The Lamborghini V-12: A Japanese Connection?
By Pete Lyons, The Complete Book of Lamborghini
Keeping
track
of
history
is
a
slippery
business
at
times,
and
even
something
as
familiar
as
the
origins
of
Lamborghini's
first
engine
can
become
a
little
oily.
Take,
for
example,
an
assertion
by
the
inimitable
L.J.K.
Setright
that
the
genius
behind
the
beautiful
V-12
was
not
Giotto
Bizzarrini
but
Honda.
Writing
in
the
Spring
1986
issue
of
Britain's
Supercar
Classics,
Setright
declared:
"The
accepted
legend
is
that
the
original
engine
was
designed
for
Lamborghini
by
Bizzarrini,
based
on
a
design
study
of
his
for
a
1.5
-litre
Grand
Prix
engine
which
(properly,
from
what
I
remember
of
it)
came
to
nothing,
and
that
this
...
was
subsequently
modified
or
mollified
by
Dallara.
Now
I
will
admit
to
a
good
deal
of
respect
for
the
work
of
young
Dallara,
but
honestly
I
cannot
see
anything
in
the
work
of
either
of
these
engineers,
either
before
or
since,
of
comparable
quality.
I
am
therefore
all
the
more
inclined
to
believe
what
I
was
privately
told
quite
authoritatively
in
19
75
-
that
the
design
was
secretly
commissioned
by
Lamborghini
from
Honda."
Alas,
Setright
does
not
name
his
source,
and
offers
nothing
further
to
substantiate
the
claim.
However,
he
goes
on
to
note
that
Honda
"executed
the
commission
very
swiftly,
as
it
was
especially
capable
of
doing;
it
met
Lamborghini's
original
specifications
perfectly,
getting
the
design
right
the
first
time
without
need
for
prolonged
development,
which
again
is
consistent
with
its
unparalleled
competence;
and
Honda’s
corporate
and
individual
sense
of
honor
would
prevent
it
from
admitting
it,
since
the
normal
cloak
of
commercial
anonymity
would
have
been
cast
over
the
transaction.
Nevertheless,
there
was
no
other
engine,
and
especially
no
other
V-12,
of
equal
merit
created
in
the
decade
before
the
debut
of
the
first
Lamborghini,
nor
any
superior
in
the
years
immediately
following
other
than
by
Honda.
What
more
appropriate
than
that
one
of
the
world's
best
engines
should
be
designed
by
the
world's
best
engine
maker?"
Setright
isn't
the
only
journalist/historian
to
suggest
this
possibility,
but
no
one
has
so
far
mustered
any
really
compelling
evidence.
Granted,
Ferruccio
Lamborghini
had
established
friendly
contacts
with
fellow
industrialists
of
Soichiro
Honda’s
caliber,
and
unashamedly
"borrowed"
their
latest
manufacturing
techniques.
We
know,
too,
that
by
1963,
Honda’s
engineering
expertise
had
laid
waste
to
Europe's
motorcycle-racing
establishment,
a
forecast
of
things
to
come
in
the
street-bike
arena.
It's
also
true
that
Honda
entered
Formula
1
auto
racing
in
1964-a
year
after
the
Lamborghini
engine
appeared
-
with
its
own
V-12:
an
advanced,
very
powerful
1.5-liter
unit
of
similar
design
and
transversely
mounted
(as
Lamborghini
would
do
two
years
on
its
roadgoing
Miura).
But,
this
car/engine
package
did
not
have
anything
like
the
success
of
Honda’s
motorcycle
program,
scoring
only
one
victory
before
the
1500-cc
formula
closed
at
the
end
of
the
1965
season,
and
it
wasn’t
until
the
mid-eighties
that
Honda
would
become
a
dominant
force
in
Fl.
More
to
the
point,
why
would
a
proud
Italian
industrialist
like
Ferruccio
Lamborghini,
bent
on
bettering
Ferrari,
seek
design
assistance
from
a
very
foreign
company
with
no
background
whatsoever
in
high
performance
cars?
And
why
would
this
same
industrialist,
who
so
often
demonstrated
a
willingness
to
give
his
engineers
free
reign
and
to
give
them
credit
for
what
they
did
have
any
need
for
outside
help
when
his
own
staff
was
already
brimming
with
talent?
Finally,
we
are
left
to
wonder
how
such
a
sensational
piece
of
history
has
remained
so
obscure
all
these
years.
Bob
Wallace,
who
was
there
and
ought
to
know,
says
this
would-be
revelation
is
"nonsense."
In
a
November
1986
interview
with
Automobile
magazine's
Ken
Gross,
he
observed
that
the
Lamborghini
design
was
merely
"typical
of
Ferrari
racing
engines
of
that
era.
To
think
anything
else
about
that
engine's
origin
is
crap.
Probably
that's
something
someone
did
to
sell
a
magazine."
Could
be,
Bob,
could
be.
Ingeniere
Bizzarrini
himself
had
this
to
say
in
Ken
Browning's
marque
history,
published
by
Automobile
Quarterly:
"I
presented
to
Cav.
Lamborghini
the
drawing
of
a
1.5-liter
motor
with
12
cylinders
I
had
designed
for
Formula
1,
but
he
gave
me
the
assignment
to
design
a
3.5-liter
motor."
That's
a
pretty
clear
statement,
and
it
would
indeed
be
brash
of
us
to
call
the
man
a
liar.
Cementing
his
claim
to
design
"ownership"
are
Bizzanini's
assertions
that
the
dyno
test
engine
developed
358
bhp
at
9800
rpm,
that
he
calculated
bigger
carburetors
would
have
produced
upwards
of
400
at
11,000
rpm,
and
that
he
had
to
stop
this
line
of
development
when
Ferruccio
made
it
clear
that
the
goal
was
a
street
engine,
not
a
racer.
Sorry
but
the
idea
of
a
Japanese
pencil
drafting
this
Italian
supermotor
sounds
to
us
like
the
outcome
of
a
lazy
afternoon
with
a
bottle
of
Lambrusco.
In
lieu
of
convincing
evidence
otherwise,
we'll
continue
to
believe
in
the
"purity"
of
the
Bizzarrini/Dallara
V-12.
Meanwhile,
here's
one
they
can
ponder:
A
friend
of
ours
highly
knowledgeable
about
affairs
Lamborghini
is
absolutely
convinced
that
Setright's
got
it
backwards
-
that
it
was
actually
Giulio
Alfieri
who
secretly
designed
the
transverse-engine
F1
Honda.
Now
that
makes
sense.