Sportscar/GT (and Le Mans) Rumours and Repetition

[Starfish Primer]

Originally Posted by MagVanisher

Well, so was Bentley, another luxury brand. If the Volkswagen Group want Lamborghini to race, it's either replace Audi or Porsche, or limit their Le Mans campaign to 2 cars for each brand, making it six cars to dominate Le Mans.

Bentley has a strong Le Mans heritage. Lamborghini only a few seasons in F1 not very bright. If VW wants to change this, they can do it of course but is more a mix of business model and promotion what keeps Lamborghini out of racing.

Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Abarth and Maserati are kept now out of mainstream racing by FIAT and they were motorsport giants just because FIAT wants nobody shadowing Ferrari sporting activities.

[JoestForEver]

Originally Posted by MagVanisher

Well, so was Bentley, another luxury brand. If the Volkswagen Group want Lamborghini to race, it's either replace Audi or Porsche, or limit their Le Mans campaign to 2 cars for each brand, making it six cars to dominate Le Mans.



Nah, I don't think it'll last long because of the current regs. But hey, why not!

Well, actually bentley is full of racing pedigree I'd say. Comparing with Rolls Royce, it is a sport brand.

[GT6]

Originally Posted by JoestForEver

Well, actually bentley is full of racing pedigree I'd say. Comparing with Rolls Royce, it is a sport brand.

And you have to remember that most of the bits of the full Le mans track is named after Bentley model

[CTD]

Originally Posted by TF110

Thats some post you have there! Do you work for Lamborghini's marketing department or sales, or know someone that does? I don't specifically know their market or their target audience, but rappers or other musicians are not the only people who buy Lamborghini's. Theyre probably a small percentage actually. Ive seen plenty of Gallardo's, Diablo's, Murcielago's etc. driven around by local rich guys.

Originally Posted by Breitling24

Yep. I was at a "cars and coffee" type event a couple weeks ago, and there were 8-10 Lambo's there, driven mostly by young dudes that are in the tech/video gaming industry. Not a rapper or footballer (even of the American type) was to be seen.

C'mon. Lamborghini has always been a "PlayBoy" brand, which is what i referred to with "bling" - something you show off and brag about. (of course generalizing here, but you don't buy a Lamborghini if you want a fast car around the track)

[GT3.14]

Being an enthusiast as well as a soon to be graduate with a marketing degree I do find this conversation very interesting.

The majority if not everyone here (including me) does not see Lamborghini as a racing brand. It seems like our perception of Lamborghini is stuck in the days of the Countach (good looking, kind of/very rubbish.)

1. Remember VW bought the brand a while back now and although the Murcielago was a bit of a dinosaur, the Gallardo and Audi R8 V10 are basically the same car. Same platform, same engine. And a more powerful engine of that. None of you are talking about R8s being utterly dreadful machines that are terrible on track. The Lamborghini has to be be just as good if not better than the R8.

2. It seems VAG wants all of their brands in motorsport as all of their brands apart from Bugatti are building racing or rally cars.

3. Market penetration - If there were wealthy enthusiast at Monza last weekend who want to buy an Italian supercar they are going to buy a Ferrari 100% of the time if there was not a Lamborghini in the race. Every 458 sold is a percentage of market share that Lamborghini loses and a Gallardo (Huracan's soon) that is still in a showroom or isn't built at all.

4. The Gallardo GT3 car was originally a Reiter only project but Lamborghini announced that they would be collaborating with Reiter from 2013 on. If Reiter is going to build Lamborghini race cars, Lamborghini should give them some backing and a blessing to make the most of the effort right? What have they got to lose? A lot if the privately funded Reiter project had turned out to be underfunded and look like they were built by the same shed that Emil Frey's Jaguar came from.

5. Lamborghini builds very fast and capable supercars, not Countaches. Time we change our perception of Lamborghini. Not just cool looking tractor parts for playboys. Proper machines.

[TF110]

I know no one would criticize that Murcielago GT1. The sound that made was amazing. Lamborghini getting into racing officially is only good news. Even if their cars are for 'playboys'.

[TheDude]

One can dream...

[Matt]

Originally Posted by CTD

Their current customer base doesn't give much about racing pedigree. All they want is that awful "bling" (show off) factor, and that it goes fast down a straight line.
Trying to reach a new costumer base could be very costly and with the risk of losing their current costumers.

I honestly don't want to see Lamborghini involved in large scale racing, as that has never been a part of their brand, I would much rather want those resources transferred into other brands who has a pedigree to build upon.

This is ridiculous.

How can a brand even start to have a "racing pedigree" without starting to go racing?

[Richard117]

Originally Posted by nobster

There will be a certain team from Japan who could run the cars for them. Last time it wasn't that succesfull but it could only get better!

Last time wasn't that bad, the year before was really bad
Still remember them for visiting and making pictures at the campsites, they were the tourists instead of us in pitlane/paddock

[JoestForEver]

Originally Posted by TheDude

One can dream...

One hell of a job!!! Adding a huge rear diffuser to the lambo and I'd love it!

[carbon_titanium]

If we consider that a street aventador price + tax + optionals is between 350.000 and 400.000€ simply can't image how could be the price of a gt3 version

[CTD]

Originally Posted by Matt

This is ridiculous.

How can a brand even start to have a "racing pedigree" without starting to go racing?

It can't.
But starting to build our racing pedigree 51years after the founding of the company is late. Of course you have to start somewhere, but Lamborghini can never claim it to part of their DNA, like Ferrari or Porsche can, who either started from racing, or started racing within the first years of the company.

I would much rather see the resources going into building a Bentley Racing Team.

[TF110]

Who cares? You dont have to have "racing dna" to be taken seriously. Not every car company has to race in its inception to have a history or build a history of motorsports.

[Robbo28]

An F-Type Coupe with a rather large carbon fixed rear wing has allegedly been spotted turning laps somewhere near Warwickshire.

Seems to me to be perfect timing ready for GT/GT+

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by Robbo28

An F-Type Coupe with a rather large carbon fixed rear wing has allegedly been spotted turning laps somewhere near Warwickshire.

Seems to me to be perfect timing ready for GT/GT+

Are there even any set regulations yet for new regs GTs?

I'm sure if Jaguar wanted to know then they could get a steer possibly. Not the first we've heard about Jag testing something.

[GT3.14]

The next generation R8 appears to be in testing.

http://www.endurance-info.com/fr/une...ssais-a-monza/

[joeb]

Originally Posted by GT3.14

The next generation R8 appears to be in testing.

http://www.endurance-info.com/fr/une...ssais-a-monza/

Looks good to me! More pictures on the photogs page.

[TF110]

Looks a lot different!

[Matt]

Those damn swan neck wings....

[carbon_titanium]

Definetively audi loves giant and huge diffusers. Is this an evolution of the current R8 LMS GT3 or a GT/GT+ prototype based on the street R8 successor?

[Speed-King]

I don't think it's the latter. The body still looks very current R8-ish. It might have the internals of the next gen-car, but IMHO the body is that of a current R8.

[chernaudi]

I don't totally agree. The headlights and front intakes look a lot different than the current R8, and it's got a much more aggressive wide body than the current GT3 car.

Headlights and intakes look a lot like the R8 test mules that have been going around the Nurburgring.

[Speed-King]

Looking at it again, you might be right... the grill seems to have the same shape as on the new TT, so that would speak for what you say. Also, the continuous side-blades seem to be gone, which is also a rumored feature of the next-gen-R8.

From all I had read, I would have expected the new R8 to be a more radical departure from the old one, hence my comment above.

[chernaudi]

Well, it is def an test hack, so the final product will likely be different.

We only have a broad idea of what the new car may look like because of some bits discerned from the next gen R8 road car test mules, which this car does bear considerable resemblance to.

[wewantourdarbyback]

Originally Posted by TF110

Looks a lot different!

The grille and lights are a different shape to the current car