June 9 2003, a very sunny Monday morning saw the gathering of an impressive selection of high-end Italian super cars, ranging from Ferrari’s, Maserati, de Tomaso’s and naturally an important collection of Lamborghini’s, classic and new, all were present …
The weather was great, so a large number of people came to the famous TT circuit in Assen, in the Netherlands, just to get a glimpse of one of their favorite Italian car, take photo’s, and if possible even get a ticket to be able to take a ride in the passenger seat of their ultimate dream car, and dream cars were available, how about a rare Bugatti EB110 in the stunning Bugatti blue, a brand new, pearl metallic orange Murciélago or a Ferrari F40.
Just like last year, an important number of Lamborghini Club Nederland members drove into Assen, most of them bringing along at least one Lamborghini, some even had a friend drive a second Lamborghini. Just about the entire Lamborghini model range was present, two magnificent 400 GT 2+2 models, the Islero, a few Espada, several Countach models, a selection of Diablo and a stunning Murciélago.
One of the highlights of the day was the sprint, this time even a Diablo entered against the typical Lancia, Alfa Romeo’s and other cars entering this event, one of our Swiss friends performed several sprints in his car, a mildly tuned, dark gray metallic Diablo.
One of the more eagerly awaited moments of the day was as usual the showblock, this is when the circuit would be dominated by Italian super cars like Bugatti, Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini to name a few, and also the time when people were taken for a drive on the circuit, as usual it became rather crowded in the pit lane when the cars came in one by one for a change of passenger.
Among the cars thundering along the straight were the stunning Bugatti, most of the Lamborghini’s present, from the early 400 GT up to the latest Murciélago, and several of the Ferrari’s.
Viva Italia is always a great day to meet the people behind the Lamborghini’s too, talking to them about their car, it was also great to actually meet Valentino Balboni, who was present during this event, you would find him looking into the engine bay of an Espada, or just looking around, a very nice man to talk to, who naturally has a lot of very interesting stories to tell.
Again not only Dutch registered Lamborghini’s were present, several cars from Belgium, among them a great looking yellow Countach LP400S, owners from Germany brought along models like the Countach or the Diablo Roadster, while again two friends from Switzerland took a very long drive into Assen, bringing along a stunning dark metallic Countach QuattroValvole and a nicely tuned gray metallic Diablo.
The Lamborghini ‘parking’ in front of the massive US truck used by the Lamborghini Club Nederland was nicely populated with several rare and classic Lamborghini models, drawing a lot of attention and ‘peeking’ looks from the people visiting Viva Italia, every once in a while an engine cover would be opened, pulling a lot of people around that specific car instantly.
