The Gallardo

Italian manufacturing giant Ferruccio Lamborghini founded Automobili Lamborghini in 1963 with the objective of producing a grand touring car to compete with the likes of Ferrari, Jaguar and Alfa Romeo. The company's first model, the 350GT was designed to go away with Ferrari's race spirited GT cars and provide its passengers with an engine designed purely for road use. Giotto Bizzarrini, a member of the "Gang of Five" Ferrari Engineers and who had been responsible for the Ferrari 250GTO left the company in 1961 to design the Lamborghini V12. It had a displacement of 3.5L and maximum power output of 360bhp at 9800rpm.

Ferruccio Lamborghini was unhappy with the engines high reving nature and dry-sump lubrication system found in racing engines. When Bizzarrini refused to change the engine's design to comply with Ferruccio's wishes, Lamborghini refused to pay the 4.5 million Italian Lire plus a bonus for every bhp the engine could produce over its Ferrari rivals. Lamborghini did not fully compensate Bizzarrini until the courts stepped in, ironically enough variants of Bizzarrini's V12 design have been found in Lamborghini models from the 250GTO to the Murcielago.

In 2003 Lamborghini released their 13th car, the V10 Gallardo and would go on to be produced until 2013. Three short years later Lamborghini featured an updated version due to popular claims that it was a bit tame for a Lamborghini. A racey exhaust was fitted, suspension was revised, Hp output was increased by 20hp (total of 540hp) and lower gearing ratios from 1st to 5th. All these improvements led to increase handling performance and overall made for a better driving experience.

Below, Tonino Lamborghini, son of Ferruccio Lamborghini recalls his father's legacy and what drove him to create his empire of the most outrageous and spectacular cars to ever hit the road.