If you think it looks like a Lamborghini Diablo, you'd be right. But in actual fact, it's something much hotter. It's the Cizeta V16T, and its visual similarities to the Lamborghini Diablo are no coincidence. In fact, the Cizeta is often referred to as the hypercar that Lamborghini should've made. But despite being a promising new entry into the performance car market in the late 80's and early 90's, it – quite poetically – failed to take the bull by the horns. This is the story of one of automotive history's most sadly forgotten cars that could've been...
As I've already hinted at, the Cizeta is a car that was originally destined to wear the Lamborghini badge, and be released as the Diablo that it appears to so closely resemble. The aesthetics were designed by a chap called Marcello Gandini – a man whose repertoire consisted of both the Lamborghini Miura and Countach. Naturally then, with such an astounding CV, he was the man Lamborghini put in charge of designing a replacement for the Countach. And when he put pen to paper, what would become the Cizeta was born.
Lamborghini liked the design very much, but unfortunately, in 1987, Chrysler took ownership of the raging bull, and decided that Gandini's design was far too extreme for the American market – the largest supercar market.
As far as he was concerned, the fact that Chrysler had seen his design as outlandish meant that he had composed something that embodied the very nucleus of what a Lamborghini was supposed to be. So, he left Chrysler to their blasphemy in high dudgeon. Little did he know in his seething rage that Chrysler's ignorance would only lead him into the welcoming arms of an unknown manufacturer who would make his original design come to life.
That aforementioned unknown manufacturer was, of course, Cizeta – or, as it was originally known, Cizeta-Moroder. The company originated when ex-Lamborghini engineer and Ferrari dealer Claudio Zampolli decided to fulfill his life-long ambition to craft his very own supercar. Despite his ambition, he couldn't utilise his expertise to make his vision without a sizable chunk of money. An investor was needed, and as luck would have it, an investor is what he got. Enter Giorgio Moroder.
In truth however, no amount of alcohol could possibly be as intoxicating to Moroder as learning that Zampolli wanted his supercar to be powered by a V16 engine. In a world of 12 cylinder goliaths, and turbocharged hooligans, Zampolli was aware that any newcomer to the supercar domain was going to have to stand out like a burning beacon in the darkness. In keeping with the superficial "more-is-more" attitude of the day, he saw those extra 4 cylinders as the division belt between him and the establishment. Moroder agreed, and invested his money.
Along with his money, he gave his name; hence, the "Moroder" part of the original manufacturer's title. The "Cizeta" part of the name was an abbreviation of Claudio Zampolli's initials as spoken in Italian – "Chi", and "Zeta".
So, they had the name, the engineering expertise, the money, and a workshop in Modena. Being the supercar making capital of the world, Zampolli set-up in Modena as he knew engineers with experience of working on supercars would be local. Little did he know however that also in the area was Gandini looking to put his extravagant design to good use.
Zampolli had already penned a design for his supercar – but it was very conservative. The more adventurous nature of Gandini's design appealed to him as he felt it would epitomise the next-level identity he wanted to give the car. Gandini's sorrow had turned to elation, and after making the necessary amendments in order to accommodate the V16 powerplant, work begun on bringing the car to life.
Firstly, Zampolli set about creating the signature engine. As an ex-Lamborghini engineer, he designed the V16 as 2 V8s – each mirroring the architecture found in the Lamborghini Uracco P300S's flat-plane crank V8. The two engines would share a block, and would synchronise their separate cam and crankshafts via 2 timing chains. At 6 litres in capacity, the finished engine was an absolute monster! Squeezing it in the car was, quite literally, going to require some lateral thinking.
If when looking at the name of the car – V16T – you believe that the 'T' denotes turbocharging, you wouldn't be the first to make that mistake. Instead, it stands for 'transverse'. Given the enormity of the engine, the Cizeta ended up being extremely wide – but the crime of width wasn't as large as the crime of length that would've been committed had they mounted the engine longitudinally.
In order to accommodate the transaxle 5-Speed ZF manual gearbox, and to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible, the V16 was tilted 10 degrees forward. The engine sat in a steel frame that was welded together by hand, and was enveloped by a body made out of aluminium.
At 3759lbs (1705kg), the Cizeta was no lightweight – but thankfully, it was packing a 540bhp heavyweight punch. The 0-60mph time was said to be just over 4 seconds, with the top speed estimated to reach 204mph.
On the 5th of December 1988, the world got its first glimpse of the V16T, which was the most powerful car in the world at the time of its unveiling. If naming the car after it signature engine didn't draw sufficient focus to it, then you can guarantee the isolated engine displayed in a glass case next to the car certainly did.
