I wonder...

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Terronium-12

Terronium-12

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Admittedly, I haven't been watching F1 as constantly as I am now (which has only been for two going on three years now) so, I don't know all of the relative history involving the sport. With that being said, I'm curious why Lamborghini isn't in Formula 1 to rival Ferrari; especially considering Ferrucio began the company as a big "FU" to Ferrari anyhow. I've also thought about Porsche a couple of times, but they've dominated enough in motorsports as is. :p

Seriously, has Lamborghini ever been in the sport (perhaps before my time, so to speak)? If they haven't, does anyone know why they haven't? I think it would be quite a show as you would already know (at least optimistically) who their primary target would be.
 
Ferruccio was about outdoing Ferrari in road cars. He had absolutely no interest in taking the cars to motorsport due to costs. He didn't even have a real interest in any MR cars til' 3 employees built up the Miura, as he was intent on selling GT cars to the public.

As far as F1 goes, Lamborghini's only involvement was building engines for a few companies between 1989 & 1993 for Lotus, Minardi, & 2-3 others. Ayrton Senna was supposedly impressed by an engine in a McLaren, but they opted for Peugeot instead. After that, Lamborghini went back to building the Diablo from there on. To be quite honest, the company has really just never had the financial backing to fund a full Formula 1 car & their engines in the early 90's suffered from multiple issues. The company would have to introduce another 2 profitable models at the least to even begin thinking about building a well engineered F1 car.
 
Lamborghini has until recently never felt the need to get into motorsport in a major way; Ferruccio Lamborghini considered it too expensive and a waste of resouces. They supplied engines to some backmarker F1 teams from 1989 to '93, with a best result of 3rd in a Larrousse and a handful of points finishes. The Murcielago R-GT and some one-make championships for the Diablo in the late 90s and the Gallardo this year are the only other factory backed motor racing Lamborghinis that I'm aware of.

Yup, tree'd.
 
Interesting.

I've noticed that even their factory efforts in racing is really, really small (or at least from what I've seen) because a great deal of the Lamborghini's that are actually participating in racing are usually privately owned. So, could that possibly be an option?

Going off-topic a bit, isn't the SV-R factory supported, or is that one of Reiter's creations?
 
Terronium-12
]Interesting.

I've noticed that even their factory efforts in racing is really, really small (or at least from what I've seen) because a great deal of the Lamborghini's that are actually participating in racing are usually privately owned. So, could that possibly be an option?
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Factory backed teams will never be done except for the Super Trofeos & that's because they race their own series. Even then, they technically aren't factory backed, just "warrantied" by the factory.

The R-GT, R-SV, & GT Gallardos have been done due to Reiter receiving shells & minimum support from the factory to be recognized as official Lamborghini models.

The prime reason though is just lack of money to do so, so the privateers are the ones writing Lamborghini's history in motorsports. Until recently, it's been poor as well, but Reiter & All-Inkl.com have managed to finally start getting the cars further developed.
Going off-topic a bit, isn't the SV-R factory supported, or is that one of Reiter's creations?
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The LP670 R-SV is a Reiter creation that Lamborghini recognizes as an "official" model. They & All-Inkl.com have found much success with the platform over the R-GT.
 
Is there any need for Lamborghini in the sport? Do they offer something that none of the other teams have, besides their name?

No.
 
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Is there any need for Lamborghini in the sport? Do they offer something that none of the other teams have, besides their name?

No.
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I don't think that's really what Terronium is asking. His OP seems more of just a question as to why they aren't in like Porsche.

Like if somebody asks why BMW doesn't compete in the DTM series even though they're big competitors with Mercedes & Audi.
 
Well, they clearly don't feel the need to compete. They obviously feel they have no need to prove themselves in motorsport (I recall reading somewhere that one of the company's founders said the marque would never participate in motorsports the way Ferrari did because they wanted to distance themselves from Maranello). Lamborghini is owned by Audi, and Audi is owned by Volkswagen, and while Volkswagen have expressed interest in entering Formula 1 as an engine supplier when the new rules come into effect from 2013, it's unlikely they'll enter under the Volkswagen name. I've heard they want to enter as Volkswagen.
 
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Sorry. I meant that if Volkswagen enter Formula 1 as an engine supplier, it's unlikely they'll enter as Lamborghini. I've heard they want to enter as Volkswagen.
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I assumed you meant that - but was a shade confusering!!

C.
 

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