From Italy With Love (Part 3)
In the 1960s, with the advent of the
Miura, Lamborghini invented the supercar. In the ’70s they invented it all over
again with the Countach. Will anything ever diminish their charms?
It was 1974 before the car made it to production,
now sporting bigger air intakes to cool the hungry V12, and minus the concept’s
digital dash and periscope rear-view mirror.
‘We were learning as we went along,’
remembers Lamborghini’s former test driver Valentino Balboni, of the Countach
development process. ‘The first cars were quite unstable because of the big
power, poor chassis stiffness, the weight distribution and the high-profile
tyres. In fact those early cars weren’t great to drive. The Miura was far
better.’
We
were learning as we went along,’ remembers Lamborghini’s former test driver
Valentino Balboni, of the Countach development process.
By 1978, Lamborghini had it nailed. Drawing
on experience gained from building a Countach special for Fi boss Walter Wolf,
it created the LP400S. What the wide-bodied new car lost in design purity - and
power, down isbhp to 355bhp - it gained in presence. It also gained stability -
those fat arch extensions covered Pirelli’s legendary new 50-profile P7 tyre
which, at a massive 345mm wide at the rear, was 10mm wider than even the
current Aventador’s. Most came with the optional rear wing that further glued
the rear end to the tarmac. No matter that tests proved it actually cost i0mph
of top speed, making it significantly slower than a Miura. It looked like it
added 30.
The V12 was boosted to 4.8 litres for
1982’s LP500S, but it’s the 5000QV that appeared three years later which, for
many, will always define the breed. The Countach was over a decade old now, and
don’t you just know it as you slide beneath that door, always wondering how far
your head might roll should the strut breathe its last at an inauspicious
moment. The angular dashboard looks like something you might expect to find in
one of the Prova kit-car replicas you could have bought around the same time,
the clutch and gearshift disconcertingly stiff as you go to select a gear for
the first time.
A glance in the rear-view mirror reveals
little about the road, but much about the car, the view being filled with a
huge hump on the QV to cover the switch to downdraft Webers when the now
5.2-litre V12 gained its four-valve (quattrovalvole) cylinder heads. Ferrari’s
Testarossa, a ground-up new car introduced only the year before, made 39obhp.
The Countach now put out 455.
Ferrari’s
Testarossa, a ground-up new car introduced only the year before, made 39obhp.
Even today, in the context of a modern
world so warped that even hot hatches come with 35obhp, a QV feels quick.
Really quick. Contemporary tests recorded zero to 6omph in less than five Mississippis,
and sufficient top end go to cross the state’s 170 miles in less than an hour,
having stopped to fill the gargantuan 120-litre tank along the way.
More than simply fast though, the Countach
feels angry, like it’s tut-tutting at every fluffed gear change and early
braking manoeuvre. And the sound is something else altogether. When so many
modern performance cars have resorted to funnelling computer generated noise
through their speakers, what a joy it is to hear a brace of carbs sucking like
they’re trying to ingest the engine lid.
Driving a Countach is every bit as physical
an experience as it looks like it should be. Like the Miura, it’s a challenge
to drive well. Treat it like you would a modern Huracan and you’ll hate every
minute wrestling with the heavy controls. It needs patience, stamina and
concentration, and it’s massively rewarding when you get it right. You can see
why the supercar had to evolve as a breed though, which is exactly what it did.
But it evolved from Lamborghini’s blueprints, based on Lamborghini’s tenets:
style, pace and swagger. No racing required.
The Countach is not the fastest supercar
that’s ever been, or even the best to drive. Neither of these cars is. But they
changed the course of history, and then changed it all over again. And for
that, every Koneigsegg, every Veyron, McLaren, and yes, even Ferrari, owes them
a debt.
And
for that, every Koneigsegg, every Veyron, McLaren, and yes, even Ferrari, owes
them a debt.
