Ferruccio Lamborghini was already running a tractor building company when his priorities changed after a meeting with Enzo Ferrari. Lamborghini had made a complaint about the clutch on his Ferrari 250 and, after a stern dismissal from Ferrari, he decided to investigate the problem himself. Through his investigation of the clutch he found that it was similar in many ways to the designs he used on his tractors. After this, Lamborghini envisaged a grand tourer to rival that of Ferrari. A year later in 1964 the world lay witness to the Lamborghini 350GT.
Following the success of the 350GT and its predecessor the 400GT, Lamborghini launched itself into the exotic car market with the release of the Lamborghini Miura, the first true Lamborghini sports car. This paved the way for iconic cars such as the Countach and Diablo.
Lamborghini has changed ownership seven times, and is currently owned by Audi AG. With the vast technical expertise of Audi at its disposal, Lamborghini has created three of its most sophisticated cars to date, being the Murciélago, Gallardo and the new Reventón.
Surprisingly, Lamborghini has never delved deep into motorsport. Ferruccio Lamborghini believed that a motorsport programme would demand too much of the company’s resources. There have been occasions throughout the company’s history when one-off models have been made for racing however almost every time a major deal had been struck to enter motorsport in a substantial way there always seems to be some extraordinary circumstances that would block it. For example, in 1986 Lamborghini developed the QVX for the Group C Championships however after just one race the car was pulled due to lack of sponsorship.