1999 Lamborghini Diablo SV

Model: Diablo
Production Order: #2225
Successor: Diablo VT Roadster

Mario Andretti provenance. Very rare 1999 example.

The incredible Lamborghini Diablo SV made its public debut at the 1995 Geneva Auto Show reviving the Super Veloce moniker from the Miura SV. The SV is based on the standard original Diablo in that it is rear wheel drive, lacking the all wheel drive of the 6.0 VT (Vicious Traction) example.

However, Lamborghini gave the SV an increase overall power from 485BHP on the first model to 510BHP which demands a strong hand at the wheel. To help maintain stability at high speeds, a large adjustable was added as standard equipment which could be color matched to the car or in raw carbon fiber, a few examples came with rear wing deleted.

Other minor cosmetic changes were made such as black tail lamp surrounds and repositioned rear fog and reverse lamps. Also, an extra set of front brake cooling ducts and a the famous double vent engine lid as previously seen on the SE30 JOTA models gave the SV a dramatic and racy look. The SV models came with or without the large SV graphics on either side of the cars.

The standard IVs came in six distinct colors (Giallo, Deep Black, Rosso Imola, Blu Le Mans and Verde Ithaca) each of which were chosen to compliment the black Alcantara interior which was standard on the cars.

This Diablo SV (#2225) comes in standard Giallo and includes the rear wing but minus side graphics. But, gentle readers want to know the low down on the car’s first owner, 1978 Formula One World Champion, multiple time Indy Car Champion and world famous racer, Mario Andretti.

Mario Andretti’s assistant Patty Reid confirms that he indeed took delivery of the car new in 1999, enjoyed it for two years and traded it in 2001.

Mario Andretti
Mario Andretti is one of the most successful and recognizable names in the history of automobile racing. He is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, Indy Car, the World Sports Car Championship and NASCAR. While racing at the top levels of Formula One, Indy Cars and sports cars, on “off” weekends he also competed in Saturday night dirt track races in midget and sprint car events.

If it went fast, Mario Andretti drove it.

While rather soft-spoken and reserved as a person, Mario Andretti was a dominating force behind the wheel, a guy who could take a race by the scruff of the neck and make it his own on the track versus other marquis names. Mario Andretti is the epitome of the modern racing driver. Even now at the age of 81, he remains active in racing circles and still very much a great ambassador of the sport, patriarch of the Andretti Motorsport teams (owned by son Michael) and a towering figure in the pantheon of racing globally.

Originally from Montona d’Istria, Italy (now Croatia), Mario and his fraternal twin brother Aldo first witnessed racing in northern Italy and the Italian Grand Prix at Monza and it made an impression on both of them. On arrival in America in 1955, the Andretti family settled in Nazareth, Pennsylvania where the brothers first experienced Saturday night dirt track oval racing and they quickly became involved and became a regulars at northeast sprint and stock car events.

In 1969, after Aldo suffered serious injuries in a big crash in Des Moines, Iowa which left him with serous facial injuries that required reconstruction surgeries, he quit racing and left the racing chores to Mario who went on the have perhaps the most far-ranging racing career of any driver in history.

Notable for victories in Indy Cars, Formula One, sports cars and hillclimbs, Mario Andretti could drive anything and make it a winner. Perhaps, most notably, was his performance at the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring, after his own Ferrari 512 S fell out with mechanical problems while leading, Andretti was pressed into service joining the sister team car of Ignazio Giunti and Nino Vaccarella in the dying stages of the race and instructed by Mauro Forghieri to turn qualifying laps in an attempt to chase down the Porsche 908 of actor Steve McQueen and Peter Revson.

Andretti staked straight out in the Ferrari, chasing down Revson who was another American driver with F-1, CanAm and sports car pedigree, unlapping his car and then going to win overall by a mere 28 seconds (the closest finish in event history, a record that lasted 29 years).

Among Andretti’s other racing accomplishments, he won the 1978 Formula One World Championship driving the incredible Lotus 79 for Colin Chapman, the 1969 Indianapolis 500 for Andy Granatelli and the 1967 Daytona 500 for Ford.

As reported by friends, team mates and visitors lucky enough to see Andretti’s home, the garage is full more toys than imaginable including the coolest collectible exotic cars, motorcycles, boats and ultra-lights. The Lamborghini Diablo SV would be a perfect fit for Andretti who has owned several including the Diablo SV, a Countach 5000 S, Diablo Coupe, Aventador LP700-4, among others.

While having no formal ties to Lamborghini throughout his career, Andretti is fascinated by the Italian brand and usually has one or two of the latest examples in his garage.

Mario Andretti Racing Records
Four-time Indy Car National Champion (1965, 1966, 1969, 1984) Formula One World Champion (1978)

Daytona 500 winner (1967)

Indianapolis 500 winner (1969)

Three-time Indianapolis 500 pole winner (1966, 1967, 1987) Pikes Peak Hill Climb winner (1969)

Three-time 12 Hours of Sebring winner (1967, 1970, 1972) USAC National Dirt Track champion (1974)

IROC (International Race of Champions) Champion (1979)

Only driver to be named Driver of the Year in three different decades (1967, 1978, 1984)

Named Driver of the Quarter Century (1992) by vote of past Drivers of the Year and a panel of 12 journalists

All-time leader in Indy Car pole positions won (67) All-time Indy Car lap leader (7,595)

All-time leader in Indy Car race starts (407)

All-time leader in wire-to-wire Indy Car victories (14) Second all-time in Indy Car victories (52)

Only driver ever to win Indy Car races in four decades Only driver ever to win races in five decades

Oldest race winner in Indy Car history, with 1993 victory at Phoenix at age 53 Only driver to win the Indy 500, Daytona 500 and the Formula One World Championship

From 1961 to 2000, competed in 879 races, had 111 wins and 109 poles (includes all forms of motorsports)

Mario Andretti’s 111 Career Wins 
52 – Indy Car victories (USAC and CART) 12 – Formula One victories (FIA)

9 – Sprint car victories (USAC)

9 – Midget victories (ARDC, NASCAR and USAC) 7 – Formula 5000 victories (SCCA/USAC)

7 – World Sports Car victories (FIA) 5 – Dirt track victories (USAC)

4 – Three-Quarter Midget victories (ATQMRA) 3 – IROC victories

2 – Stock car victories (NASCAR and USAC) 1 – Non-championship race

Formula One Victories (12) 
1971 South Africa (Kyalami) Questor Grand Prix (non-championship race at Ontario Motor Speedway) 1976 Japan (Mount Fuji) 1977 United States (Long Beach), Spain (Jarama), France (Dijon), Italy (Monza) 1978 Argentina (Buenos Aires) Belgium (Zolder), Spain (Jarama), France (Le Castellet), Germany (Hockenheim), Holland (Zandvoort)

Indy Car Victories (52)
1965: Hoosier Grand Prix

1966: Milwaukee 100, Langhorne 100, Atlanta 300, Hoosier Grand Prix, Milwaukee 200, Hoosier 150, Trenton 200, Phoenix 200

1967: Trenton 150, Indianapolis Raceway Park 150, Langhorne 150, St. Jovite 100, St. Jovite 100, Milwaukee 200, Hoosier 100, Phoenix 200

1968: St. Jovite 100, St. Jovite 100, DuQuoin 100, Trenton 200

1969: Indy 500, Hanford 200, Pike’s Peak Hill Climb, Nazareth 100, Trenton 200, Springfield 100, Trenton 300, Kent 100, Riverside 300

1970: Castle Rock 150

1973: Trenton 150

1978: Trenton 150

1980: Michigan 150

1983: Elkhart Lake 200, Caesars Palace 200

1984: Long Beach Grand Prix, Meadowlands Grand Prix, Michigan 500, Elkhart Lake 200, Mid-Ohio 200, Michigan 200

1985: Long Beach Grand Prix, Milwaukee 200, Portland 200

1986: Portland 200, Pocono 500

1987: Long Beach Grand Prix, Elkhart Lake 200 1988: Phoenix 200, Cleveland Grand Prix

1993: Phoenix 200

Accolades 
2000 Named the “Driver of the Century” by the Associated Press and RACER Magazine

1986 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Inductee 2000 International Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductee 1996 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Inductee (U.S.) 1992 Driver of the Quarter Century

1990 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductee

1978 &1979 (IROC VI) International Race of Champions series champion 1978 Formula One World Champion

1974 USAC national dirt track champion (U.S.) 1972 6 Hours of Daytona Winner

1969 Indianapolis 500 winner

1967 Daytona 500 winner

1967, 1970, 1972 12 Hours of Sebring winner

1965, 1966, 1969

1984 Indy Car champion 1969 Pikes Peak champion

1969 ABC’s Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year