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Leno stretches Lamborghini Diablo's legs for latest Garage installment

While posters of the Lamborghini Countach decorated the walls of many boys' walls in the 1980s, the Diablo filled that spot for young men in the early 1990s thanks to its extreme styling. In its latest video, Jay Leno's Garage welcomes a beautiful, white 1991 Diablo into his garage for a look back on what is now a classic supercar.
Unlike some of the vehicles Leno shows off, this one doesn't belong to him. Instead, veteran Italian car mechanic Franco Barbuscia owns it. He has been maintaining Jay's Countach for years. A '91 Diablo is an archaic supercar by today's standards. It doesn't have power steering, anti-lock brakes or obviously anything like traction control. It's just a big V12 hanging behind the driver with a wonderfully meaty roar that emanates from the exhaust.
Franco's Diablo might actually be better than new. It has a few upgrades to aid in drivability, like re-spaced pedals, a carbon-Kevlar clutch and more. Apparently all of the tweaks help a lot because, "it rides smoother than my Carrera GT," Leno enthuses about the car. Scroll down to reminisce about this Italian classic and get an ear full of its wonderful sound.

Twin-turbo Lamborghini ignites at 250 mph

Yesterday we covered a crash at the Unlimited 500+ drag race in Moscow, featuring a Nissan GT-R, but today brings better news: a Lamborghini Gallardo making 2,005 horsepower successfully went 250 miles per hour on the one-mile strip in 23.9 seconds without crashing. That's the good part. The bad part is the single-serving supercar burst into flames immediately after it crossed the finish line. Fortunately the driver was able to quickly bring the Lamborghini to a stop and get out of the car, but we have a feeling it will need some engine work before it sees any more action. That and perhaps a new paint job.
Underground Racing tuned the Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera's V10 to such an astronomical power output with the help of what sounds like twin-turbochargers (which is typical of UR builds). But despite the very impressive mile time, it's still hard not to feel sorry for the poor engine, which just couldn't take the pressure. Watch the 2,005-hp Gallardo reach 250 mph - then catch fire - in the video below.

Volkswagen breaks 40-year-old sales record in 2012

The last time Volkswagen moved this many vehicles in America in one year, Richard Nixon was still a President in good standing, Let It Be was a radio hit and each car wearing the VW badge boasted an air-cooled engine. That's right, with a grand total of 580,286 vehicles sold in the US last year, the VW Group has broken its own four-decades-old sales record by 2,899 vehicles.
Of that 580k total sold, 438k were Volkswagens and 139k were Audi products - increases of 35.1 percent and 18.5 percent, respectively, in year-over-year sales. The ultra-premium members of the VW group also fared well; Bentley delivered 2,315 vehicles for a 23.3-precent increase, and Lamborghini delivered 520 units for a 52.9-percent jump. Bugatti, we're told is "right on track."
Jetta (pictured) sales paced the marque with 170k models sold, and Passat also finished very strong with sales of 117k total. Tiguan also racked up its best year on file, with 31,731 models shifted.