having the number of valves per cylinder as the final digit?), I think this engine bay is from one. I intelligently failed to get one of the outside of the car, being basically hypnotised by the shiny carbon Gruppe M intake system. Bet that wasn't cheap!





Can't even remember what this is of either. You know what, I'm getting bored of Ferraris now, shall we move onto something more interesting instead? lol

Right, then... Fulvias. Just for you, Steve



I have to be honest, first time I ever heard the word "Fulvia" I was sure it was a rude one. Or at least a descriptive term for a schoolboy-amusing part of private anatomy. Disappointingly not. Turns out it's either an ancient Roman ladies' name of a genus of cockles. Or an asteroid, the 609th to be classified. Or, of course, one of the cars with one of the greatest contributions to motorsport Lancia ever managed!



To be honest, I'm not even going to try to identify what's what here; there were about 12 different versions of the coupe produced, and half as many again Berlinas! I'll leave that to the Fulvia afficianados. The real uniting factor between them all was that amazing narrow-angle Lancia V4 that began life as a mere 1091cc and went through four capacity hikes to end its like as a lusty even narrower-angle HF version of 1584cc. A masterpiece of packaging, the V-angle is so acute that a single head can be utilised, and one camshaft for exhaust, one for intake. By now it's scarcely worth re-iterating that because the cars are Italian they also look excellent too. I have to say, the coupe in it's many forms definitely shades the saloon noticeably in aesthetics, though. Just as well, there were loads of the damned things!















This next one is also a Fulvia, but not like all the others. As we previously discussed (seems like ages ago, right back at A for Alfa), Zagato are usually the Carozzeria you can rely upon to produce the most outré styling treatments, and their Fulvia variant is no exception. The Fulvia Sport Zagato was a 1216cc-engined two-seater version of the coupe, bodied in aluminium in distinctive style. There are elements of Renault or Citroën in the shape but it's definitely an attention-grabbing design, and almost unrecognisable as a Fulvia!









There are a lot of words that probably get miss-used when discussing the cars we all love, but in the case of the Lancia Delta Integrale most of them are probably justified. Legend, iconic, amazing, genre-defining... to be honest, think of a superlative and it probably fits in. Except for maybe "luxurious", lol. Exploiting the vacuum left by the demise of Group B rallying in 1986, Lancia were the only manufacturer to really have a sorted weapon ready to make Group A all its own. The evolution of the Delta was a permanent four-wheel drive turbocharged pocket rocket of ferocious ability. Mods to homologate wider bodywork and deeper arches for larger wheels and bigger brakes ensured that for 1987 at least the car was almost unbeatable, taking seven of the eleven world championship rally rounds, and ten from eleven in '88. The legend was ensured... Rarely do you find a car so comprehensively defined by its ability, but the Integrale is all aggressive hunched stance, box arches and cooling vents speaking quietly but insistently of its immense competence. I love these little weapons, can you tell, lol? Especially the burgundy one, what a gorgeous colour















Although the theme of the day was Italian cars, there were a couple of oddities that I felt needed photographing. If only in a sort of WTF is that doing here kind of way. For example, right at the end of the track was this;



and whilst it's a very nice convertible Moggy, I've no idea what the hell it was doing there. Unless it had, like a Ferrari V8 under the bonnet or something. Likewise, this Ultima was very nice and undeniably potent, but not quite sure why it was in the paddock





however, I love them and wouldn't pass the chance to snap a little endurance racer for the road! One car that had nothing to do with Italianate metal whatsoever but was pretty much un-ignorable was this beautiful blue GT6 wedged over away in one corner of the paddock. That it permanently had a crowd round it spoke volumes that this was not your average humble little Triumph coupe amongst all this Latin exotica!



Sure enough, when you got under the clamshell front end you could see why it attracted some attention! Fuel injected, one-off ignition setup, all new componentry throughout. One of those cars where everywhere you looked there was something to marvel at and go "ooooh, see what they've done there?". Most impressive







Then there were these things;



Hmmm. Not actually a Bugatti, you perhaps won't be surprised to learn. And even though Ettore Bugatti was born in Milan, he became a naturalised Frenchman so that hardly counts as Italian. Anyway, this brace are actually Teals (brace of teals, arf! D'ysee what I did there? Oh, never mind). Teals are arguably a class above your average replica in as much as they did at least use their own bespoke ladder chassis and bodywork, thus avoiding the trap of, say making a Ferrari replica out of an MR2 but having it just look like a bloated MR2 at the end. Early Teals used the humble running gear of the even humbler Morris Marina, of all things, and GRP bodywork though later versions used MGB gear, Rover and even Jaguar, plus have proper aluminium bodywork panels. To be fair, they look OK and even up close retain a certain authenticity. It's only when you really look under the skin they reveal their sketchy componentry and poverty-spec origins;



Anyway, the old boy who owned it was very kind and approachable, and didn't even mind my son begging a go sitting in it, so kudos to him for that!



Anyway, whatever your opinion of replicas is, they were there and I thought they were worthy of a few pics, so here are some where I tried to record their best features, lol. I always think the ultimate test of whether a car is cool or not is if six-year olds like them, so on that level they get a pass at least









Another rather odd and unexpected anomaly was this amusing Malossi-tuned trike delivery van thing. For those who don't know, if you're an Italian yoof and therfore able to ride a motor-scooter from the tender age of 14 (or whatever it is now) then the only thing that really matters is making it faster. Rather like Aussies are either Ford or Holden, young scooter hooners are either Malossi or Polini, sourcing Del'orto carb upgrades, racing variators, exhausts and everything else you need to make your 50cc transport good for that elusive but vital extra 0.003 mph!

Right, we're just about done now. There's only one other marque left to discuss, and that's the most recent firm to triumph for Italy on the world stage. The story of how a certain tractor manufacturer resolved to out-Ferrari ol' Enzo at his own game is legendary, but still funny. Urban folklore has it that Ferrucio Lamborghini grew so fed up with the poor quality of his successive Ferrari 250GT models that he resolved to build his own supercar the way he felt it should be built. He persistently complained about the poor interiors, excessive noise and in particular fragile clutches of his 250s that consistently meant they were returned to Modena for repair, where the rude and demeaning Ferrari aftersales treatment would further incense him. This was a man who knew cars, too, he wasn't just a bored rich kid wanting to moan about things. He was a time-served engineer and his personal fleet included a Mercedes 300SL, a Jaguar E-Type and two Maserati 3500GTs (though he's reputed to think the Masers "were really heavy and did not go very fast"). Anyway, after taking it upon himself to rebuild his own Ferrari and ending up with a car more civilised and with better performance than stock, he resolved upon his path.

Attracting experts to him with his new business plan, he launched Lamborghini in 1963, utilising the Bizzarrini-designed V12. Amusingly, Ferrucio always intended his cars to be road cars primarily, since it was Ferrari's race-car-for-the-road harshness that incensed him the most. The Bizzarrini engine was a thinly-veiled race motor complete with dry sump lubrication system and stratospherically high compression ratio. Lamborghini was enraged, and refused to pay the engineer the agreed sum (plus the bonus for every horsepower the engine produced over and above the equivalent Ferrari V12) until the matter was dragged through the courts and he was bound over to pay up. Gotta respect that. Anyway, despite essentially these days being styled-up Audis, Lamborghini have managed by some miracle to retain some of the spirit and brio of Ferrucio's character. Arguably they got of to a slightly shaky start with the Ferrari-lite performance and slightly awkward styling of the Scaglione-penned 350GTV and 400GTs, but once a certain bright upcoming young spark called Gandini, recently taken over at Bertone from Giugiaro as lead designer, sketched out the show car P400 that would evolve into the Miura, one of the most beautiful man-made objects in the world... well, the rest is indeed history. Sadly, there were no Miuras here today (or I'd still be standing dribbling on it in a stupor) so let's start our round-up of Sant'Agata's output with perhaps the least likely example, shall we?



Oddly, if this is a real one, it shoots straight up near the top of rarest cars on the day. The Silhouette was a lightweight Targa-top two seat sportscar with a transverse mount all alloy V8 of three litre displacement. It was based on the Urraco underpinningas and evolved into the Jalpa, but during the 1976-'79 production run only 54 were built, of which about 30 are believed to still exist!







.....and right at the opposite end of the range is this mad, mad thing



Sorry, couldn't find a Veneno, so the most current example of Lambo-ness here was this Aventador. In keeping with Ferrucio's obsession with bullfighting and naming his cars after pieces of its folklore, the Aventador is named after a legendary bull that fought in the rings of Saragossa. Although very much a mid-engined V12 missile in the best Lambo tradition, the Aventador features only the second V12 engine to come from the marque. At just under four litres at developing ~700PS it's a worthy successor. It's alleged that the moulds used to cast the carbon-fibre monocoque will only survive production of 500 units each, and only eight moulds were made. Once those 4000 cars are in the world, that's the lot











In actual fact, the Aventador's predecessor (via the limited edition Reventón) the Murciélago doesn't number much more than that, notwithstanding its ten-year production run (yeah, I was surprised it's been that long, too). Only 4099 Murciélagos were made. The car took its name from a fighting bull that survived no fewer than 24 sword strokes from the snappily-named Rafael "El Lagartijo" Molina Sánchez in Córdoba bullring in 1897. It's alleged that the matador was so impressed by the bulls spirit that its life was spared and it passed to Don Antonio Miura, where it became the grandsire of the Miura bull bloodline. This story is apparently refuted by the Miura ranch, but it makes for good cinema, lol. Murciélago is also Spanish for "bat". Anyway, despite the 4-grand world production they were quite numerous here today. The SV (or LP670-4 Super Veloce to give it's full title) was some kind of ultimate amongst Murciélagos, with revised engine characteristics and exhuast, more carbon, lighter weight and general track bias. And crammed with lovely details to photograph!



















Before Murciélago there was Diablo. Also named for a famous bull, unwilling star of a titanic battle against matador "El Chicorro" in Madrid, 1869, it is also Spanish for "Devil". Perhaps obviously. The design brief for the Diablo was that it had to be able to exceed 196 mph. Which it did, at 202mph. The company had learned from its predecessor, and the Diablo was more comfortably appointed, although there were surprising omissions from the standard equipment at first (anti-lock brakes and power steering, for example!). These mod cons came part-way through the eleven-year production run. Other than such tinkering, the car remained largely the same throughout, except for the swap from pop-up to fixed headlights (the same as the ones in the Nissan 300ZX, in fact), proving that Gandini had very much done it again and got it right first time. A few special editions livened the breed up from time to time, some of which were represented here today. Despite the fact that one of the options was a $10500 dash clock by Breguet, the interiors look quite non-opulent and spartan by todays standards.





















This VT differed from the "ordinary" Diablos mainly in the adoption of four-wheel drive, nowadays a mainstay of the Lamborghini range. The VT in the name stands for "viscous traction" in reference to the torque-splitting viscous centre diff. It also had a plethora of tweaks that eventually filtered down to the base models; re-sculpted more ergonomic dash, four-piston brakes, electronically-adjustable suspension dampers, large rear arch air vents for improved cooling, etc. Oh, and power steering (at last). Judging by the antics I saw here, the insane difficulty of parking a Lambo has not been exaggerated!





Despite the numberplate, I don't believe this is actually an SE30 Jota. It is, however, an SE30, the limited edition commemorating thirty years of the company. They, like the VT, featured many upgrades that would later be applied across the range, such as improved cooling, better power, magnesium intake setup, revised exhaust and so on. They all came in this distinctive metallic purple, though it could be changed to the purchasers' choice on request! The SE30 also had Lexan sidewindows for lightness, and distinctive multi-strake intakes at the rear for cooling. The Jota was a track-prepared next step that could be specified for your SE30, including MR2-style (OK< Formula 1 style then) hunchback air intakes protruding over the roof from the engine deck.





Well, if you're a regular sufferer...errr I mean reader... of my threads you'll know I always like to end on a high. As my old ballet teacher used to scream while exhorting me to greater efforts on my grand jeté, lol. Well, there's only one way we can really take it now, isn't there, the one glaring omission so far, the car that graced a thousand Athena posters on a thousand bedroom walls.



Yeah, the original may have greater purity of line and subtelty in its lithe, hunched, pouncing predator shape. But if the measure of supercar success is truly whether it makes you feel ten years old again, it's hard to argue against the overblown mad finnery and be-winged excess of the later Countachs



I mean, it still looks incredible today, think what this was like back in the day when there was literally nothing like it in the world that wasn't a fighter plane. This really is some kind of ultimate, and I think for once I might just shut up and let you enjoy the pictures...











So that was our morning done. We had one last cup of tea as the track emptied, and it seemed strange how quickly it became deserted and quiet after the intense bustle and crowding. I couldn't help but feel a bit sad as I carried a very tired two-year-old daughter (mine, fortunately) back through the car park field, knowing that this was the last show I'd get to this year. However, a few things cheered me up on the way back to the stoic F*rd. One was this little baby Lambo scurrying away through the car park, as if it had been lurking here ashamed to be seen with its bigger and more glamorous siblings. In any other context it would have been wowing the passersby, bless it



The next thing was the thought that there are loads of these Breakfast Clubs to look forward to next year, and you can damn well guarantee my name will be down on the Japanese one! The final thing was this rather splendid but completely random Galaxie that buzzed past as we were leaving, lazy V8 burble filling the warm green space between leafy Sussex hedgerows with careless ownership as though the highly-strung Italian flair that had screamed over the same route moments before had all been some transient glimpse, a dream snatched from a place more beautiful, more striking, more vibrant, than the autumn setting her shoulders all around.



All so inappropriate, and yet so goooooood. See you there next year? Cool. Now, go away

Fantastic write up and photo's!

Saw a Bizzarini Strada once at Meilenwerk in Germany, beautifull car!

Cracking pics and write up, thanks for that!

33.3% brilliant photos

33.3% superb write-up

33.3% thread of win

100% AWESOME.

Great write up Nik Thanks for the Fulvias

Will have to get along to the breakfast club one day, its on my to do list. The best part of 4 hours drive means that getting there for breakfast wont be much fun though! haha

Great pics mate!

Dang that 'Daytona' is gorgeous - one of my all time favourite ooooofs!

The Silhouette is another.