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LAMBORGHINI DIABLO
The Lamborghini
Diablo is capable of doing 0-60 in 4 seconds. The Diablo,
first introduced in 1990, was a huge hit. It is Lamborghini's
all time crash king in number of cars totaled.
It took four years of design and testing before the Lamborghini
Diablo was introduced to the public and journalists in Monte
Carlo on January 20, 1990. It was the second 'Lamborghini
day' and the feeling was that the Diablo was finally ready
to take over the tradition of the Miura and the Countach.
A team of more than 100 people had worked almost full time
on the development of the Diablo. More than 500,000km of road
tests had been done, and the engine had been tested for no
less than 10,000 hours at the bench.
Seemingly insurmountable problems were faced in the design
of the new engine - strict anti-pollution regulations had
been introduced and old carburetors could not be used for
cars sold in the United States. There were simply no commercial
electronic fuel injection systems available on the market
for a 12-cylinder engine.
Engineer Checkorani, head of the research and development
department, was commandeered to develop a totally new electronic
fuel injection system. Using internal Lamborghini resources,
the result was the new engine system called L.I.E. - a design
still found in today's Lamborghini engines.
Special techniques used in frame construction, enabled the
Diablo to easily pass the more demanding crash tests required.
Cloak and dagger tactics were employed to maintain the yet-to-be
unveiled car. The new prototypes were tested again on the
roads close to the factory and on the Navdo racetrack. The
Lamborghini Diablo was allowed to circulate in its actual
shape during night tests, but disguises were employed during
daylight to confound the photographers who were impatient
to catch the new Lamborghini.
The new tests at Navdo showed that the engine was up to its
task, allowing the Diablo to reach 340 km per hour. The Diablo
was the fastest production car in the world. Performance was
certified during the test at the Navdo race track. Maximum
speed was 325.2 km per hour.
Acceleration from zero to 100 was certified at 4.09 seconds.
From a still start, a kilometer was run in 20.7 seconds. The
initial goal of Project 132, to build the number one car in
the world, was met in four years of hard work.
Today the Lamborghini kit for Diablo is among the most sought
after models in the kit car industry. Its sleek shape, high
performance and stylish interiors are responsible for this
Lamborghini kit being so popular
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