Ah, Lamborghini, long beloved by gearheads, bad boy racer types, and all of us here at Automoblog is (finally) turning up the heat in its racing department.
One of the major dings against Lambo in the past, aside from little to no rearward visibility, has been the fact that they never really raced all that much. Sure, there\’s been the occasional one-make series tried half-heartedly now and again, and they did make F1 engines for a couple of seasons, but on the whole, racing took a far back seat to Lamborghini\’s road car interests.
Well, that\’s changing, fast. Meet the new Lamborghini Super Trofeo.
OK, for starters, the full and correct name for Lambo\’s racing beast is The Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo. Blancpain being the series sponsor, and yes, I do believe that Blancpain translates as \”White Bread\”. But c\’mon, you\’ve got to admit that \”The Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo\” sounds SO much cooler than \”The Lamborghini White Bread Super Trofeo\” or, if it was a NASCAR deal, \”The Lamborghini Wonder Bread Super Trofeo\”. As it turns out though Blancpain is a luxury Swiss watchmaker .
Anyway, Lambo had the car out on the track for its final bout of testing on the track in Adria, Italy. They were mainly looking at braking components and tires for reliability issues. The testing went fine, overall, and Lamborghini is confident that \”the Super Trofeo will be the racing series to beat in 2009,\” when the season kicks off Silverstone, England in May.
The tests were conducted by Lamborghini\’s official test driver Giorgio Sanna (how do I get his job?). \”We came to Adria to primarily test the performance of the brakes and tires, as well as component reliability in a full race simulation,\” said Sanna. \”Adria is ideal for this kind of testing, as there\’s lots of continual up-and-downshifting through the gears, especially second, third and fourth. It\’s also really hard on the brakes of all cars that visit, because of the tight corners, so we\’ve learnt a lot.\”
The car itself falls into the \”pretty damn impressive\” category.
The Super Trofeo is a lightweight version of the Gallardo LP 560-4. The Super Trofeo will come with a reworked chassis and a power output of 419 kW (570 hp) from its V10, \’Iniezione Diretta Stratificata\’ engine. The racecar will feature Lamborghini\’s permanent four-wheel drive, making the Super Trofeo the only one-make, all-wheel-drive motorsport series. Also note that it has all of the now-traditional race kit: Full cage, fire system etc. etc. etc..
The race series will run over 6 European race weekends, alongside other prestigious series such as the FIA GT Championship and DTM.
Here\’s Lambo\’s Presser:
05/02/2009 LAMBORGHINI SUPER TROFEO ON-TRACK FOR STRONG SEASON
The Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo took to the track in Adria, Italy for its latest official testing session this week. The new Super Trofeo race car had extensive tests of braking components and tires, to ensure the car\’s speed and reliability for the forthcoming season.
Over 270 kilometres of full-bore testing went smoothly during the day at Adria International Raceway, further proof that the Super Trofeo will be the racing series to beat in 2009.
Lamborghini\’s official test driver Giorgio Sanna completed more than 100 laps on the drying circuit during the day, initially optimising the car for wet weather conditions in the morning, before driving an entire race distance in the afternoon. This was a real simulation of the stresses the cars will experience when the season kicks off at Silverstone in May.
The Lamborghini development team was pleased to report that the day went well. \”We came to Adria to primarily test the performance of the brakes and tires, as well as component reliability in a full race simulation,\” said Sanna. \”Adria is ideal for this kind of testing, as there\’s lots of continual up-and-downshifting through the gears, especially second, third and fourth. It\’s also really hard on the brakes of all cars that visit, because of the tight corners, so we\’ve learnt a lot.\”
\”We\’ve got lots of data to look at ahead of the May race weekend, and there\’s even more to come from the car in terms of performance,\” he added. \”We\’ll be testing at Barcelona next, a very different circuit with very different conditions.\”
\”The test at Adria went very well indeed, so I\’m confident of the car\’s reliability and performance when the start lights go green at Silverstone in only a few months\’ time,\” said Manfred Fitzgerald, Director of Brand and Design for Lamborghini. \”We\’re well on track to achieve the speed and performance expected of a
Lamborghini race car, so we can address any potential issues well before the season opener to ensure a great spectacle for fans, as well as great racing for our drivers.\”Notes to editors
The Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo will debut in May 2009 featuring the Lamborghini Super Trofeo: a lightweight version of the Gallardo LP 560-4. The Super Trofeo will come with a reworked chassis and a power output of 419 kW (570 hp) from its V10, \’Iniezione Diretta Stratificata\’ engine. The race car will feature Lamborghini\’s permanent four-wheel drive, making the Super Trofeo the only one-make, all-wheel-drive motorsport series.Luxury Swiss watchmaker Blancpain is title sponsor. The Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo will run over 6 European race weekends, alongside other prestigious series such as the FIA GT Championship and DTM. Either one or two drivers per car can register for the series, comprising of free practice and a qualifying session, and three 40-minute races during the race weekend.
The first race weekend of the 2009 provisional calendar will run on 02-03 May at the Silverstone circuit in the UK, followed by Adria in Italy on 15-16 May; Nuremberg\’s Norisring in Germany on 26-28 June; Spa in Belgium on 23-25 July; Barcelona\’s Circuit de Catalunya in Spain on 19-20 September; and culminating on 03-04 October at Paul Ricard, France.
For more information visit the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo website www.lamborghini.com/supertrofeo
