Laust's Jalpa Project

Page 7 - Enjoying the car 2005/2006.

The real purpose of all this work was to be able to enjoy the Jalpa even more, so here are pictures in appropriate situations for the car (and me). Scattered among many other interesting pictures Jack Riddell has a few more pictures of my Jalpa here: http://www.lambojack.com/Photo%20Links%20Page.htm including a brief low res. video with sound of the engine running from when I visited him in San Diego early 2006.

The following two pictures are from a Lamborghiniclub meeting in Palm Springs, CA late October 2005.

PA220555 (10-22-2005): The very first time with the Lambo club. Parked for display on a sidewalk in Palm Springs, with John Yardum's 1983 Jalpa in the background.

PA220566 (10-22-2005): Parked at the Pond estate in Palm Springs and obviously in good company.

The following 7 pictures are from a track event at the Streets of Willow (Palmdale, CA), which was arranged by James DiIorio, who also had invited Valentino Balboni (famed factory test driver). The Streets of Willow is very demanding on the car's mechanicals with many turns and elevation changes as well as desert heat. My main reason for attending, was to shake out any hidden bugs in the design and implementation of all my modifications. I drove the car the 130 miles (each way) to (and from) the track and all felt quite good.

P5080073 (5-8-2006): Valentino seemingly saying: "Hop in and let's go". So I did and we did for two laps as agreed on. He started out cautiously, apparently testing the mechanical integrity of the steering, brakes and engine and also going down "memory lane" remembering testing the Jalpa as a new car in the early 1980's. When satisfied with the mechanicals after the first half lap, he began to push it and often provoked the tail out in the corners all the while mumbling "wonderful". Close to the end of the 2nd lap I was getting a little nervous and couldn't help mentioning "This is not a racecar", but he had too much fun and we once again went sideways through the last two turns.

DSC_0308 (5-8-2006): My turn to drive. Middle of turn one (clockwise) after an uphill straightaway. My spring spacers seem to have increased the ride height a little more that factory spec, but it handled very well and as seen swayed very little.

DSC_0309 (5-8-2006): Exit of turn one and still very little sway. The (absence of the) Tara roof was very convenient, not just for visibility and driver cooling, but with the helmet and roof on, I would not have fitted comfortably in the car.

DSC_0310 (5-8-2006): The short straight between turn one and two. That just looks good in my not so humble opinion.

DSC_0319 (5-8-2006): Turn one once more. The Jalpa did not sway any more in spite of the photographer's tilted camera.

DSC_0321 (5-8-2006): Accelerating hard out of turn one and no the Murcielago in the background didn't catch me (he was a little tentative).

DSC_0259 (5-8-2006): Time to relax and cool down.

I was very am happy with the end result. The car was very well balanced, a safe 4-wheel slide could easily be induced and the tail was easily catchable in one of the quick S-curves, even with the soft racing tires I had on. The power, which I limited to whatever 10 psi boost produced, was much better than original, but not (yet?) in the Gallardo class. The only down-side was a limited cooling capacity, very likely caused by the 80 L/min "Davies Craig" electric water pump. That resulted in a 4-5 lap limit before the temperature got too high. Contrary to common complaints the brakes are actually very good (although squealing at times) and the maximum brake rotor temperature I measured (at the root of the front rotors) was 250 C and no fade or soft pedal was detected.

~o0o~