 | The Lamborghini Marine engines, history. |
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The Lamborghini Marine Engines, some background information.
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The Lamborghini factory had never entered any kind of racing, the only Lamborghini's that ever showed up on the track were private entries, but when the Mimran's arrived, things changed. Ferruccio Lamborghini had two four-litres V-12's installed in his personal Riva Aquarama back in 1969, so Patrick Mimran decided to use an enlarged version of the V-12 for off-shore powerboat racing.
At that time there were plans for a large-displacement engine ready, but Mimran decided to actually built them, in 1984 the development of these engines began, end led to 8200cc and 9300cc engines. But these engines were too big and too heavy with their special fuel-injection systems and sophisticated mechanics to be fitted in a Countach or even in the big LM-machines. But they were just right to be installed in the big off-shore powerboats. The 8-Liter engine, a 60ø V-12 with 7973.89cc, a bore/stroke of 97.5x89 mm could produce 720 Bhp at 6000 rpm with its fuel injection system, but it weighed in at 360 Kg. But these engines had a dry sump lubrication and could rotate clockwise or counterclockwise, which made them perfect for powerboats, and with their 360 Kg, they were still less heavy than the big piston diesels usually installed in this type of boats.
Aldo Cichero designed the 'Bull of the seas', the luxurious Lamborghini Quetzal 1 and the competition type Quetzal 2, both boats used a single-hull design consisting of a three-layer moulding, a new composite material created by Cichero which used superimposed layers of PVC, Kevlar and carbon-fibre. The Quetzal 1 was very lavishly finished, with a lounge/bedroom, a kitchen, a bar, refrigerators, air conditioning, hi-fi, telephone, radio, television, etc. Naturally, the Quetzal 2 didn't have any of these luxury items, but it did put out 1440 bhp by using two 720 bhp fuel injected V-12 engines.
Lamborghini engines became used for competition in 1985, mainly with the help of Daniele Audetto, Board Member of the International Powerboating Federation.
CUV singe-hulls powered by Lamborghini engines made their entry in the Italian and European competition, and even won the title thanks to the results of the Italian ace Renato Della Valle. In 1986 the same resutls were obtained, but 1987 became much harder, mainly because the Lamborghini powered single-hulls were not very competitive in calm, flat water, where catamarans are much better suited. But in 1987 the Sant'Agatha engines did win the prestigious Viareggio-Bastia-Viareggio installed in the 'Sun International' of Stefano Casiraghi and the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes in the 'Rocky' of J.P. Frutier.
That same year, the gruelling New-Orleans-St. Louis, a 1034 mile race on the Mississippi River was won by a Wellcraft-Scarab powered by Lamborghini engines and piloted by Don Johnson (famous from the television series Miami-Vice) in a world record of 19 hours 51 minutes.
Thanks to these results, a contract was signed with Mercruiser, who would buy 300 engines and distribute these in the United States. Two types where supplied by Sant'Agatha, an 8.2-Liter version for racing and a 9.3-Liter for pleasure boating. The 8.2-Liter engine, type L 804 was used for the 1989 offshore competition.
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