A special tyre for an extraordinary car: in 1986 Scorpion BK was born to fit the ancestor of sports SUV, the Lamborghini LM002. But why would Scorpion BK be so ahead with its time? Firstly, size and strength, but also its ‘ears': lateral winglets that allowed it to float across the desert sands. Recreated as part of the Pirelli Collezione range, the tyre fits the most iconic classic cars released from 1930 to 2000.
SCORPION BK'S MAIN FEATURES
In the early 1980s, Pirelli was asked to develop a very special tyre for the Lamborghini LM002. And here came the Scorpion BK: enormous tyres complete with lateral winglets, also known as ‘ears', which gave the car extra agility and response on sand to which the first high-guide Lamborghini was addressed. This tyre, as well as offering fantastic roadholding, had to work in high temperatures typical of the desert, as well as sustain the weight of the car (at around 3.500 kilograms), and cope with the speed of the V12 engine while also guaranteeing sporting performance on asphalt. As a result, these tyres were made using an extremely robust carcass, with anti-cut reinforcement in aramid, which was also able to absorb impacts and react quicker to sudden inputs.
FROM RACE TO ROAD
The Scorpion BK, subjected to additional strength tests and developed using rally-derived techniques, was one of Pirelli's first examples of race to road technology transfer. In fact, the tread pattern design derived from the intermediate ‘Monte Carlo' tread pattern cut into the rally slick tyres of the time, and many of the technologies within the BK also came from motorsport, where Pirelli had already claimed several world titles. It's no coincidence that Pirelli equipped several cars with Scorpion tyres on the 1988 Paris-Dakar Rally, including the Lamborghini LM002.
THE FIRST IN THE SCORPION LINE
Pirelli Scorpion BK was the forerunner of the Scorpion family, the range of Pirelli tyres dedicated to Sport Utility Vehicles. The entire range was renewed in 2022 to suit the most modern cars, including electrified models. In fact, the Scorpion family has the most homologations for electric or plug-in hybrid cars out of the entire Pirelli range. Pirelli applied its ‘Eco Safety' design approach to the new Scorpion, which combines low environmental impact with optimal performance when it comes to driving safety, thanks to materials innovation and the use of cutting-edge virtual design tools in the development process.
PIRELLI TYRES FOR LAMBORGHINI'S SUVs
From the LM002 to the Urus, Lamborghini's lineage of SUVs has one element in common: Pirelli tyres. When the Urus made its debut in 2018, Pirelli introduced six different tyres, from 21 to 23 inches in size, ranging from the P Zero to the Scorpion. A bespoke version of the P Zero Trofeo R was designed for the most recent Urus Performante: the first time that semi-slick tyres have been seen on an SUV. This combination of car performance and tyre grip culminated in a class victory in 2022 on the legendary Pikes Peak hill climb in the United States. The ongoing partnership between Pirelli and Lamborghini has been established since 1963.
