Whenever a track-only special arrives on the scene - and they do seem to come fairly frequently - there’s always a part of me that wonders ‘would this make a decent Le Mans car?’ Aston Martin has answered that already by adapting its Valkyrie AMR Pro for next year’s 24-hour epic, while Ferrari has done the opposite by unleashing the full potential of its 499P Le Mans winner and serving it up to its most affluent of Clienti. But that’s about it, really. Everything else is either limited to the occasional manufacturer-run track day or, sadly, the centrepiece of an oil tycoon’s ginormous collection.
Those are the reasons why a collective groan ripples through the forums when manufacturers present one of these track toys as their ‘ultimate’ model or whatever. The thing is, the cars themselves aren’t the problem, the issue is that there’s nowhere for them to go racing. Just imagine a Pagani Huayra R wailing down the Mulsanne straight with a a GMA T.50S hunting it down, or a one-make series of McLaren’s V10-powered Solus single-seater. And Lamborghini’s inaugural year in top-tier sportscar racing would have been a heck of a lot more memorable (and probably just as uncompetitive) had it ditched its lacklustre prototype and entered an Essenza SCV12 like the one you see for sale here instead.
That the SCV12 has no motorsport heritage whatsoever does nothing to weaken its appeal, mind. We all knew it’d be a track-only job when it debuted in 2021 because there wasn't a series for it to fit into - but you wouldn't find us turning our nose up at a 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 hypercar, even if you’d only ever see it driven in anger up Goodwood hill. The motor was plucked from a Aventador (of course) with 830hp, albiet turned 180 degrees to fit a transverse X-Trac six-speed sequential gearbox. Naturally, the cats were removed to a) relieve exhaust pressure and b) amplify one of the greatest engine soundtracks in modern memory to bone-shaking levels.
Although it shared its engine with the Aventador, much of the underpinnings were specifically designed for the SCV12. For instance, the carbon fibre tub was built to the same safety standards as the current Le Mans Hypercar class and therefore does without a clunky, heavy roll cage. Then there’s the carbon body, which is completely bespoke to the SCV12 and features many active aero devices, most noticeably a towering rear wing, that combined produce 1,200kg of downforce at 155mph - about the same amount as a GT3 car. Not quite Le Mans prototype levels, but enough to rearrange the facial expressions of Lamborghini’s billionaire clients.
So yes, from a distance it’s just another track toy for the one per cent’s one per cent, but in a way it’s a bit like the Murcielago R-GT successor that never was. Had GT1 not died a death at the end of 2011, or LM GTE had continued that little bit longer, the SCV12 may have found its way onto the grid in one form on another. That said, the company that now runs almost all GT championships on Earth, SRO, introduced a new ‘GT1 Sports Club’ for billionaires to parade around in cars such as these during race weekends. Not quite the same as 20-odd GT1 monsters going at it for hours on end, but a sight to behold nonetheless.
One that you could soon become a part of, if you’ve got enough in the bank for the SCV12 you see here. No surprise you’ll need to call the seller to find out how much that is, but take the original €2.2m (£1.9m) plus taxes as a ballpark figure. If, however, you fancy something you can actually race, the same seller has a championship-winning Ferrari 458 GTE for sale that’d surely be welcomed with open arms at the Spa or Le Mans Classic. To race, or not to race…
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