“When you design an engine from scratch, what you have to consider from the outset are the boundary conditions that you have to be able to sustain in every field of use and from every point of view,” said Reggiani. “For Lamborghini, the Aventador was like a dress rehearsal to prove that we could achieve power, weight, and performance, but also the reliability that was required of us by the Group. The results speak for themselves. We sold roughly double the number of cars that were estimated initially, and this is a good indicator of the success the Aventador has enjoyed. Despite the modifications and improvements made over the years, from the engineering point of view the engine is exactly the same.

“When we started working on the Murciélago, we had 6.2-liter engines and an average of 620-640 hp. With the Aventador, we started with 6.5 liters and 700 hp, knowing that, over the expected life of the model, the power would have to increase by at least 10 percent, so it was a big challenge. We also had to take into account the Euro 5 emission standards and the fact that, for this first project of a new Lamborghini engine under the Audi umbrella, we had to meet all the requirements mandated by the Group.”

The Aventador engine was unveiled in 2011, producing 690 hp at 8250 rpm with 6.5-liter displacement. It was then modified for the LP 700-4 in 2013, the LP 750-4 in 2015, and the Superveloce in 2016. With the arrival of the SVJ in 2019, the engine output was increased to 759 hp, and in the 2021 Ultimae, the last of the road-going Aventadors, to 780 hp. The same engine is also fitted on the Essenza, a track-only car that is not subject to the constraints of road use homologation. In this configuration, the engine reaches 830 hp, a true marvel of modern engineering. “The highest expression of our V12 was reached with the Essenza V12, where the same engine is able to produce 830 hp,” said Reggiani. “The engine is the same, but the exhaust backpressure is lower because you don’t have the filters and the acoustic insulation elements, and the intake filter has less pressure drop, so you have more volumetric efficiency. From a construction standpoint, the success of this V12 is proof that a good engine from the beginning is able to provide something unique in terms of emotion and power, a potential that is evident in terms of thermodynamics and mechanical components.”

The Aventador was the last Lamborghini to run a pure naturally aspirated V12 engine before the next hybrid chapter is rolled out in the first quarter of 2023.