[LM24] Le Mans Obscurities

[SL]

Lambo at Pre Q 95



SL

[SL]

And in the garage.


SL

[Osella]

I was a bit revisionist in pronouncing the Venturis quicker than the McLarens in '95.
McLarens qualified 9,11-15th,20th, Venturis 10th,29th,36th(!)
and yes the F40s pasted them all with 6th,7th,8th.
The Jota's pace was being compared favourably with the works Venturi that qualified 10th, not the Graham car in 36th which was a lot slower!

[SL]

Autosport Le Mans Supplement June 1995

Engine 5.7lt V12 Power 600bhp Weight 1050kg

Say Lamborghini and you think sportscars, but have you ever seen one race? Not till now, at least not backed by the factory. A team of Brits persuaded the factory to come up with a special called the Jota.

The first drivers to step into the car, stepped out of it raving. If they are right, that this car goes as well as it looks, then the Jota could be a McLaren beater-It matches the F1 on power and beats it on weight. A big step up for driver Hary Nuttall.

Lamborghini knows a thing or two about engines, and the Amos International team flows with F1 andsportscar experience. The same is true of Gerard Larousse who was expected to take the helm for the race. But the car tested for the first time 4 weeks before.


As a comparison
F40LM 3.0 t 600bhp 1080kg
911 RSR 3.6 600bhp 1100kg
Venturi 600 3.0 t 620bhp 1050kg
NSX 3.0 t 600bhp 1040kg
Jag 220 3.5 650bhp 1200kg
McL F1 6.1 636bhp 1500kg

A pity the car never turned a wheel in Pre Q or the race. Ironicly it was Keegan who was to drive the Jota, transfered to the reserve car the Lister. Now allowed to race because of the Jota dropping out, prompty spun the Lister and broke the clutch.

SL

[cybersdorf]

Originally posted by Osella
If memory serves, did Nicola Larini not briefly hold down third place in Canada around 90-91?

Better yet, the 5th place finish at Monza '84.

[Osella]

I'm sure there was another factory Lambo Gt entry after these two nearly-rans; a pink GT1 Diablo destroyed or at least damaged byond economic repair at the Hungaroring in qualifying. And never seen again since. I think that's it on the Labo front before the Reiter engineering car which performed so well at the last round of this year's GT championship. There's probably one in Japan, too.

[yellowtr]

Originally Posted by SL

I've found a couple of photo's of the 32 Lambo. The driver was Harry Nuttall.

I had a second look at the 95 Autosport and there is a photo in the 'Koni' advert of all places.

I'll post it later tonight.

SL

Hi,

Sorry for the blast from the past, do you know what date in June this Autosport magazine was from please?

Thanks

Peter

[Aysedasi]

Well, in 1995 the race was on 17th/18th June. So working backwards (and forwards) the preview edition should have been on 8th June and the race report edition on 22nd June?

[Adam43]

The preview might have been the 15th