Sports Car Forum - MotorWorld.net - News of the Countach QVX

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1985 Unipart Spice Countach QVX
Chassis #ISO2022?
Engine #

Lamborghini has always manufactured racy and extremely sporting automobiles, but their use in racing never received support by the factory. Again and again there were some inspired Lamborghini owners who were interested in racing their vehicles, but without factory support their endeavors in this direction were condemned to failure from the start.

In late 1985, however, the Lamborghini factory seized the opportunity to take part with one "Countach" in the Group C-championship. This would not be your standard Countach since the Countach wasn't built in sufficient numbers to allow its entry in the suitable Groups. This would not stop David Jolliffe of Portman Lamborghini, the British importer who started the project. The capacity of a QV engine was increased from 5.3 litres to 5.7 litres, under the directions of Luigi Marmiroli, and was mated to a new transmission, the "Hewland VG-C". This power package built into a chassis of the English company " Spice engineering " and finished as the " Countach QVX ". The performance of this racing car is indicated as 650 to 700hp.

The black painted car was used in 1986 by " CC Motorsports" in Kirbymoorside, England, for a complete world championship assault with English driver Tiff Needell and Italian Mauro Baldi.

As with most things Lamborghini during the 70's and 80's, money for the one car team was a problem. Britain's largest parts supplier had contracted to sponsor their efforts to help promote their new line of high-performance motor oil 'Unipart Supreme'. Money did eventually run out after participating in some races with no success.

The Unipart Countach QVX had once been in John Haynes Motor Museum (the man from the Haynes manuals) and had been offered for auction by Coys in 1993 (see bottom photo). The car then disappeared for a time and is presently (2001) in Japan.