The Lamborghini Diablo is a high-performance mid-engined sports car that was built by Italian automaker Lamborghini between 1990 and 2001. It was the first Lamborghini capable of attaining a top speed in excess of 200 miles per hour. After the end of its production run in 2001, the Diablo was replaced by the Lamborghini Murciélago. Diablo is "devil" in Spanish, which is diavolo in Italian.
At a time when the company was financed by the Swiss-based Mimram brothers, Lamborghini began development of what was codenamed Project 132 in June 1985 as a replacement for the Countach model. The brief stated that its top speed had to be at least 315 km/h.
The design of the car was contracted to Marcello Gandini, who had designed its two predecessors. When Chrysler bought the company in 1987, providing money to complete its development, its management was uncomfortable with Gandini’s designs and commissioned its design team in Detroit to execute a third extensive redesign, smoothing out the trademark sharp edges and corners of Gandini's original design, and leaving him famously unimpressed. In fact, Gandini was so disappointed with the "softened" shape that he would later realize his original design in the Cizeta-Moroder V16T.
The car became known as the Diablo, carrying on Lamborghini's tradition of naming its cars after breeds of fighting bull. The Diablo was named after a ferocious bull raised by the Duke of Veragua in the 19th century, famous for fighting an epic battle with 'El Chicorro' in Madrid on July 11, 1869. In the words of Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, the Diablo was designed "solely to be the biggest head-turner in the world."
The project is believed to have cost a total of 6,000,000,000 lira.
The Diablo was presented to the public for sale on January 21, 1990. Power came from a 5.7 L, 48-valve version of the existing Lamborghini V12 featuring dual overhead cams and computer-controlled multi-point fuel injection, producing a maximum output of 499 PS and 580 N·m of torque. The vehicle could reach 100 km/h in about 4.5 seconds, with a top speed of 202 mph. The Diablo was rear-wheel drive and the engine was mid-mounted to aid its weight balance.
The Diablo came better equipped than the Countach had; standard features included fully adjustable seats and steering wheel, electric windows, an Alpine stereo system, and power steering from 1993 onwards. Anti-lock brakes were not initially available, although they would eventually be used. A few options were available, including a custom-molded driver's seat, remote CD changer and subwoofer, rear spoiler, factory fitted luggage set and an exclusive Breguet clock for the dash.
The Diablo VT was introduced in 1993. Although the VT differed from the standard Diablo in a number of ways, by far the most notable change was the addition of all wheel drive, which made use of a viscous center differential. This provided the new nomenclature for the car. The new drivetrain could direct up to 25% of the torque to the front wheels to aid traction during rear wheel slip, thus significantly improving the handling characteristics of the car.
Other improvements debuting on the VT included front air intakes below the driving lamps to improve brake cooling, larger intakes in the rear arches, a more ergonomic interior with a revised dashboard, electronically adjustable dampers, four-piston brake calipers, power steering, and minor engine refinements. Many of these improvements, save the four-wheel drive system, soon transferred to the base Diablo, making the cars visually nearly identical.
The Lamborghini Diablo VTTT was an extremely limited production modification of the standard Diablo VT, offered as a special dealer upgrade by Platinum Motors, the Lamborghini dealership of southern California. The cars were equipped with twin blueprinted, water-cooled, Garrett T4 turbochargers with electronically controlled wastegates, custom-built intercoolers, competition-type valves with race-type guides, cylinder heads with polished ports, and a reprogrammed electronic fuel injection system. Modifications to the drivetrain included a custom Kevlar twin-plate clutch to cope with the extra torque and a new short ratio gearbox to improve acceleration. The brakes were upgraded with cross-drilled, ventilated discs and carbon fiber brake pads. The VTTT featured a dash-mounted switch with three different engine settings including a very limited valet mode and two levels of turbocharger boost.
The extensive modifications to the VT commanded a high premium, nearly doubling the car's sticker price to $500,000.
With approximately 750 PS on tap at full turbo boost, the VTTT was able to achieve a top speed of nearly 255 mph, although no official number has been produced due to the car's rarity and the fact that it was not a production model.
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