Lamborghini LM002 Paris Dakar

It was made quite clear right from the start Ferruccio Lamborghini had absolutely no intention in taking any of his cars racing, he didn't want to spend money on preparing a competition model. There were some private teams that used cars like the Islero and Miura on the track, but with no official factory support.

When Ferruccio had left the car company and after several owners stepped in it was time for a new, young approach … and under the Mimran ownership period the first official attempt at using a Lamborghini as a race car … or more exactly a rally car. In the mid-Eighties it was deemed the right time had come to enter the notorious Paris Dakar rally using the four-wheel drive LM002.

Work began on chassis number HLA12047 to convert this regular 455hp V12 Lamborghini into a rally specs edition pumping out over 600hp so an open race exhaust was installed and a lot of excess weight was removed from the standard LM002 by the usual rally car methods of stripping the interior of any needless luxury, replacing the glass with lighter Plexiglas, and adding a full roll cage. Naturally the suspension was also upgraded to cope with high-speed desert driving.

Lamborghini managed to get none other than rally legend Sandro Munari to drive this factory prepared LM002 Rally edition. Unfortunately it was never actually driven in a Paris Dakar Rally, it was entered in the Rally of the Pharaohs in 1987 (October 18-28) but didn't start the race after the sponsor had a deadly accident in an offshore powerboat.

The LM002 Rally re-appeared in the 1988 off-road rally in Greece, when Mario Mannucci was the driver with Sandro Munari as the co-pilot, sadly the Lamborghini didn't finish the rally, but it did manage to hold the third position at first. After this short life in competition it is believed the engine was replaced by a more 'standard' V-12 and the car was sold to a collector … however recent information mentions LM002 number HLA12047 is back to full factory rally specs … and still part of a Lamborghini collection.

Even though the factory original LM002 Rally didn't make it into the Paris Dakar in 1988 a LM002 WAS entered by a privateer. The Swiss based World LM Racing Team entered a bright red LM002 in the grueling Paris Dakar competition, and while some sources state they had to retire the race, other sources list this car with starting number 519 did actually finish in 10th position in the Marathon category. This red LM002 was driven by Concet and Kurzen, P.A. Burnier was the owner of the World LM Racing Team while Maregrande from the Lamborghini factory was appointed as the designated mechanic and none other than Sandra Munari was a technical advisor on this car … so while not an official factory entry into the Paris Dakar it still had some direct linkage to Sant'Agata.
Some specs on this 1988 LM002 Rallye (they called it Rallye instead of Rally): 5200cc V12 engine, 475hp, 3200kg in full rally load, 600 lite fuel tank with a fuel consumption of 68 Liter/100km … resulting in about 900km on a full tank while reaching speeds of up to 200km/h on the street and an impressive 180km/h in the sand.

Another LM002 was prepared for the Paris Dakar rally by a private party. This orange finished LM002 was once again factory build, finished in bright orange over black. It was later sold to a Japanese collector who, according to the Lamborghini Registry, still drives it with the original open exhaust system today.

In 1996 another heavily modified LM002 with chassis number HMA12046 was entered in the Prototype category. Rumor has it Garage Burnier in Switzerland took on the work of converting this LM002, the engine was taken out of the car and received a custom fuel injection system, the factory standard catalyst were removed and both cooling and lubrication were modified and reinforced so the car would be able to withstand desert racing. The front brakes were replaced by AP units and a massive 800 liter fuel tank was mounted to increase the range. when completed chassis number HLA12046 was officially entered into the 1996 Dakar race and received number 246. At first it kept up with the competition very nicely, but unfortunately the weight of the LM002 and the use of using shock absorbers that were not heavy duty enough together with the high speed desert driving took their toll on the suspension. In a matter of days the team went through no less than 24 shock absorbers … and had to forfeit the race due to a lack of spare parts.

Would have been interesting to see what proper desert racing shocks would have allowed this LM to accomplish...