Putting bulls in an arena is playing with fire. But putting these kind of bulls on a circuit is a recipe for a speed fest.
The one thing that I always wanted to become in life was a fighter pilot. I was fanatical, and despite all the disappointments that meant that I didn’t join the Indian Air Force, I always had a deep passion for aviation – which bordered on the ragged edge of neurotic.
I’ve had a long list of favourite fighters – McDonnell XF-88 Voodoo, Mitsubishi F-1, Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, MiG-25 and Northrop F-20 Tigershark, among others – but my absolute favourite is the Messerschmitt Me 262. It was a glorious fighter plane, and just looked so majestic. It was the Gemma Arterton of fighter aircrafts at the time. Even today, it looks perfectly timeless. The well-rounded shape, the many curves – they gave it an admirable silhouette and, in my view, it’s one of the most beautiful fighter jets ever produced (if not the most).
The Lamborghini Gallardo is quite like the Messerschmitt Me 262 – only that it’s in absolutely no way anything like it. Let me explain. The Gallardo was launched in 2003, so it is, effectively, in its 10th year of production and although it has received its share of nip-and-tuck over time, it hasn’t gone in the OT as Whoopi Goldberg and came out as Beyonce. Luc Donckerwolke must’ve been playing some outer-space video game just before he decided to draw the lines of the Gallardo. What a man! Park the Gallardo next to any – any – supercar of today and it wouldn’t look embarrassed. It has an ageless appeal to it – no matter which century you’re in. Those sharp lines and edges would always make the Gallardo look very today.
Like other boys, I’d always go dribbling over the Miura or the Urraco or the Countach – any Lamborghini, in essence. My mother wanted to keep the house tidy and beautiful. But my definition of beautiful was contrastingly different from hers – I’d decorate the walls of my room with monster posters of Lambos, and my mom would get furious all the time. But the thing with the Miura or the Countach is that, although absolutely bonkers and designed with the imagination of a 4-year-old, they do show their age now. I’m not so sure about the Gallardo looking old even 20 years from now – it’s that brilliant a design. And I had two of them to sample at the Buddh International Circuit recently.
The idea behind this Lamborghini event was to quietly introduce the latest Gallardo – the LP 560-4 which, in normal English, means it’s got 553 horsepower and comes with four-wheel drive. But we didn’t get to drive it. And that’s a deal breaker, I know, but hang on a minute – I see a Superleggera a few meters ahead, parked in a queue, behind a stock LP 550-2. And that could mean only one thing – we’d be driving the 550-2 and the 570-4. I’m not complaining. Not one bit!
I went out in the Superleggera first. But before that I had to get in it – which made for a spectacle. I’m a 6-feet tall man and, er, let’s just say that I don’t belong to any gymnastic group. And the manner in which I had to contort my torso to get my entire frame to fit in the Superleggera wasn’t a pretty picture lets just say. Once in though, I was greeted by lavish use of Alcantara and carbon fibre. It’s a very familiar place, and is all about business. Yes, some switchgear comes from Audi, but the way you’re seated in the cabin, it’s more focused and you get a sense of being in a full-on supercar immediately.
Feed the fuel lines with some high-octane stuff and you awaken a monster V10. And now you’d expect me to show puppy love for the seductive noise of the 5.2 litre engine. No, it doesn’t growl like the Murcielago, or sound like God threw down the spear of thunder on mankind, but it does sound properly loud and has that appropriately raw character that befits all Lambos. It may just look like a regular Gallardo with some added funk and a wing at the back, but it’s a totally different ballgame. The weight shedding leads to serious performance advantage – 1,340 kilograms for a V10 supercar is a fine job indeed. That wing at the back isn’t only for show either – it generates close to 50 kilograms of downforce at top speed. I’d decided not to go in Corsa mode, and trust me when I say this – Sport mode was quite sufficient in this setting.
I know the BIC quite well by now, and there are three areas where I like it best. The first is the chicane, and the game gets interesting right from turn 4 all the way to the parabola. The steering response in the Superleggera was biblical – immediate and accurate, yet not fierce that’ll make poo come out. But to get the 570-4 to kick its tail out, you’d either have to be a racing driver or a patient suffering from suicidal tendencies. The way this thing grips – courtesy of the 4-wheel drive mechanism and the special Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres – is sensational. The ‘leggera doesn’t come with the fancy dual clutch gearbox that’s becoming the norm in today’s busy supercar life – it comes with a single-clutch automated manual gearbox that is surprisingly very good. It may not be as fast as perhaps a 458’s transmission, but it’s not slow in going through the cogs and also has a sense of occasion to it. I liked it a lot! And you’d only have to be a fool to ask if the engine was properly mad. It’s 562bhp, and more importantly, it’s a Lambo – of course it is mad!
The madness of the Superleggera was over in 3 laps – too short a time. But then I got into the 550-2 and it immediately felt wayward. The brakes lacked in feel, in comparison to the carbon brakes on the 570. The traction was less – rear-wheel drive only, this one, you see. And the outright involvement was slightly lesser. Steering response and the fluidity of going from one bend to the other – it wasn’t up there. But then that’s the problem – the Superleggera is a crazy version of a supercar that’s already quite crazy enough. Had I not driven the 570-4 first, I’d have come away mighty impressed with the 550-2, which, let’s be honest, requires huge balls to drive very fast. It’s almost a Balboni edition, for crying out loud!
I have no words to describe this experience – it was magnificent, confusing and totally absorbing at the same time. Racetrack seems to be the natural habitat for such cars, but, next time, I hope I can do this in Europe along some beautiful winding roads – that’s where these cars really come alive. To this, I say Amen.
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