Some may not remember this, but about 30 years ago Lamborghini was owned by Chrysler in the United States, and they supplied V12 engines to Formula One teams for a few years in the late Eighties and early Nineties… one of those teams was Larrousse based in France.
Founded in 1987, the Larrousse F1 team competed from 1987 to 1994, headed by Gérard Larrousse and Didier Calmels, they ran a Cosworth DFZ-powered Lola T87/30, for the 1988 season they used a new chassis, the Lola LC88 again with a Cosworth engine … but in 1989 they ran Lamborghini V12 engines on the LC89 chassis from Lola, which was also used for two races in the 1990 F1 season.
This specific car is the #03 chassis that has a serious active racing pedigree … being entered in no less than 14 Formula One races, 12 in 1989 and 2 more in 1990. For the 1989 season they entered this car in Round 4 in Mexico, then the R5 United States, R6 Canada, R7 France, R8 in the UK, they missed round 9, R10 in Hungary, R11 Belgium, R12 Italy, R13 Portugal, R14 Spain, R15 Japan, and R16 Australia. For 1990 they managed to enter Round 1 in the USA and round 2 in Japan … but had to retire in both races …
The 1989 Lola LC89 chassis #3 went into storage in 1990, after that she went into a museum where this car had some restoration done in 1993 … 25 years later, in 2018 the car was again restored and now shows the 1990 livery for Aguri Suzuki who managed a 3rd position overall at the 1990 Japan Grand Prix.
Note that this car lacks some engine internals and the ECU, but most likely these can be installed to create a very rare track day, screaming V12 Formula One car … one of only a handful to be powered by Lamborghini … she might not be street legal, but this is a very impressive car, and a piece of history nonetheless.
Sold at the Bonhams Goodwood Member’s Meeting on April 7. 2019 for £110,255 (€123.667 or US$143,605).
