Year: 1995
Manufacturer: Lamborghini
Model: Diablo
Model Variant: VT
Exterior Color: Nero (black)
Interior Color: Grigio (grey)
Current Mileage: 32,223 miles
Chassis #12202

Engine Capacity/Power: 5.7 liter, 4 valve V12/492BHP
Top Speed: 202MPH
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Designer: Luc Donckerwolke
Limited Series: 1 of 400
Parent Company: V'Power and Mycom Sedtco
Public Debut: 1993 Geneva Motor Show
Predecessor: Countach
Successor: Murcielago

Years Produced: 1993 -1999
Total Production: 2,884
CarFAX: No

The 1995 Lamborghini Diablo SV (#12202) served as one of the official PPG Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) Indy Car World Series demonstration Pace Cars. At its height, the Diablo VT was driven by an all-star line-up at CART events including 1974, 1976 and 1980 Indy 500 winner Johnny Rutherford, 1973 and 1982 Indy 500 winner Gordon Johncock, 1969 Indy 500 winner and 1978 Formula One World Champion Mario Andretti, Hollywood icon Paul Newman (who was a notable racer in his own right) and teacher/adventurer/author Kellie La Follette.

Aside from the standard safety additions that all of the PPG Pace Cars received, the Diablo appeared to be original from the factory with its 492BHP, 48-valve V12 engine. Not that it needed any more power – its top speed was a more-than-adequate 202 MPH.

With nearly two-thirds the horsepower of a CART car (which were 4.0 liter V8 turbos equalized with pop-off valves at the time), the Lamborghini Diablo VT was the most powerful Indy Car pace car of all time. After its run at the front of CART events, Lamborghini requested that the car be returned.

Lamborghini Diablo VT

The Diablo VT (Vicious Traction) was introduced in 1993 and differed from the standard Diablo with the addition of all-wheel drive. The VT made use of a vicious center differential derived from the LM002’s four wheel drive system. The new drive layout directed up to 25% of the torque to the front wheels and aided traction in the case of rear wheel-spin, greatly enhancing the handling characteristics of the car.

Other improvements which appeared on the revised Diablo VT included front air intakes beneath the headlamps which improved brake cooling, enlarged intakes atop the rear wheel arches, a more ergonomic interior, revised electronically adjustable shock absorbers, four-piston brake calipers, power steering and minor engine enhancements. Many of these changes worked their way into the base Diablo as well which made them nearly identical.

Championship Auto Racing Teams & PPG

From the beginning of Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) in 1979, Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co.(PPG) served as the series title sponsor. PPG Industries the renowned supplier of paints, coatings and other automotive specialty materials headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is generally acknowledged as the world’s largest automotive coatings company certainly in terms of annual sales and worldwide presence with operations in over 70 countries.

By the early nineties, CART was closely matching Formula One in terms of prestige and global media attention. CART sanctioned events across North America featuring the Indianapolis 500 as its blue ribband event (until the split in 1996) with occasional forays into traditional Formula One venues in Europe along with Brazil (Jacarepaguá), Japan (Twin Ring Montegi) and Australia (Surfers Paradise).

This was due in no small measure to the participation of Formula One drivers such as 1992 World Champion Nigel Mansell who transferred to the Newman-Haas CART team in 1993 and 1994. Other colorful and high profile drivers such as Paul Tracy, Michael Andretti, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Al Unser, Jr, Danny Sullivan, Jacques Villeneuve, Bobby Rahal, Stefan Johansson, Mauricio Gugelmin and emerging talents like Jimmy Vasser and Gil de Ferran to name a few were quickly gaining international fame in CART.

Likewise, the CART PPG Indy Car World Series was flush with engine and chassis manufacturers in different combinations with engine makes including Mercedes-Benz and Ford Cosworth along with Honda and Toyota bringing interest from Japan while being paired with proper British full ground effects chassis from Reynard, Lola, Penske and later Swift. CART became a global racing phenomenon with a world-wide television audience and all the accompanying commercial investments with sponsors ranging from cigarette, beer, electronics, big box department stores and even aluminum brands throwing their lot in with the high-profile series.
The PPG Pace Cars

The CART series of races provided the perfect platform for PPG to showcase their automotive finishes at races. Under the guidance of Kears Pollock Executive Vice President of PPG Industries, PPG got the notion to paint all sorts of one-off and prototype cars, speciality cars and trucks such as the Lamborghini Diablo VT along with Lexus LE 400, Mazda RX-7, Nissan 300 ZX, Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo to Toyota Supra Turbo (to name a few) in their latest custom finishes and branding them the PPG Pace Cars. The cars numbered as many as a dozen to lead the races before the green flag creating a colorful spectacle in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators in the grandstands and millions of viewers watching at home.

There was little to no documentation available for the majority of the PPG Pace Cars. Some of them were crushed, some donated to auto tech schools, some sold back to the manufacturer (for the unusual amount of $1.00) and others became privately owned. A couple have even been discovered deteriorating outdoors on private property.

This Diablo VT

The PPG Pace Cars provided VIP guests with hot laps around the tracks and were eventually piloted by PPG’s 14-member all-female driving team. One of these drivers included none other than Desire Wilson, the South African racing driver who’s CV includes an entry in the 1980 British Grand Prix, three starts in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1982, 1983 and 1991), two starts in the 24 Hours of Daytona (1982 and 1993), one start in the 12 Hours of Sebring (1982) and three seasons in CART (1983, 1984 and 1986), the only woman driver to accomplish this.

Desire Wilson recalls, “I only drove the Lamborghini once at Detroit. I remember saying to myself that it felt like a GT series race car”. she states. “So positive to drive. However as I was driving Paul Newman around the track and he was telling me to keep going faster. I can’t remember which was more important the great car or the blue eyes!”

Indy Car hero Johnny Rutherford enjoyed most of the time behind the wheel of the Diablo VT. “The Lamborghini Diablo VT was great! It was built to be a sports car, fun to drive and reacted to everything you put into it” Rutherford says. “It was fast and fun even for a race driver like me! It was…you know…a Lamborghini!”.

Our friend Kellie La Follette was a regular PPG Pace Car driver and got her first shot at driving the Diablo VT at her home track at Portland International Raceway in 1995. “As a PPG Pace Car Team member, I had the incredible honor and privilege of driving prototype cars all over the world at Indy Car races”. La Follette recalls. “Hearing my name announced to drive the Lamborghini Diablo VT at my home track in Portland equated to a grand finale fireworks display going off inside my heart!

“The Lamborghini Diablo VT was the crown jewel of our fleet and generally reserved for Johnny Rutherford to drive” La Follette continues. "The tension between bursting joy and the magnitude of this responsibility were exploding inside me as I got belted in and oriented to the car.  All the speed you could dream of 0-60MPH in 4 seconds and topping out just over 200MPH was accessible on demand, climbing up through the five forward gears on PIR’s mile long straightaway.

“Decades of marveling at the speed, handling, and privilege of driving the Lamborghini Diablo VT have been a sweet gift.  May the Lamborghini bring similar joy to its new owner!” La Follette concludes.

Post Celebrity Life

After its run as a PPG Pace Car, Diablo VT #12202 was returned to Lamborghini at their behest. The color was confirmed to be Nero (black) and the car came complete with factory roll bar and built with JOTA kit. The car also features a unique front bumper with two tow hooks just as when it was used during the 1995 and 1996 CART PPG Indy Car World Series.

During the Laguna Seca CART race, the car slipped the timing chain and the motor was blown. Lamborghini had the car sent to Al Burtoni’s V12 Engineering where Burtoni created molds of the factory JOTA kit that was installed. Lamborghini sent Burtoni a new Diablo engine as replacement and the JOTA kit and blown engine were sent back to Italy.

The car was later delivered as “new” to Walter Wolf, the German Lamborghini concessionaire and former Formula One team owner. Since then, there has only been one owner (oddly enough) and everything comes with the car including switches, light brackets and race harnesses.

A lot of cars that come through Curated have stories to tell. And, if this Diablo GT could talk, the stories would go on forever. Notable and exceptional drivers behind the wheel, world class race tracks in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators and live TV audiences, going lost for a time and now re-emerging at Curated.

“At Curated, we do not acquire cars simply for inventory but rather based on what the car is. We love interesting provenance, very low production, very low mileage, very special and often weird cars.”

John Temerian, Jr.
Curated co-founder

Curated gratefully acknowledges the contributions of Kellie La Follette to this article.
https://kellielafollette.org

Period images courtesy of Dan Boyd and Kellie La Follette.