1996 Yellow Lamborghini Diablo In Great Condition. First Owned By Jerry Rice on 2040-cars

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Lamborghini Veneno makes full appearance before Geneva debut

This is it: The Lamborghini Veneno supercar that will debut later today in Geneva and, along with the the McLaren P1 and Ferrari Enzo successor, give this motor show in Switzerland no less than three world supercar premieres. A number of images of the Veneno have leaked early, which we've assembled in the attached gallery for your slack-jawed, drool-stained perusal.
The Veneno is reported to mark Lamborghini's 50th anniversary, and will be built in a production run of just three, each with a price tag of around $4.6 million and each one bearing a color of the Italian flag (green, white or red). And no, Richie Rich, you can't have one, because all three are already sold.
As for its mechanicals, the Veneno is supposedly based on the Aventador, which makes sense, though it wears a completely different carbon fiber body that's even more extreme than other recent hypercars from Lamborghini, including the Sesto Elemento and Reventon. It will almost certainly be powered by Lamborghini's 6.5-liter V12 producing around 740 horsepower, while a seven-speed single-clutch transmission will carve up that output on the way to the Veneno's reported top speed of 220 miles per hour.

Lamborghini Super Trofeo series will rent you a race car for $35k, all expenses included

Racing isn't cheap. The cars often command six-figure price sums, race teams don't work for free and then you have to get the car to races while feeding it an endless supply of tires. It's no surprise then that owning a race team is a multimillion-dollar affair, but Lamborghini and its North American Blancpain Super Trofeo series is a new way for licensed racers to get behind the wheel of a racecar for a much lower price.
As a part of the single-make series, Lamborghini will supply racers with everything you need for competition - including a race-spec Gallardo LP 570-4 Super Trofeo - as well as a trackside hospitality experience... all for a relatively affordable $35,000 per race weekend. Of course, not just anyone with a spare $35,000 can hop behind the wheel and hit the track. Lamborghini says that all drivers must have an FIA-accredited racing license for the International Motor Sport Association category with a "C" or "D" rating.
When it comes to the actual racing, there will be two 60-minute practice sessions, 40 minutes of qualifying and two 50-minute races, meaning that these cars might be the most expensive rental cars ever at $8,700 per hour. In its inaugural season, the Super Trofeo will run in conjunction with two Grand-Am races, two America Le Mans Series races, an IMSA race in Canada and finally an IndyCar race weekend in California.

Ferdinand Piech (1937-2019): The man who made VW global

Towering among his peers, a giant of the auto industry died Sunday night in Rosenheim/Upper Bavaria, Germany. Ferdinand Piech, a grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, who conceived the original Volkswagen in the 1930s, was the most polarizing automotive executive of our times. And one who brought automotive technology further than anyone else. Ferdinand Porsche had a son, Ferdinand (called "Ferry"), and a daughter, Louise, who married the Viennese lawyer Anton Piech. They gave birth to Ferdinand Piech, and his proximity to two Alfa Romeo sports cars — Porsche had done some work for the Italians — and the "Berlin-Rome-Berlin" race car, developed by Porsche himself, gave birth to Piech's interest in cars. After his teachers in Salzburg told his mother he was "too stupid" to attend school there, Piech, who was open about his dyslexia, was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland. He subsequently moved on to Porsche, where he fixed issues with the 904 race car and did major work on the 911. But his greatest project was the Le Mans-winning 917 race car, developed at breathtaking financial cost. It annihilated the competition, but the family had had enough: Amid growing tension among the four cousins working at Porsche and Piech's uncle Ferry, the family decided to pull every family member, except for Ferry, out of their management positions. Piech started his own consultancy business, where he designed the famous five-cylinder diesel for Mercedes-Benz, but quickly moved on to Audi, first as an engineer and then as CEO, where he set out to transform the dull brand into a technology leader. Piech killed the Wankel engine and hammered out a number of ambitious and sophisticated technologies. Among them: The five-cylinder gasoline engine; Quattro all-wheel drive and Audi's fantastic rally successes; and turbocharging, developed with Fritz Indra, whom Piech recruited from Alpina. The Audi 100/200/5000 became the world's fastest production sedan, thanks to their superior aerodynamics. Piech also launched zinc-coated bodies for longevity — and gave diesel technology a decisive boost with the advent of the fast and ultra-efficient TDI engines. Less known: Piech also decided to put larger gas tanks into cars. Customers loved it. Piech's first-generation Audi V8 was met with derision by competitors; it was too obviously based on the 200/5000.