By Mike Elwin

First official pictures

01 April 2008 10:57

This is the Lamborghini that never was: the stillborn Ferruccio project that has just been put on ice owing to a lack of orders.



Designed by Italian coachbuilder Magvisio, the Ferruccio was a rebodied Murcielago LP640 and would have been faster than any current car wearing the Lamborghini badge, with a claimed top speed of 230mph. Although not an official Lamborghini project, Sant'Agata was monitoring the scheme ‘with interest’, according to its creators.



Magvisio specialises in customisation jobs for private clients, and the Ferruccio was to be its first stab at designing a car from the ground up. The concept is named after the founder of Automobili Lamborghini, Ferruccio Lamborghini.

Designer Pule Magau told CAR Online this week: ‘We have only had three orders, and no one has put down a deposit yet. Let’s just say it’s on ice.’

Ferruccio: a harder, faster Murcielago



On the outside the Ferruccio takes design cues from Lambos of the past, with rear haunches from the Countach and ‘eyelash’ light clusters from the Miura. And under that dramatic bodywork, it is based on the LP640, borrowing its 6.5-litre V12 and four-wheel drive system.

That means 630bhp and 660lb ft of torque with performance figures to match. Magvisio claims a 0-60mph time of 3.0sec dead, with 100mph dispatched in a smidgeon under six.



Dinner plate 330mm ceramic discs with six-pot callipers keep the Ferruccio on the straight and narrow. The body and chassis are made from lightweight carbon-fibre composites to keep weight down. The cabin is sprinkled with lightweight materials too – the seats are carbon, the dash is carbon and the doors are carbon. And you wonder why this car would have been so expensive...

 

Anyone else notice the rear tire mounted backwards?

 

LOL, I was gonna say, that was the first thing I noticed! Hard to order a car from a company that can't even put tires on a 230mph car correctly.

 

Well its the artist's fault actually.

 

Side view is kinda ugly.

 

And their reputation has been saved.

 

Is there any way to stop the forum software from re-sizing the pictures and making them all jaggy?

 

Seriously, I must be dumb with tires, but I can't see that in any of the pics. How can you tell?

 

The very first picture of the car, taken from the back. The "V-groove" pattern of the tread is pointing rearward. They should be pointing FORWARD!

Any directional tire of that design should point forward. The artist screwed up.

 

Maybe they mounted the tires for maximum braking traction

 

Looks like a wanna-be Enzo from the side and like a Toyota MR2 Spyder from the back. I don't really like it.

 

They are...on the bottom

They should be counter-clockwise

Doesn't really look that good to me

 

In addition to the above explanation, they also have to roll so that the tire can pump water out the side. if you have it reversed, the tire would compress water towards the middle of the tire when driving in the wet. Would make an interesting handler in the rain to be sure.

 

Looks overdone, if it were dialed back a bit it could be nice.

One day I hope to be one of the guys who doesen't want a Lamborghini, "like everyone else's"

 

I guess so?! Although this isn't a snowmobile track that we're talking about (which often work better for traction if run "backwards", but then you suffer worse braking).

Yes, that is the obvious purpose for running the tires the proper direction . I realize I left the "tech" out of my first response .