Zagato Raptor

Information

Zagato Raptor

The Zagato Raptor was made for champion bobsledder Alain Wicki, who approached the Italian design house, Zagato, to produce a car that gives him the same sensation as bobsledding. Zagato would create the Zagato Raptor, also known as the Lamborghini Raptor or Lamborghini Zagato Raptor. It was based on the four-wheel drive Lamborghini Diablo VT and was supposed to help turn Zagato's luck around. They were having financial troubles at this time, hoping for a good response when showing it at the 1996 Geneva motor show, where they offered a few for a super limited production run. Their goal was to demonstrate Zagato's new computer-aided designs and manufacturing facilities. They never intended to produce it themselves, so Zagato was selling it to Lamborghini as a new model for their range, and they could manufacture it in their factory in Sant'Agata.

The idea for the Raptor only reached Zagato in the summer of 1995, and the fact that they produced a fully working and running prototype by March 1996, with all of their financial struggles, is no short of a miracle. They found much of their cost savings by keeping the 5.7L, dual overhead cam, quad valve V12 from the Diablo VT, on which it was based. The V12 would produce 492 bhp, put through a 5-speed manual, and had a 0-62 mph (0-100 kph) in under 4 seconds, with no top speed run ever officially being done but rumored to be above 200 mph (321 kph). This was all helped by the fact that it was 300 kg (660 lbs) lighter, with them getting rid of the Diablo's electronic ABS and traction control.

The chassis was a tubular space frame, with the body panels made from carbon fiber. A hinge on the back that tilted the rear to reveal the engine, and a hinge on the front that pivoted the middle section to allow entry into the car. The roof was made to be detachable to have an open-air roadster experience or be a standard coupé, it also features the distinct Zagato double bubble style. It was made with the wedge shape profile of all good Italian supercars of the era, but this caused the Raptor to have a cab-forward stance with the occupants sitting quite far forward. This was due to the goal of having the engine as close to the middle as possible, which improved handling. For aerodynamics, there were no pop-up headlights like most supercars, instead, they were placed behind plexiglass. The rear of the car was also made aerodynamic with the distinctive single light instead of the dual colored tail lights, which were standard at the time. The wheels are custom-made 5-spoke alloy wheels with new brakes, the Zagato engineers felt were necessary.

The Zagato Raptor had an entirely new interior with everything upholstered in grey alcantara, the dashboard had nothing but the digital display for the driver, and two vents said to have been 'extremely necessary' when the roof was on. This was because the entire middle section was raised to act as a door; there are no opening windows. The seats are fixed in place with a very wide transmission tunnel between them. On this, there was an open gate gear lever, along with the control panel. The only two things that were not grey were the carpet, which was black, and the steering wheel, with no airbag, that was also black.

The Zagato Raptor would never go to see full production for various reasons, but that left only one model ever produced. That model would go on to be owned by Alain Wicki, the man who commissioned it. He owned it until 2000, when he sold it at the Geneva Motor Show to an anonymous buyer. They took it to its only major outing, the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where they then took it to England. It had not been publicly displayed or driven until 2019, when it was auctioned off by RM Sotheby's. It sold to yet another anonymous buyer for $1,086,250. We do not currently know where it is or who has it.