Before the Diablo GT1 was built by SAT, Automobili Lamborghini SpA had a Diablo SE modified with the Jota performance option. This would allow the Diablo SE Jota to be legally entered into GT racing throughout the world, unfortunately this never happened, only about 12 SE were finished in Jota specification and all but very few were ever used a racing circuit.
Some very special Diablo SE Jota were actually built on special demand by the factory, a yellow finished Diablo SE30 Jota was ordered by the Japanese racing team, equipped with a marine derived fuel injection system on a modified engine, this Diablo Corsa was used to replace their Racing Countach, a highly modified Countach 25th Anniversary model the JLOC used before 1995.
After this initial ‘custom’ Diablo SE Jota, the factory built three other, race prepared Diablo, the Jota P.01, P.02 and P.03 were all highly modified and could be entered in the Japanese GTC series, these days, these rare P-cars are actually registered for road use in Japan !
These Jota P-spec cars were based on then current Diablo SE model, the side windows were replaced by Plexiglas ones with a sliding part as needed on a true race car and a massive, adjustable rear wing was mounted together with the Jota-style air intakes on the engine cover.
Also note the engine now used a special injection system with a completely different pressure pad than the one used on the ‘normal’ Jota, some sources even indicate a marine injection system was mounted.
Naturally the exhaust was modified into a racing unit too, one of these P-spec cars no longer housed the exhaust pipes underneath the rear bumper, but it now had two massive exits between the rear lights which resulted in a very impressive sound once the engine was started.
The front bumper received an extra air intake at the middle with two air outlets in the front hood to allow an air flow to run through the front mounted cooler.
At first the pop up headlights remained on the Diablo Corsa, but later these were replaced with fixed lights while the front spoiler and wheel arches were modified too, two wheel arch extensions were used and the front hood was altered, which made it look like the Diablo GT1 front section, the P-spec cars received similar fixed headlights and a wide front track from the start.
Today these very rare Diablo SE Jota R are still located in Japan, the P.01, which is the white and blue car featured on this page, and the P.03 car, a special green/yellow pearl metallic car are owned by two fortunate Japanese enthusiasts, while the yellow Diablo Corsa was last seen in a storage area in Japan too, although the owner remained anonymous.
The Diablo SE Jota P.02 was originally finished in white, but further details and whereabouts are unknown to us at this moment.
