The Countach is the stuff of legend.  Kicking off the super car era with its edgy styling the Countach had performance numbers to match, or did it?  In 1986 a road test for the fast lane magazine reported the Countach breaking the 200 mile per hour mark by posting a top speed of an incredible 201.9 miles per hour… that’s in 1986.   The question isn’t that it hit the 201.9 mark just how, and was it a really a production model, well no.  In an all out effort to beat Ferrari Lamborghini may have used some tricks of the trade to help the Countach with its top speed records including rigged air box, In take spacers and in some runs doctored tires, removed mirrors, removed wipers, hallowed out suspension joints and other tricks of the trade. The more realistic top speed for the 1986 Countach was 181.6 miles per hour which is still super car royalty .

Super cars are all about weight to power ratio so any chance to reduce the cars weight must be explored.  Marcello Gandini took exterior styling cues for the Countach from 1967 Marzal concept car and the 1968 Alfa Romeo Karabo concept.  The two concept cars used a safety glass that had been recently developed by a company in Belgian.  The glass was super light weight , in fact it was such a difference in weight that Porchse had begun using it on their 911 race cars and RS homologation specials in Group 4.  The Countach took advantage of the super light weight glass using it through out.  It wasn’t cheap back then, but it is even more expensive now.  If you need a new windshield for your Countach, even a replica can set you back around $8000.

The Countach’s styling was cutting edge, mean, aggressive, obviously chiseled from hours spent testing a sophisticated wind tunnel, right? No. Lamborghini, like many exotic car makers, were always a little short in the cash department.  The result is creative engineering and problem solving. Not having the resources to put the Countach through proper wind tunnel testing, engineers glued regular feelers made out of fabric all over the car.  Out on the road they took extensive pictures of it racing along and made bodywork adjustments based on the directions reactions of the feelers.  This low budget wind tunnel testing is why the Countach, al though looking like the sleekest of fighter jets had a drag coefficient of .42.  The fist Lamborghini to really use wind tunnel testing was the Diablo and that was due to the resources of Chrysler, the owner during the Diablos development.

Ferruccio Lamborghini was not interested in race cars, he felt that was so very Ferrari and to be honest too expensive.  As a result there was no factory backed racing program from Lamborghini .  The problem Ferruccio had was his very talented team for the most part came from motorsports and had a passion for high performance sports cars.  When the LP500 concept car made its debut at the Geneva auto show it was a hit, but Lamborghini was having financial problems and the world was facing a pending oil crisis.  Due to pressure from his team Ferruccio made a bet with Bob Wallace, not only his test driver but also his automotive engineer, that if Bob could drive the prototype on an very long road trip, and the car could make it all they back, they would put it into production.  Needless to say Bob accepted the challenge, the car made the entire trip and just two short years later the LP400 the legendary Countach hit the production line.

The iconic Countach wing was added in the parking lot.  The giant wing is legendary but not for all the right reasons.  Its huge, blocks rearward visibility and looks amazing, but the rear wing of the Countach is completely cosmetic.  As a mater of fact, if the wing wasn’t purposefully zeroed out, if it produced any level of downforce the Countach would be uncontrollable at high speeds.  The reason is the