The Lamborghini Diablo, capable of 0-60 in 4 seconds. The Diablo, first introduced in 1990, was a huge hit (no pun intended). 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.
