A lightened, hard-edged racing variant of the standard Diablo, the SE30 was sold in limited numbers during 1994 to celebrate Lamborghini's 30th anniversary. The 'SE' stands for Special Edition.
In total just 150 cars were made, eight of which were right hand drive (RHD). In 1995 Lamborghini introduced the SE30 Jota; the Jota was produced from the Lamborghini factory but SE30 owners also had the option of having Lamborghini upgrade their SE30 to Jota specifications. The Jota upgrade consisted of two roof mounted air scoops, a re-tuned L.I.E. chip and a six-speed all-synchromesh gearbox if the Diablo was made at the Lamborghini factory. With these upgrades in place the Diablo SE30 Jota could produce 595 bhp, 72 more than the SE30's 523 bhp. In total only 28 Jota upgrade kits were made but 1 of these was not installed. Contradictory to this, it is believed that only 12 Jotas were actually made (10 in LHD, 2 in RHD); this figure may have come from the number of models made by Lamborghini itself. As an interesting side note about the Jota, Jay Kay (lead singer of Jamiroquai), featured the sound of this car in the intro to a track, called "Travelling without moving" on the band's album of the same name.
The car went without most of the Diablo's standard equipment, meaning that it was devoid of a radio, air-conditioning or sound insulation and featured carbon fiber molded seats, helping to make it 125 kilograms lighter than the standard car. Lamborghini chose to do without the VT's advanced electronic suspension or all-wheel-drive systems, but the car did get an advanced adjustment system controlled with an interior dial that could instantaneously adjust the stiffness of the car's front and rear anti-roll bars. They also enlarged the brake discs of all four wheels, but the car still lacked ABS.