Lamborghini tries to crack Formula One

Amongst Italian sports car manufacturers (Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo…) there is one notable company which has not managed to become world champions in the world of Formula One, but as with so many constructors their story from the late 1980’s and early 1990’s might of taken a far more positive twist.

Back in 1989 the French Larrousse Formula One team was entering its third season with Lola built chassis, and had signed up to use Lamborghini V12 engines for the season. Designed by legendary ex-Ferrari engineer Mauro Forghieri the engine mated to the Lola chassis had a challenging season ; 32 races led to only 6 finishes, and 1 point scored in the Spanish Grand Prix.

1990 saw Team Lotus also use the engine, and between Lotus and Larrousse a few more points were scored including a podium finish at the Japanese GP for Aguri Suzuki; at the time the first Japanese driver to stand on the podium of a race.

Ligier took over the supply from Lotus in 1991, joining the Modena Team SpA on the grid using the V12 engine. Modena had been formed out of an attempt to create a Lamborghini F1 team (and in summary the promised funding never appeared and the team somehow got onto the grid……it could be the subject of a few blogs!).

Ligier were a shadow of their race winning team from the early 1980’s and their mediocre season produced a couple of 7th places for Thierry Boutsen, and an 8th place for team mate Eric Comas. Comas had arrived in to Formula One as the reigning Formula 3000 champion from the previous season, but the Ligier – Lamborghini combination hardly allowed him to shine in his debut season.

Modena however almost defied all expectations, especially with the total lack of funding they appeared to have, by almost scoring 2 points at the San Marino Grand Prix. Eric van de Poele was running 5th right up until the last lap when a fuel issue halted his progress. Nicola Larina driving the sister car brought his car home 7th in the US Grand prix, but the team would not score any points in what turned out to be its only season.

3 years in and Lamborghini engines had scored a podium and a few more point scoring places at a time when only the first 6 places scored points. Over the following two seasons the V12, one of the best sounding engines on the grid, powered the Minardi team (1992) and was reunited with the Larrousse team for 1993; in both seasons scoring a handful more points.

However in the background Chrysler had bought Lamborghini and with their support McLaren built a test car and evaluated the engine at tests at Silverstone and Estoril. Whilst power and driveability of the engine were in the ball park of other engines, especially the Ferrari motor of the same season, reliability was woeful. Senna and Mika Hakkinen tested the car suffering in Mika’s case a notable engine failure where elements of the debris overtook him on Silverstone’s Hanger Straight!!!

Ayrton really thought the engine could be competitive, even taking into account the reliability issues, and the motorsport press at the time gave a glimmer of hope to the marriage of McLaren chassis and Italian V12 coming together for the 1994 season becoming a reality.

However in the real world Ron Dennis, team principle had signed up to work with Peugeot and Senna had agreed to race for Williams, leaving the test car as the closest we came to seeing this combination race in anger. 1993’s Australian Grand Prix was therefore the last appearance in a race of the Lamborghini V12 engine, with a 12th place finish for Eric Comas, and a 14th place for Toshio Suzuki a poor end to the engines career. Sport has lots of tales of "what if" but a combination of Lamborghini / McLaren / Lola / Lotus / Ligier / Larrousse and Minardi could of been a recipe for success.........but motoring heritage and motor sport success don't always deliver a winning formula.