It Took Seven Months for Lamborghini to Restore this Minardi Formula 1 Car
Minardi used Lamborghini engines for its F1 cars in the 1990s
In 1992, Lamborghini supplied engines to Minardi, a perennial backmarker in F1. The car, which didn't perform all that great, has been sitting for ages, but now it's drivable again. Lamborghini's Polo Storieco division took the time to restore one of the M191Bs, bringing it to race-ready condition. Driven by Gianni Morbidelli and Christian Fittipaldi in-period, chassis #003 performed flawlessly in a 20-lap shakedown, and is said to deliver the original 700 horsepower from its LE3512 Lamborghini V12 engine.
According to Lamborghini, the seven-month long restoration was assisted by former Lamborghini F1 engineering personnel who were present during the company's original foray into the sport in the '90s, which is pretty damn cool. The fire extinguishers, seat belts, ECU, fuel tank, and tires were replaced, while other components—like the engine—were restored to like-new condition. The car, which spent the previous 26 years of its life in storage and on display in Lamborghini's museum, is set to start competing in historic F1 events. Maybe the curators ran out of room, and they came up with this as an idea to make more space.
Though Lamborghini says F1 legend Ayrton Senna was impressed with the car's abilities in-period, it only finished one out of the four Grands Prix it raced in 1992, in 11th place during the Spanish Grand Prix. After that, it was replaced by the M192, which used the same Lamborghini V12 engine. That car performed nearly as badly, with a best finish of 8th place.
According to Lamborghini, the seven-month long restoration was assisted by former Lamborghini F1 engineering personnel who were present during the company's original foray into the sport in the '90s, which is pretty damn cool. The fire extinguishers, seat belts, ECU, fuel tank, and tires were replaced, while other components—like the engine—were restored to like-new condition. The car, which spent the previous 26 years of its life in storage and on display in Lamborghini's museum, is set to start competing in historic F1 events. Maybe the curators ran out of room, and they came up with this as an idea to make more space.
Though Lamborghini says F1 legend Ayrton Senna was impressed with the car's abilities in-period, it only finished one out of the four Grands Prix it raced in 1992, in 11th place during the Spanish Grand Prix. After that, it was replaced by the M192, which used the same Lamborghini V12 engine. That car performed nearly as badly, with a best finish of 8th place.
