Lamborghini was founded by a tractor maker who refused to go racing
Ferruccio Lamborghini already made tractors, boilers and air conditioners when he set up a car company in 1963 to take on Ferrari. Unlike Enzo Ferrari, who saw road cars mainly as a way to fund racing, he banned factory-backed motorsport, calling it too costly. His engineers, many of them racing fans, quietly disagreed.
Founded on 7 May 1963 in a purpose-built factory at Sant'Agata Bolognese, the firm hired strong talent: Giotto Bizzarrini designed the engine, and Gian Paolo Dallara and Paolo Stanzani worked on the chassis. The first prototype, the 350 GTV, looked too futuristic and stayed a one-off, so the Milanese coachbuilder Touring produced a calmer design, the 350 GT, which became Lamborghini's first series-built car. The 1966 Miura then made the brand famous with its engine mounted behind the driver.
Dallara, Stanzani and a colleague developed the Miura's forerunner, the P400 prototype, in their spare time, designing a road car that could also win races. The tractor business, meanwhile, lived on separately; Lamborghini Trattori, founded in 1948, has been independent of the carmaker since 1973.
The 1973 downturn and oil crisis hit sales hard. Ferruccio sold out and had fully retired by 1974, and the company went bankrupt in 1978. Money trouble also cost it a deal with BMW: Lamborghini was meant to develop a mid-engined car for racing homologation but fell behind, so BMW finished the project itself and called it the M1. Ownership passed through a string of hands, including Chrysler from 1987, before Volkswagen bought it in 1998 and placed it under Audi.
Racing crept in anyway. Lamborghini supplied Formula One engines from 1989 to 1993, earning its best result when Aguri Suzuki finished third at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix, although the 1992 Larrousse car was notorious for spraying oil over anyone following it. McLaren tested a rebadged version for 1994, and Ayrton Senna reportedly liked it, but the team chose Peugeot. Today the company runs its own one-make racing series and builds hybrid supercars such as the 1,001-horsepower Revuelto.
Source: Lamborghini
