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LAMBORGHINI MIURA
The Lamborghini
Miura is a sports car built in Italy by Lamborghini between
1966 and 1973. A mid-engine layout had been used successfully
in competition, including by the Ford GT40 and Ferrari 250
LM at Le Mans. De Tomaso had produced a road car with this
layout, but otherwise cars designed for the road were almost
uniformly front-engined, rear drive vehicles. The Miura was
a trendsetter, the one that made the mid-engined layout de
rigueur among two-seater high performance super cars.
The Miura debuted in 1965 at the Turin Motor Show, with a
production version launched five months later at the 1966
Geneva Motor Show. It was powered by a 3.9 L V12 engine mounted
transversely and producing 350 hp (260 kW).
Early Miuras were notorious for being a fire hazard. The problem
was caused by Lamborghini's decision to use Weber 40 IDL 3C1
carburetors which were designed exclusively for racing applications
and weren't suitable for road use. The problem occurred when
the car sat idling (e.g. at a stoplight), the area above the
throttles filled with fuel which often ignited when the car
accelerated away from the stop. One of Lamborghini's engineers
devised a modification for the carburetors which created a
fuel-return. Ferrari, who used these same carburetors in one
of the cars, and suffered the same problems, was able to use
Lamborghini's modification to solve it.
Some other interesting details, the position of the fuel tank
is at the front causing the vehicle to have less weight at
the front as the fuel tank gets lighter (closer to Empty).
This made the car harder to handle. Another detail is that
the doors resemble a bull's horns when it is opened wide (Lamborghini's
logo itself depicts a raging bull).
In 2004, Sports Car International named this car number four
on both the list of Top Sports Cars of the 1960s and Top Sports
Cars of the 1970s. The Lamborghini Miura was also Ferruccio's
favorite Lamborghini.
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