| First Drive | Seville, Spain | Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera |
Supercars don't come much better than Lamborghini's Gallardo, but there's always demand for something a bit more focussed, more raw and exciting. Which is a good thing, as otherwise we wouldn't have the likes of the latest
Porsche 911 GT3 RS in our midst. And what a crime that would be.
With the current generation of Gallardo being so utterly brilliant, Lamborghini had its work cut out in order to make it even more of an adrenaline rush. The previous, limited edition Superleggera was a smash hit, selling 618 in its first year - can this new one pull off the same trick?
In the Metal
'In the carbon fibre', this should be. It's easy to see where Lamborghini has been shaving the kilos from the already light Gallardo to produce the Superleggera (which translates as
super-light). There are carbon addenda everywhere, although the body panels are still aluminium.
Carbon fibre is used to make the flat under-tray, the side sills, the rear diffuser and wing, the air intakes, the door mirror housings and engine cover. The side windows and the clear panel through which the mighty V10 is visible are fashioned from polycarbonate while the wheels are forged aluminium with titanium wheel nuts.
Inside it's a similar story: carbon fibre overload. The doors are skinned with the stuff; the seats are made of it, as are the transmission tunnel, the handbrake lever, the steering wheel and the instrument binnacle. Visually it's all a bit much. However, the intent is highlighted by the absence of a stereo or satnav and the Alcantara-covered, non-adjustable seats come with four-point racing harnesses. Serious stuff...
What you get for your Money
As with most cars like this, less is more. And the Superleggera is more to the tune of almost £28,000 over the standard coupé, with a UK price of £178,651. That's a large amount of cash for something that will be dismissed by many as an irrelevance in these more difficult times. But that's rubbish, as this is a Lamborghini and political correctness never, ever is top of the agenda. Which is why we love them.
Lamborghini's automated manual transmission (officially called 'e.gear') comes as standard and a traditional manual is available at no extra cost. The Superleggera is fitted with bespoke Pirelli P-Zero Corsa rubber wrapped around new, lightweight 19-inch alloy wheels.
Optional extras include carbon ceramic brake discs, four-point seat belts, a fire extinguisher and a steel roll cage. A large rear wing (made out of carbon fibre, naturally) is available and you can even specify Audi R8-style LED illumination for the engine bay. Oh, and you can choose from a range of colours for the brake callipers if that sort of thing does it for you.
The Superleggera's USP is that it weighs less, so you can't expect loads of toys. It comes without satnav, there's no stereo and no electrically operated or heated seats. You can't even have leather upholstery because Alcantara weighs less. You can, if you wish, opt for the multimedia navigation system and a parking camera, but then that adds weight, doesn't it? So keep it simple and enjoy this car the way its maker intended.
Driving it
Lamborghini says that the Superleggera has suspension arm bushing that's 90 percent stiffer than normal and it's probably telling that there's no road route to take in on the launch. Instead we're given a day on track at Seville's brilliant Circuito Monteblanco, where at least nobody need worry about the local police.
First impressions? The e.gear transmission has improved no end over the previous Superleggera. In normal mode it's smooth in operation with none of the agricultural clumsiness that marred what was otherwise a truly brilliant car. The steering, too, seems invisibly connected to your cerebral cortex, conveying every nuance, every surface undulation. On UK roads this could be a nightmare, though.
With the layout of the circuit familiar once more and the car seeming to beg to be driven much harder, it's time to get the tyres smoking. At the end of a long, arrow-straight section there's a 90-degree right-hand turn. I approach it so fast I daren't check the speedo, because I'm hard on the brakes, selecting second gear and yanking the wheel right. With the corner dispatched, it's back on the gas and the car explodes forwards, the front tyres scrabbling for traction and overcoming the tail's natural tendency to swing outwards. Thanks to four-wheel drive I'm still pointing in the right direction.
The V10 is making sounds like Pavarotti in full swing, encouraging more bravery. So I power onwards, foot flat on the throttle through a couple of gentle sweepers to the next sharp corner. Hard on the brakes, into second again before another priceless moment of catapult acceleration. The four-point harness, which I initially dismissed as unnecessary, is doing a fine job of keeping me pinned into my seat. Which means I'm not distracted for a split-second from the job in hand.
Before I know it, my time is up and I have to return so another journalist can go scare himself silly. A few of us gather together to compare notes and we all agree that this is a car that keeps its driver informed like no other. The levels of communication it provides through the palms of your hands and the seats of your pants is, frankly, staggering.
When it's my turn again I decide to fiddle around with the transmission modes. First up is Sport and this makes the Superleggera even more brutal. No more refined gear changes here, replaced by a vicious jolt every time I change up or down. It's pure race car, this, and the shift times are even faster. In Corsa mode the engine delivers as much acceleration as you can cope with, also allowing more slip from the rear tyres, but the intuitive four-wheel drive transmission thankfully never allows things to get totally out of hand.
The power output has been increased from 560- to 570bhp and it'll be doing 202mph flat out, with a 0-62mph sprint of 3.4 seconds. The Superleggera, then, is firmly in supercar territory. yet it's still easy to drive very, very quickly. On smooth surfaces, at least...
Worth Noting
While the e.gear transmission does indeed enable lightning-fast cog swapping, it's still not up to Porsche or Ferrari standards. And someone's been raiding the parts bin at parent company Audi because the paddles are the same as found on other Volkswagen Group vehicles, including Bentley's Continental GT.
That's not necessarily a problem, but it would be good to have the shifters mounted on the wheel instead of behind it. That way you won't be switching on the wipers when you're trying to change gear. The main instrument binnacle and the centre console's switches are pure Audi, too.
Summary
As a road car the standard Gallardo obviously makes (a little) more sense but this is possibly the very best of both worlds. It's a hardcore nutcase that's for sure, but for heart-stopping thrills in the relative safety of all-wheel drive traction, it doesn't get much better than this at any price. True to Lamborghini tradition, the Gallardo is named after a famous kind of fighting bull and the new Superleggera is definitely the best of breed. How on earth will the Italians manage to top this?
