Dual V12 Lamborghini speedboat back on the water

[ApS]

According to the article, the boat achieves a top speed of 48-knots.

This must have been disappointing, when a vintage 1940s PT boat could achieve 41-knots with only 50% more V-12 power, while carrying 5-tons of torpedoes! (With even more weight added for fuel, smoke-generators, rockets, depth charges, and a crew of up to 17).

• Just like most engine designs, a V-12 engine projects its own special exhaust note, which can be detected in many European-made autos (including Ferrari and BMW), very few US autos, and even-rarer—SUVs.

Radial engines produce a "chuh-chuh-chuh-chuh" sound at 3000-RPM, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, a "potato-potato-potato" sound at idle. The 454-CID engines sound like any truck the 454 engine was designed for—at any RPM.

• At 4-liters, and with peak torque at 1500-RPM, this particular engine is a mis-match for a marine application, IMO. Lamborghini engines are designed to "rev" for automobile applications.

• The "monitoring" could have been for excessive upper-cylinder temperatures.

Below, one of Lamborghini's 350GTs—and one boat—in which this engine was applied.

(With this installation, balancing-out the "reversed" torque puts the helm to the left of the craft).