The Lamborghini V12 refers to the flagship V12 engine used by Lamborghini. Lamborghini has had three generations of V12 engines through their history, all of which were developed in-house. The first-generation Lamborghini V12 was a sixty degree (60°) V12 petrol engine designed by Lamborghini, and was the first internal combustion engine ever produced by the firm.
It entered production in 1963 as a 3.5 litre displacing fitted on Lamborghini's first car, the Lamborghini 350GT.
History
200px|thumb|left|An early [[Lamborghini V12 engine used in the Espada and Jarama]]
When Ferruccio Lamborghini set out to compete with Ferrari, he contracted Giotto Bizzarrini to design the engine for his car and, according to some accounts, paid him a bonus for every horsepower over what Ferrari's V12 could produce. The finished V12, with minor improvements, went on to become the 6.5 litre powering the Lamborghini Murciélago LP 640, and completed its service for Lamborghini with the final version of the Murciélago, the Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce.
Technical overview
The engine was designed from the start to be a quad cam 60 degree V12 - as an intentional snub to Ferrari's single overhead camshaft per-bank design. When the prototype was tested in 1963, it was able to produce at 9,000 (rpm), or almost per litre. Bizzarrini insisted the engine was mechanically capable of reaching at 11,000 rpm with an uprated fuel system, but the design was judged adequate, and when fitted with production carburettors, all the auxiliary systems, and detuned for road use, the engine still made .
200px|thumb|left|[[Lamborghini Murciélago|Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster with its V12 engine on display]]
Over the years, this V12 engine has nearly doubled in displacement - first to , and later to . It has seen the modification of the cylinder heads to allow four valves per cylinder, the replacement of Weber carburettors with electronic fuel injection, and the re-engineering of the lubrication system from a wet to a dry sump design. However, the engine that powers the Murciélago LP 640 can trace its lineage directly to the F1-inspired design of Bizzarrini and his team more than forty years ago.) to the final displacement of 6.5 litres in the Murciélago LP670-4 Superveloce.
It took years to decide that a new engine was needed to be built from scratch, finally an all-new engine codenamed L539 having a displacement of 6.5 litres for the 2011 Aventador was developed. The new engine has a maximum power output of , and has a different firing order: 1–12–4–9–2–11–6–7–3–10–5–8 instead of 1–7–4–10–2–8–6–12–3–9–5–11.
:5.2: , bore x stroke: , compression ratio 9.5:1 and downdraft 6X2 barrel Weber carburetors.
:5.7: , bore x stroke:
:6.0: , bore x stroke:
:6.2: , bore x stroke: (stroke ratio: 1.00:1 - 'square engine'); per cylinder; compression ratio: 10.7:1
:6.5: , bore x stroke: (stroke ratio: 0.99:1 - 'square engine'); per cylinder; compression ratio: 11.2:1
;cylinder block & crankcase: Islero, Jarama, Espada and Countach LP400
|-
|4.8|| at 7,000 rpm|| at 4,500 rpm||Countach LP500 S Diablo VT, Diablo SV, Diablo SE30 Jota, and Vector M12
|-
|6.0|| at 7,300 rpm || at 5,500 rpm || Diablo GT
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|6.2|| at 7,500 rpm|| at 4,000 rpm || Murciélago
|-
| rowspan="3" |6.5|| at 8,000 rpm|| rowspan="2" | at 6,000 rpm || Murciélago LP 640 Coupé and Roadster
|-
| at 8,000 rpm||Reventón and Murciélago LP 650-4 Roadster
|-
| at 8,000 rpm|| at 6,500 rpm || Murciélago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce
:Weight: 235 kg
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Displacement !! Power !! Torque !! Applications
|-
| rowspan="11" | 6.5|| at 8,250 rpm|| rowspan="4" | at 5,500 rpm ||Aventador LP 700-4, Aventador J
|-
| at 8,250 rpm|| Aventador LP 720-4 50° Anniversario
|-
| at 8,400 rpm|| Aventador S
|-
| at 8,400 rpm|| Aventador LP 750-4 SuperVeloce and Veneno
|-
| at 8,500 rpm|| rowspan="5"| at 6,720 rpm ||Centenario, Aventador LP770-4 SVJ and SC18 Alston, Lamborghini SC20
|-
| at 8,500 rpm || Aventador LP780-4 Ultimae, Countach LPI 800-4
|-
| at 8,500 rpm|| Autentica
|-
| at 6,750 rpm || Invencible
|-
| at 8,500 rpm|| Sián FKP 37
|-
| at 8,500 rpm || at 7,000 rpm ||Essenza SCV12
|}
Third generation
:Type: 60° V12 fuel feed by Multi Point Fuel Injection
:Displacement:
:Bore x stroke:
:Compression ratio: 12.6 : 1
:Maximum power: at 9,250 rpm
:Maximum torque: at 6,750 rpm
:Emission class: Euro 6 – LEV 3
:Weight: 218 kg
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Displacement !! Power !! Torque !! Applications
|-
|rowspan=4|6.5 || at 9,250 rpm|| rowspan=4| at 6,750 rpm ||Revuelto
|-
| at 9,250 rpm || Fenomeno
|}
Formula One
200px|thumb|left|[[Lamborghini's 3.5L V12 Formula One engine, the 3512, at the Lamborghini Museum.]]
Lamborghini made the move to Formula One in when the FIA outlawed turbocharged engines. Former Scuderia Ferrari designer / engineer Mauro Forghieri was commissioned to design and build a new, 3.5 litre V12 engine for use by the French Larrousse team in 1989. Dubbed the Lamborghini LE3512, (Lamborghini Engineering 3.5 liters 12 cylinders) the , 80° V12 engine was reported to be the best sounding engine of the new 3.5L naturally aspirated formula. Lamborghini representatives stated at the engines début race, the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix in Rio de Janeiro, that they chose a lower ranked team to join Formula One (Larrousse was in its third season using Lola chassis') as it was felt at the early stage of its development the 3512 would not be able to do justice to one of the teams usually closer to the front of the grid. Also, the front running teams already had existing engine suppliers in place (McLaren with Honda, Williams with Renault, Benetton with Ford, and Ferrari who made their own V12 engines).
The Lamborghini V12 did impress many in 1989 despite its unreliability, and the engines best result in its first year came thanks to fast but accident prone Larrousse driver Philippe Alliot when he qualified his Lola LC89 in 5th position for the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, only 1.417 seconds slower than the V10 McLaren-Honda of pole winner Ayrton Senna. Alliot then backed up that performance by scoring the engine's first point in Formula One by finishing 6th in the race and setting the 4th fastest race lap in the process. Unfortunately, Alliot's teammate for the second half of 1989, former Ferrari driver Michele Alboreto, never came to grips with either the Lola or the Lamborghini. In his eight races for Larrousse he recorded four DNF's, two failures to pre-qualify, one failure to qualify, and a single 11th-place finish in Portugal.
The Lamborghini V12's best finish came when Larrousse driver Aguri Suzuki finished 3rd in the infamous 1990 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Its time in Formula One (1989-1993) would prove to be frustrating though as poor reliability became the norm for the engine, despite being used by Grand Prix winning teams such as Lotus and Ligier who could boast driving talent such as Derek Warwick (Lotus - 1990), and Thierry Boutsen (Ligier - 1991). In a 2014 interview, Warwick said of the 3512 that it was "All noise and no go".
In 1993 after four years in Formula One with only one significant result for the engine, Bob Lutz of Lamborghini's parent company Chrysler, did a hand-shake deal with McLaren boss Ron Dennis for the team to test the LE3512 to evaluate its potential as a race winner. McLaren made a modified version of their race car, the McLaren MP4/8 dubbed the MP4/8B,