Eccentrica: restomod start-up could follow up Diablo with Murcielago

Last year we found out that Lamborghini enthusiast and successful furniture business owner Emanuel Colombini was starting his own firm, called ‘Eccentrica’, and that its first product will be a Diablo restomod. 

And now we know that Colombini’s latest move was to hire ex-Lambo CTO and the man who oversaw just about everything over 25 years: Maurizio Reggiani. He’s joined Eccentrica in a chief advisory role, and recently, TopGear.com sat down to pick his brains about what plans he has for the car and the brand itself.

TG: First up, why have you joined a start-up?

MR: I retired in 2023 after more than 40 years in the car business - it became too much for me. But I still did want to use my skill and expertise on something, so I opened up a consultancy agency to help support new companies. With Eccentrica, I’ve been in touch with Colombini for a while now, because he races Lamborghini’s Super Trofeo cars. He then came to me with this idea, and as soon as I realised it was a chance to work on the very first Diablo, I wanted to be a part of it.

Why is it such a big thing for you to be able to work on the Diablo (again)?

When I joined Lamborghini in 1995, it was right in the middle of the Diablo life cycle - at the time of the SV. But I’ve never had the opportunity to work on the very first variation. So with Eccentrica, it feels like I’ve now got the chance to close the circle of my work with Lamborghini.

So is this going to be similar to what happened with Lamborghini and the second-generation Countach?

The DNA of the car must remain. The two Countach generations are very different from one another, only the ‘concept’ remains the same. Certain design elements remain true to the original, but mechanically, they are entirely different. At Eccentrica, this isn’t going to be the route taken. We’ll essentially be retaining the old Diablo but improving on its weakest points.

And what are those weak points?

An example would be the brakes, which we’ve developed a brand-new system for. We felt it needed modernising. And then there’s the steering, which we’ve updated to be softer and easier to manoeuvre. The chassis isn’t stiff enough for today’s demands either, so we wanted to work on chassis behaviour before we set about creating a completely new suspension. 

Then there’s the transmission: at the time of the first Diablo, the gearbox was a five-speed with long ratios that meant the first gear took the car to over 60mph. We’ve swapped this for a six-speed - still manual - which allowed for shorter gear ratios and improved reaction. Another benefit of this is that we can quite easily find another 50 or so horsepower. 

We’ve also thrown on a Capristo exhaust that both complies with regulations and channels the naturally aspirated V12 sound more clearly. These are just some of the main things we wanted to improve without changing the car’s personality too much.

Can you tell us a bit more about what changes have been made to the engine?

We changed the valve timing system to deal with the increased power; new camshafts and springs were included to help increase the engine’s rpm threshold. In turn, this leads to better volumetric efficiency and less delay in the torque delivery. It should mean smoother engine performance all around.

I was fortunate to be one of the very first people to drive the Diablo SV back in 1995 and got to understand how V12s moved forward in an evolutionary sense from the first version. Because I also worked on the Murcielago, Aventador and Reventon, I got to see just where the weakest points for the Diablo are and what theoretically is possible to upgrade without changing the car too much. 

And finally… does that mean we’ll get a Murcielago or Gallardo restomod next?

I can imagine that would be the natural progression, yes. Ultimately the decision sits with Colombini, but I can see Eccentrica following the ‘floor’ path of Lamborghini and its models moving forward.