Walking the Lamborghini paddocks at Silverstone, past the immaculate trucks and pristine garage areas, there’s a fragrance on the wind: the sweet stench of burnt petrol mingled with something redolent of expensive cologne. I wonder if the air circulating all Italian race teams is similarly freighted but no: this, I am sure, is the inimitable aroma of Lamborghini – a perfectly balanced cocktail of brute power and style, order and flair. Does Lamborghini produce its own aftershave I wonder? If they do, I decide, it should smell like this.
And so it is with Lamborghini’s chief test driver, recently promoted to Head of Motorsport, Giorgio Sanna. He is possessed of the confidence and poise you might expect of one who’s spent the last fifteen years driving some of the most prestigious supercars on the planet to their limits. And yet there’s that equanimity of character, something which balances out the obvious panache. Giorgio Sanna is simply, well…nice. Somehow the holder of what millions across the world would consider their dream job, a man who spends more than half the year jetting around the planet, remains amazingly grounded. There I am, surrounded by motoring journalists, the proverbial fish out of water, and Giorgio makes me feel instantly at ease.
“Um, this might be a bit different to the interviews you’re used to,” I venture.
“Not technical then!” he laughs, adding, “Less boring, you could say?”
Of course Giogio Sanna is not at all bored by the technical. 7 speed ISR gearboxes, compression ratios, chassis dimensions, performance times and so on are no doubt his passion, but that’s not what I’m here for and he doesn’t mind. Like I said, a nice guy.
But just because Giorgio is human, doesn’t mean Lamborghini blood doesn’t run through his veins; in case you’re wondering how one goes about landing such a Utopian day-job…
“I started racing when I was 12 years old, and started working for Lamborghini in 2001, when I was 25. At that time Lamborghini was interested in finding a new test driver for Research and Development, looking for a young Italian driver with the right skills for testing – because many racing drivers are not good test drivers. The engineer responsible for Research and Development at that time was looking for someone with that kind of skill – asking at several race teams, automotive magazines, driving schools – and more than three of the most important instructors in Italy gave my name to this engineer. So at that stage he decided, with the Technical Director, to call me asking for a meeting. I met with the Technical Director of Lamborghini at that time, in December 2000. After twenty minutes they proposed to me that I should enter as a test driver in Research and Development.”
And as though to prove that achievements don’t have to end at ‘ultimate’, this year Lamborghini promoted their top test driver to Head of Motorsport. Yes, Giorgio has progressed from driving the latest supercars…to racing them.
“Every day can be different,” he says when I ask him how the new job is panning out, “because there is a part of this job that is focused in the office, covering meetings, strategy, planning from a finance point of view, to the technical meetings with the engineers. Then we, and me personally, spend a lot of time travelling around the world. We have to follow the races during the weekends in the three different competitions. We have the Lamborghini Blanc Pain Super Trofeo in Europe, in America and in Asia. And that’s more or less fifteen, sixteen weekends. Then we have other meetings where we arrange some marketing activities relating to motorsport, so I try of course to be always present because we are a luxury brand – where the difference, compared to other manufacturers, is how we take care of our customers. And our customers love to have direct contact with the company, with the factory, that I represent. So I try always to be present and have a direct connection with our customers.”
I have to ask, how much time does he devote to this brand he knows and loves?
“That would be a nice question for my wife! Let’s just say I am lucky because I have spent all my life so far doing something that I love. First of all I am really lucky because before I became Head of Motorsport, I was test driver and race driver for a company so important as Lamborghini, a company that many people in the world love. Even in the past I always spent 200 days a year travelling, testing and racing over the world. So today I have another kind of pressure on me. But in terms of effort, or stress or activities or days travelling, my life is more or less always the same – for the last fifteen years. But let me say, my passion is also my job. Otherwise it would be really difficult, or impossible or mundane, this kind of life.”
Needless to say, Giorgio has a tough time trying to pin down the proudest moment of his career with Lamborghini.
“It’s difficult to say because there are many moments which are important in my life and in the history of the company. In the first ten, twelve years, my target was to develop the best cars in the world. And I think that, together with the factory, we did a very good job developing cars like the Aventador, the Gallardo, the Murcielago – cars that today are world icons. Then there are other important moments like the world record that I did in 2002 with the Murcielago – that was an important moment for everybody. And when I won several races in 2011 and the Italian Championship. But in any case it’s part of my philosophy, my attitude, to always find new targets to achieve. If you were to ask me what is my next challenge, it would be to put Lamborghini as a brand and a manufacturer at a high level in motorsport.”
For the world record buffs among you, Giorgio is referring to the time he took a standard Murcielago to the Nardo Ring on the heel of Italy and over the period of one hour managed an average speed of just under 305 km per hour, or a shade below 190mph if you prefer. And let me tell you, the Nardo Ring is exactly that – a ring. No straights, it’s all bend. If you’ve ever driven a car close to the limits of its performance, you’ll know it’s a nerve-jangling moment. Imagine holding it there for an hour. Needless to say, such a personality doesn’t find himself envying the nine-to-fivers among us.
“No. For me it means dying probably!” he laughs. “Perhaps as you become older you need to start to relax, or maybe you need more free time, I don’t know, but: I love my job today like I did twenty years ago. Sometimes I think about this topic,” he continues, “and I would suggest to everybody to do what they love, to think of what they love, because a lot of people – they don’t know. First, you are lucky if you know what you love. And you are really lucky if you have the opportunity to do what you love.”
And yes, Giorgio speaks from the heart on that matter. “When I start work every day with a smile, I can continue to work at this level.”
For one so focused, you could be forgiven for assuming Giorgio’s definition of success is aimed purely at motorsport. But of course, he is Giorgio Sanna, and he has a characteristically broad understanding of the concept.
“Success, I think, is to be proud and happy in what you do every day. You can be the President of the United States or have what someone else might think of as the worst job in the world, I don’t know, but if you are happy in what you are doing and if you are proud of what you are doing, I think you have success.”
Like so many teenagers in the early nineties there was a Lamborghini poster on my bedroom wall. Perhaps I segregated myself from the cliche in displaying not the iconic Countach or Diablo but the classic Miura of the 60s and 70s, but in any case today I still love Lamborghinis as much as I always did. And so surrounded by their people and probably a hundred examples of the cars themselves, it is with herculean restraint that I resist blurting, ‘Can I have a go please?’ Instead, clinging to a slim tether of professionalism, I ask Giorgio if after fifteen years and what I presume to be a thousand Lamborghinis he still feels the same thrill when he starts that V12 engine.
“Today, I still have this wow-effect when I drive a Lamborghini,” he confirms. “And that means that we continue to work on and produce amazing cars. And in my case – yes it’s true that I have driven a thousand cars – but to work in Research and Development I was always at least two, three years ahead of what the customers drove. So I remember the first time I drove the prototype of the Aventodor, or the prototype of the Huracan, or the first prototype of the Gallardo – every time there was always this wow-effect. And this particular sensation, this feeling, of starting from zero – from a white paper, the first prototype – until the production of the car for the first customer, it’s like when you watch a baby grow up. You have the same pride and satisfaction when you arrive at production and the customers start driving the car you have been developing over the past three years – that really inspires enthusiasm. And when they ask me which car is my favourite I always say: the next one, because I love all the cars.”
As previously stated, I’m not a motoring journalist, but I suspect we may have some Lamborghini fans on board so just for you I’m keen to ask how the company has developed since the involvement of VW Audi Group, who bought the Italian brand in 1998.
“Yes I felt the difference,” Giorgio says, “but in a positive way. When I started working there in 2001 Lamborghini was already part of the Volkswagen Group. But starting from the Murcielago, and especially the Gallardo, we started really to have a close partnership with Audi and I saw, over the years, Lamborghini grow up really quickly – and in the right way – thanks to the Audi support. So, VW Group basically is a family, a big group where there is good sharing and a partnership between all the brands. Especially between Audi and Lamborghini in our case. Also now, in motorsport, we are developing the Huracan GT3 with the support of Audi. And in my opinion I believe – and looking at the results of the last fifteen years I think I am right – that the connection between the German procedure and methodical approach, with the Italian, let me say genius design flexibility, can create something that is unique in the world. Something really strong. You have the best combination in the world in my opinion. Not so easy to achieve eh? Because you are talking about black and white. But if you are able to combine them, I think it’s the best combination you can have.”
Whoever would have thought grey could be so poetic?
My thanks to Giorgio Sanna for taking the time off the track at Silverstone to talk to me, and for the unique hospitality of the Lamborghini team, in particular Chiara Sandoni and Giulio Rizzo, as well as Juliet Jarvis at JJC UK.
For the latest models and motorsport news, head to www.lamborghini.com and to keep up with the Super Trofeo tournament go to www.squadracorse.lamborghini.com You can also follow both on Twitter at @Lamborghini and @TheSuperTrofeo.