V12 Lamborghini's driving force

From 3.5 litres and 270bhp in the 350 GT to 6.5 litres and 769bhp in the ultimate Aventador, we celebrate Lamborghini's pre-hybrid V12s

- DAVID VIVIAN

OF ALL THE COLOURFUL PLAYERS IN THE Lamborghini supercar story, the one who had a brief starring role in the opening scene before exiting stage left has undoubtedly left the deepest, loudest, most exhilarating impression. The exotically named Giotto Bizzarrini was the ex-Ferrari engineering wizard charged with delivering the first and most important item on Ferruccio Lamborghini's sock-it-to-Enzo wish list: a race-car V12 engine with four camshafts (existing Ferrari V12s had a paltry one per cylinder bank). Fortunately, Bizzarrini had already designed one that could essentially fit the bill, although it existed only as an on-paper project: a 1.5-litre, 60-degree V12 with a highly unusual configuration of having the valve inlet ports located between each cylinder head's pair of camshafts. It was intended to compete in early '60s Formula 1, and was spookily like a 1965 F1 Honda design. True enough, GB was a diehard motorsport nut, though the extent of the Honda influence on his design, if any, remains moot to this day.