The Miura is the ultimate Delegation Special — it exists only because Ferruccio Lamborghini was bold enough to entrust his team of young, talented engineers and designers to do what they do best. If he had micro-managed every process every step of the way, the chances are the Miura would have been a compromise that failed to bring the world’s wealthiest drivers knocking at the gates to the factory in Sant’Agata.
A complicated mid-engined supercar is the opposite of the Rolls-Royce-like GTs that Ferruccio wanted to build, yet it’s the Miura that singlehandedly elevated Lamborghini to be considered an appealing alternative to Ferrari.
The four men chiefly behind the car were all in their twenties when the Miura debuted. There was Giampaolo Dallara, the 29 year-old senior engineer; Paolo Stanzani, again just 29 and assistant engineer; then there was Bob Wallace, a mere 27 and in charge of engineering development; and finally, Marcello Gandini, the gifted 27-year old designer who penned those seductive lines.
The Miura used the 4-litre Bizzarrini V12 designed for the 350GT and 400GT, rotated by 90 degrees and mounted transversely in a casting that included the transmission and differential. Power claims were all over the map, but test cars banged off a 0-60mph in 5.5 seconds, could charge past the quarter-mile in 13.9 sec at 107.5 mph, and went on to achieve a top speed of 168 mph, making it the fastest car in the world, at the time.
Performance numbers are only a small part of the Miura story. In the latest episode of Jason Cammisa Revelations, Cammisa takes a deep dive into the story behind the car — and highlights why delegation is so important.
To quote Marcello Gandini: “To make exceptional things, you must have complete freedom.”
The proof is in the Miura.
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