Valentino Balboni Sets Up Tuning Company

Valentino Balboni, is one of Lamborghini’s most famous test drivers. He has now set up his very own tuning company named VB (after his initials), Balboni’s new company will specialize in making customized aftermarket parts for the Lamborghini. Balboni was with Lamborghini for the past 40 years.

He began his stint with Lamborghini in 1968, when he was 20, as a mechanic apprentice and ended up being personally asked by Ferruccio Lamborghini to work as a test driver. He went on to become an icon not just in Lamborghini, but also to the people from San’tAgata, and to the motoring community as a whole. In 2008, Balboni retired from Lamborghini after having driven almost 80 per cent of all the cars made by the prestigious brand. As a parting gift, Lamborghini made a limited-edition Gallardo LP550-2 Valentino Balboni, which came off the production line in 2009.

The first product made by Balboni’s company, VB, will be a titanium exhaust system that has been designed specifically for the Aventador SuperVeloce, which is the latest special edition model from Lamborghini. The Aventador SuperVeloce had a limited production run of 600 units and all of them were booked within three months after it was launched last year. VB’s titanium exhaust system for the model is a bolt-on part that can be added using OEM mounts. It will also, like the model, be highly exclusive, with production to be capped at 30 units. It would weight only 6.3 kg and is billed as an exhaust that would set “a new dimension in sound”. VB says 350 hours of work is needed to produce just one of these units.

The ultra-light exhaust system was unveiled with great flair by Valentino Balbino himself during the Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance at Concorso Italiano on August 20, 2016. Aventadaor SuperVeloce will now have a chance to judge whether VB can live up to his fame as a test driver when it comes to aftermarket tuning.