In 1997, Automobili Lamborghini SpA built a one-time special car for a single-marque championship, a Diablo Roadster in the VT-R edition. This car was based on the VT Roadster edition MY1995, but for some reason the race oriented car was equipped with two wheel drive only and used a highly tuned V-12 delivering nearly 600 Bhp in full race tuning.
This car was built specifically to promote the Diablo SV-R race car, and subsequently only one Roadster-R was made, and it was rather different from the Diablo Roadster VT version that was commercialized during 1995. This Roadster VT-R had air intakes instead of the front headlight units, and only one race type bucket seat was installed with a five-point harness. There were large air intakes mounted just behind the seats, on top of the engine cover, naturally there was no place to store the removable roof on the engine lid anymore, in fact no roof was supplied with this one of a kind masterpiece.
To compete in the Lamborghini Championship with a Diablo SV-R, you paid a rather large sum of money, however at the end of the season, the Diablo SV-R would become your property. Automobili Lamborghini SpA actually delivered the Diablo SV-R with a special kit to convert this race car into a road-legal car or into an even higher tuned GT Racer, but still with the 600 Bhp engine.
It became obvious later on that several of these stunning race cars were converted into road cars by their owners, some still featuring those special rear bumpers, others in full SV trim, but still retaining the highly tuned engine.
This one of a kind Lamborghini Diablo VT Roadster-R was later sold to an enthusiast in the United States, were it still resided at the time of writing.
