Video: Lamborghini Countach QuattroValvole drive from Sant’Agata to UK

Do you want to know what it’s like to drive a Lamborghini Countach QuattroValvole from the glamorous shores of Monaco to the heart of the UK? EVO magazine has just done it and posted a video of the drive on YouTube.

Harry Metcalfe of EVO says the car is very powerful but after a long drive it is apparent just how much hard work is involved in driving it. He also mentions the brakes, which he says are nothing like today’s standards. He says the brake pedal needs to be pushed fairly hard and that there is little confidence in them.

Apart from the speedo that stopped working on the way, the classic Lamborghini Countach made the journey in one piece. It uses a 5.2-litre V12 engine, with four valves per cylinder – hence the QuattroValvole name – producing 339kW of power. It’ll manage the 0-100km/h sprint in just 4.8 seconds too, so even to this day the retro supercar is a very quick bit of gear.

Check out the video below to hear the awesome sound of the V12, and a more details of the journey.

Lamborghini Countach 5000QV

In 1985, Lamborghini made the biggest improvement to Countach. The V12 was stroked to 5,167 c.c., incorporated a 4-valve cylinder head (called "Quattro-valvole" in Italian, which gave its name "QV") thus a total of 48 valves. Power jumped to a world-beating 455 hp, torque rose to 369 lbft. Finally, the Countach produced more power than the originally proposed LP500 prototype, which would have been capable of 440 hp from 5 litres of displacement.

Forget the 200 mph dream, this would never be achieved with the same aerodynamic. As the body was virtually unchanged from LP500S, people were happy to see the QV could run up to slightly over 180 mph, which was among the fastest in the world. Ferrari 288GTO and Testarossa had more or less the same top speed while other competitors were quite far below than that.

Compare with LP500S's engine, the 48-valve QV unit was very powerful and revvy, it was certainly a gem. The extra power was mainly achieved by the larger valves and the repositioned Weber carburettors - now mounted vertically instead of horizontally to enable straight forward engine breathing. However, this resulted in a large mound on the engine lid thus deteriorated the precious rear visibility.

Specifications:

Year of production: 1985 - 1988
Number made: 676
Layout: Mid-engined, Rwd
Gearbox: 5-speed manual
Chassis: Steel tubular space frame chassis, aluminium body panels
Engine: V12, dohc, 4v/cyl.
Capacity: 5167 c.c.
Power: 455 hp
Torque: 369 lbft
Weight: 1488
Top Speed: 182 mph
0-60 mph: 4.9 sec