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Lamborghini teaser previews rebirth of original Countach LP500

Lamborghini's Countach revival at last month's Monterey Car Week perhaps didn't quite make the splash the company was hoping for. Many critics skewered the reskinned Sian as a retro cash grab, leaving Acura's vague announcement of a new Integra at the same time to generate far more excitement on the interwebs. Now Lamborghini's teasing the return of another Countach, but we think this one will face sunbstantially less ire. Lamborghini posted a mysterious teaser to social media yesterday, but kept coy on what exactly it was. The teaser's text merely said, "50 years ago it paved the road to the future. Now it's back on the road," accompanied by a roaring V12 soundtrack. No image of the car is actually shown, but we do get footage of craftsmen crafting a fantastic bucket seat that looks like the love child of Irving Harper and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe sofas. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This is almost certainly a re-creation of the driver's perch of the original Countach LP500 concept that debuted on March 11, 1971, at the Geneva Motor Show. The yellow Gandini wedge would go into production in 1974 and sear itself into the imaginations of adolescents around the globe. However, this isn't a straightforward restoration project from Lamborghini's Polo Storico restoration center. After the show rounds, the Countach LP500 concept was used as a test mule, its 5.0-liter V12 reportedly destroyed and replaced with a four-liter closer to the production LP400's. Ultimately, according to Lamborghini, the concept gave its life in a 1974 crash test in order to homologate the production car. As the car was scrapped, it's technically not possible to restore the original. So, is Lamborghini re-creating the Countach LP500 concept? That part remains to be seen, but whatever it is, it'll likely be a better homage to the legend than the LPI800-4.

Actor Eric Bana returning to Bathurst 12 enduro race

Eric Bana joins the field of the 2014 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour race next month, driving for the Australian FXD Workwear team. Bana's done the race twice before, coming in tenth overall in 2009 in his Love the Beast Mitsubishi Lancer RS Evo X, posting a DNF in the same car in 2010.
This year he'll be in Class B behind the wheel of a Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 prepared by Racing Incident, joined by teammates Peter Hill and Simon Middleton. The race happens during the weekend of February 7-9, you can find a press release with the announcement below. You'll want to take the time to get to know it this year, because it's been widely reported that Eric Bana will return next year to share a Porsche 911 GT3 with Mark Webber.

Lamborghini restores ultra-rare one-off Miura SVR

This is the one-of-one Lamborghini Miura SVR. It's a racing development of the already rare Miura SVJ, and its 19-month factory restoration has just been completed. It could very well be the most desirable Miura ever built. The SVR is one of 763 Lamborghini Miuras built by the factory between 1966 and 1972. In addition to "regular" Miuras, there was a limited-number run of "Jota" specification cars, or SVJs, developed by factory test driver Bob Wallace. The specific car here was originally a green Miura S with the chassis number #3781, built in 1968 and displayed at the Turin Motor Show. In 1974, it was acquired by a German customer, who brought it back to the factory to be reborn for the first time. During that 18-month rebuild, it was converted into special, created-for-the-occasion SVR spec, a notch above the vaunted 440-horsepower SVJ cars. In 1978, #3781 was sold to Japan, where it became an actual hero car, making it into manga comics and serving as a basis for toymaker Kyosho's SVR model car line. It certainly takes something for a single car to be so breathtaking that it creates its own niche and following. After 40 years, the SVR was deemed to need restoration, and it arrived to the factory already in pieces. It wasn't a rotten shell, as it was sold as a complete car in Japan in 2015; however, the gold leather interior seen in this Petrolicious post didn't make it to 2018. The head of Lamborghini's factory restoration division Polo Storico, Paolo Gabrielli, says that the factory wasn't really able to use the same approach as Polo Storico restorations usually require. "The original production sheet wasn't of much help, as we relied mostly on the specifications from the 1974 modifications," said Gabrielli. The only ways where the restored SVR differs from the original 1974 build is that it now has 4-point safety belts, better racing seats and a removable roll bar, as the car sees race track use and these modifications were requested by the car's current owner for safety's sake. Now that it's finally finished, #3781 was shown at the Nakayama Circuit in Japan. Related Video: