Lamborghini’s launch relaunched

YOU will have guessed by now that Ferruccio Lamborghini, founder of the car company that bears his name, wasn’t one for doing things by half. This is his boat, a beautiful but bonkers 1968 Riva Aquarama Lamborghini, which has just returned to the water after a three-year restoration.

"A return to Burntisland, please"

It is, as befits Lamborghini, the fastest Riva Aquarama in the word. So it should be, since it’s powered by twin 350bhp V12 engines from Lamborghini’s first car, the 350GT.

The end result is a top speed of 48 knots, or about 55mph in landlubberish. That’s a full eight knots faster than poverty-spec standard Riva Aquaramas with their piddly twin V8s. Pah!

Dutch restoration specialists Riva World enlisted the help of Lino Morosini who, 45 years ago, was head of the Riva engine division and one of the fathers of the Aquarama Lamborghini, and Bob Wallace, Lamborghini’s former test driver who, before his death earlier this year, helped convert the engines so that one would rotate to the left and the other to the right, presumably so the wall of torque wouldn’t cause the boat to spin round in circles.

Scotsman Motoring’s suggestion to Holyrood: Scrap the new Forth crossing and press a few of these into service as water taxis instead.