First Drive: Lamborghini Gallardo SuperleggeraThe latest from Lamborghini, the Superleggera, has both speed and power, writes Nick Hall
The road opened out like a red carpet in front me. With a simple tap of my right foot an explosive yowl from the V10 engine shot through the dry Arizona sky and sent a thunderbolt streaking across the desert with its own personal weather vortex whipping up behind it.
This was the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera.
Letting slip the true velocity on that deserted stretch of road could still have the local sheriff's office reaching for the extradition papers. They take speeds in excess of 280km/h very seriously in this part of the world. Atempting to hit those levels would probably bring Old Sparky out of retirement faster than this machine hits 60mph.
Launched at the Geneva Motor Show last month, this beast looked little more than an updated Gallardo. But by honing what was already one of the world's finest sports cars, they have created a true weapon that they were proud to show off in the heat of the Phoenix International Raceway and surrounding roads.
On track, the Italian firm simply strapped on a new set of Pirelli P Zeros and invited the world's press to destroy them on a baking hot day. And here the true spirit of the new Gallardo shone through.
The car that has truly threatened the Porsche 911's previously insurmountable position as the everyday hypercar, is now as focused as a laser beam.
Throw the Gallardo into a bend and it sticks like week-old pasta to the apex of the bend. Steering that simply felt telepathic has now hit a higher plane of consciousness and leaves race cars feeling woolly. And as soon as the car hits the straight, the rev counter whips to the right of 8,000rpm like a geiger counter in a nuclear spill and all the driver can do is keep pace with the paddle-shift e-Gear system.
Lamborghini president Stephen Winckelmann emerged from an on-track blast to inform us that 80 per cent of new Lamborghinis are sold with the semi-automatic option and he confessed that if he had to choose just one it would be the partly automated option.
Thanks to a 530bhp engine it will blast to 100km/h in 3.8 seconds, 0.2 seconds faster than the Gallardo, and that is a lot. And although the top end speed of 315km/h remains unchanged, it's safe to say the new car will get there much faster.
The top end speed of most cars is a near-irrelevance as it would take a trip to the Utah Salt Flats to achieve the headline figure.
Hovering dangerously close to the terminal velocity after just a few hundred yards of sublime, constant and vicious acceleration, it became clear that the almost 360km/h pace was no idle boast.
The raucous beat of an up-tempo V10 is all the encouragement I needed to push the realms of sanity and my own personal freedom on the roads of Arizona. It's a deeply satisfying roar, much louder than the original thanks to a lightweight exhaust that milks every last metallic rev.
The Superleggera, a revival of a name not seen since the 1960s and literally translated as Super Light, is a massive 100kg lighter than the Gallardo, at 1,330kg.
And while the likes of Lotus would achieve such savings by throwing out every option, including the air conditioning, electric windows and carpets, Lamborghini refused to compromise and set about reclaiming the weight by re-engineering every nut, bolt and panel on the car.
Engineers pored over every detail, coming up with new prop shafts, front drive shafts, even wheels. And the rethink goes right down to the titanium wheel nuts that save no more than 35g each, but are considered vital to the increased performance.
Of course, throwing the four-wheel drive system in the bin could have saved 50kg in one fell swoop and turned the car into a violent psychopath, rather than a surgical instrument. They thought long and hard about this too, but four-wheel drive is here to stay and is now an integral part of the Lamborghini DNA.
Carbon-fibre coats the cockpit, where 47 per cent of the overall savings have been made. Previously luxurious door inserts are gone, replaced with a simple panel of race-light material and seats have been updated to wafer thin racing numbers that turn a usable and everyday hypercar into a track warrior.
THE SENSE OF PURE purpose is carried over to the outside, where polycarbonate has replaced glass at every available opportunity and visible carbon-fibre air intakes, side sills and other accoutrements join forces with an optional fixed rear wing to add even more menace to the brooding razor-edge design. A lick of paint is, of course, optional, and you're unlikely to feel the few grammes difference out on the road.
The angular Gallardo was a revelation when it was launched: tighter, more compact and conservative than the overtly muscular and range-topping Murcielago, yet all the better for it.
Now, the Gallardo looks even stronger without losing the subtle appeal that has made it a sales sensation largely responsible for the renaissance of the brand. Tightly packaged, muscular and with a sense of style, the Gallardo might just be the best looking sports car.
And the price merely serves to accent its desirability. The Superleggera weighs in at a not inconsequential 20 per cent premium over the standard car.
But then the first year's production is already gone, with the first 400 cars finding homes before the ink was dry on the Geneva coverage. And with the force with which Lamborghini is thrusting forth, it's hard to imagine any car it makes gathering dust on a forecourt for long right now - these are the cars, and this is the hypercar brand of the moment.
Porsche has long had its GT3 RS lightweight special edition and Ferrari's Competizione Stradale version of the F430 is surely on the way. With the rebirth of the Superleggera, Lamborghini has blown Porsche into the weeds and set a ridiculously high benchmark for its Italian neighbours to follow. This particular light show was almost worth a date with Old Sparky, that's how good this car really is.
Tech Spec
Price: Est. €400,000
Engine: 5-litre V10 producing 530bhp at 8000rpm and 510Nm of torque at 4250rpm
0-100km/h: 3.8 seconds
Top speed: 315km/h