Italia à Zandvoort is an event that has been running for many years already, I first visited this event back in 2003 already, a few years were missed but last year the number of Lamborghini that arrived at Italia à Zandvoort 2015 was rather impressive, so on July 3. 2016 I took a four-hour drive to the Circuitpark in Zandvoort, the Netherlands to join the 2016 edition.
The weather forecast didn’t look too bright, with rain and thunderstorms foreseen during the day but it turned out to be the best Sunday we had in a long time, with bright sun and nice blue skies Italia à Zandvoort had all the ingredients to become a massive success and it didn’t disappoint.
I already heard in advance from the Lamborghini Club Nederland that none other than Valentino Balboni would be present, probably the most famous test driver in history, a man that was personally responsible for road testing and fine-tuning just about every Lamborghini model since the legendary Miura.
Today Valentino Balboni is officially retired but Lamborghini stays a large part of his day-to-day life, he had restored the one-of-a-kind Lamborghini 350 GTS by the way today he would be driving another priceless Raging Bull, a bright orange Lamborghini Miura that has been perfectly restored by Rene Fransman at a considerable cost rumor has it this Miura is now valued between €1,200,000 and €1,500,000, making it the most expensive Lamborghini in Zandvoort on Sunday.
But let’s not forget all the other Lamborghini that showed up to make Italia à Zandvoort another unforgettable event this year. Let’s go from the most classic to the most recent Bulls probably the oldest Lamborghini at Zandvoort this year was the silver metallic 350 GT, a rather famous car is she once belonged to actor Nicolas Cage safe to say this early Lamborghini took second place behind the Miura value wise.
Two more classic, front-engine V12 Lamborghini could be admired, another silver metallic one, this time a Jarama S, and a light tan finished Espada Series II with Series I knock-off wheels that were originally sold in the United States as the side lights were still present.
Sadly there was no Lamborghini Countach on display in Zandvoort this time, but another major icon from the Eighties did manage to draw a lot of attention the massive, red Lamborghini LM002 completely dwarfed all the other Bulls on the paddock, almost 30 years old, this monstrous V12 powered SUV still puts every other SUV to shame and the owner even took her onto the track.
Two Lamborghini Diablo arrived, both finished in yellow over a black interior, keep in mind in the Nineties the Giallo Superfly was a very popular shade on the Diablo together with Rosso, both cars were post-1993 models with the lower dashboard pod from the Diablo VT.
Keeping in line with the V12 flagship models from Sant’Agata we’ll continue with a trio of Lamborghini Murciélago at Zandvoort, a very nice, bright orange metallic 6.2 model with a beautiful two-tone orange and a black interior featuring the optional Q-Citura stitching pattern a very nice V12 that was accompanied by a dark grey metallic 6.2, this latter had some carbon fiber details added on the outside making her look rather special.
The third one was finished in a shade I hadn’t seen before, this Murciélago LP640 boasted an Oro Adonis exterior over a dark brown (probably Maronne Elpis) leather upholstery with the beautiful Q-Citura stitching pattern this combination looked amazing by the way, and this car concludes the V12 armada at Zandvoort this year.
Naturally, a lot of V10 Lamborghini came to Zandvoort this time, the early series Gallardo has become an interesting option on the second-hand market and several made the drive to the Circuitpark two of them finished in the classic Giallo Midas shade, one on the original silver wheels while the second one went with black painted wheels.
A third Lamborghini Gallardo received a matte grey vinyl wrap from 3M, adding a few touches of bright red almost turned this V10 into an Edizione Tecnica edition but probably one of the most impressive early Gallardo at Zandvoort had to be the black rally version this V10 has been converted into a real-life rally car and actually competes in the Netherlands.
A pair of Gallardo Spyder made their appearance too, one finished in a pristine-looking white paint job while the second one was finished in the exact same, baby blue shade as the official press car used to introduce the Gallardo Spyder back in 2005.
And last, but not least we encountered a rather mysterious-looking Gallardo finished in a sinister-looking black over black wheels with orange brake calipers this V10 looked like one of those ‘Nuova Gallardo LP560-4’ as introduced in Paris back in 2012 with those triangular vents in the front and rear bumper but in fact this was a modified Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera, complete with Akrapovic exhaust and a power boost over 600hp according to the owner.
So a lot of Lamborghini was present at Italia à Zandvoort this year, and not only as a static show, most of them were taken onto the famous track in the dunes for an impressive parade of Italian Bulls.
