modification drag racing, drag racing concept, new modifications

The Ferrari 458 Italia is a completely new car from every point of view: engine, design, aerodynamics, handling, instrumentation and ergonomics, just to name a few.

A two-seater berlinetta, the Ferrari 458 Italia, as is now traditional for all Ferrari’s road-going cars, benefits hugely from the company’s Formula 1 experience. This is particularly evident in the speed and precision with which the car responds to driver inputs and in the attention focused on reducing internal friction in the engine for lower fuel consumption than the F430, despite the fact that both overall displacement and power have increased. However, Ferrari’s track experience makes its presence felt in the 458 Italia not only in terms of pure technological transfer but also on a more emotional level, because of the strong emphasis on creating an almost symbiotic relationship between driver and car. The 458 Italia features an innovative driving environment with a new kind of steering wheel and dashboard that is the direct result of racing practice. Once again input from Michael Schumacher - who was involved from the very start of the 458 Italia project - played an invaluable part.

Sig. Ferruccio Lamborghini didn't start by building high-performance cars, he was actually born into a farmer family, so when World War II was over and Ferruccio returned to Italy, he began converting the military left-over engines into powerfull tractors, which were much needed at that time.With his studies at a technical school, and his assigned during the war in the car park of the army, he was well cabable of building just about anything from scratch, and keep it running afterwards.The tractor business, which he started in an old barn, went extremely well, and soon Ferruccio was able to move into bigger premises in 1949, he built had a completely new factory built in Cento and founded Lamborghini Trattori SpA.

At that time they built just one tractor each day with a rather small group of employees. But things only got better, and by 1958 Lamborghini Trattori SpA built 1500 tractors a year.Lamborghini tractors were considered to be among the very best, in the beginning Ferruccio even organised tractor-pulling contests between his machines and those belonging to nearby farmers, just to show that his tractor was the most powerfull one. The Lamborghini tractors were very reliable and they were built in a very high quality, mainly because over 80 percent of the parts were made inside the factory at Cento, so Ferruccio could asure himself of the best possible quality.

In 1969 production went up to 5000 units a year, which caused Ferruccio to start thinking about moving into even larger premisses again. He moved the factory in 1971, at that time the Lamborghini Trattori SpA was the third best selling tractor manufacturer on the Italian market. But in 1972, after a fatal cancellation of an important order, Ferruccio lost confidence in his tractor business and sold his company to Same Co of Treviglio, but production still continued and by 1979, the former Lamborghini factory produced some 10,000 tractors a year, from which 26 percent was exported all over the world while 8 percent remained in Italy.It should therefore be much easier to find a Lamborghini tractor than a Lamborghini car, because the total production of Automobili Lamborghini is nowhere near 10,000 units.