Here’s one for you: when does a manufacturer's racing tradition impact on its road cars?

Lamborghini has, until recent years, been an absentee from the circuits. That didn't stop it making ground–breaking machinery such as the 400GT, the Miura and the Countach.

The results were sometimes flawed, but still utterly desirable GTs, yet — quite possibly only to the purist — 'not quite the thing' without that racing heritage.

I bring the subject up as this week's newsletter has a couple of pieces on the great Italian marque, centring on last weekend's end–of–season finale at the Circuit de Catalunya.

You might be someone who thinks, "Now, I can see that carbonfibre wing–pod's straight off the racer, I must have one of those..." But I'm not.

When McLaren raced the amazing F1, scoring a debut win at Le Mans, my first thought was, "Blimey, it must be good if they can do that with a road car!" And I think these are two very different notions.

Steve Wakefield Managing Editor sw@classicdriver.com

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