It was a beautiful, sunny day, the sort of day that makes people say "God must be smiling". I can't say how much of a grin God had on his face, but I had the biggest smile on mine as I floored the mighty V12 of the Lamborghini Murcielago in second gear.
You smile not only because of the sound of the engine. Not only because you are driving one of the most exclusive cars on the planet. You smile because the G-forces produced by the acceleration stretches out the muscles on your face. Yep, it truly feels face distortingly fast!
As you well know, Lamborghini has been producing beautiful, fast cars for the last 40 years. The Miura was probably their first real hit car - and one of the most beautiful ever - but the car that made Lamborghini the stuff of every schoolboy's dreams was the wildly styled Countach.
The Countach stayed in production from 1974 to 1990 and then bowed out to make way for the awesome Diablo. The Diablo saw many variations, everything from luxo Roadster models to stripped out SV models, ending life with the 6.0.
In 2002, the Diablo seized production, and the workers at the San't Agata factory started production on the Murcielago. Murcielago, named after a courageous bull is certainly one amazing car. Just look at the figures.
It has a 6.2 litre, 48 valve, V12, that produces 580 hp, and 479 lb/ft of torque. That power is tunneled through a six-speed manual gearbox, and then finds its way to the tarmac via a sophisticated four-wheel drive system. All this equates to some pretty amazing performance stats. The famed 0-60mph run takes just 3.8 seconds (Motor Trend recently recorded one at 3.51) and it will max out at 205 mph, guaranteed. The figures are one thing, the experience is another - it's fast, bloody hell fast!
Designed by Luc Donkerwolke, the Murcielago shares none of the fussiness of the Countach, instead opting for beauty through simplicity. Every detail, every angle looks perfect.
The design is clean, absent of any gaudy wings and huge air ducts. It does have air ducts ofcourse, but even they are discreet. When shut off or sitting cool, the air ducts remain inline with the body, but if the ambient temperature goes above 32 Celsius, then air ducts extend out of the side of the car, just behind the cabin. As for huge wings producing downforce, you won't find it here, just a small lip spoiler, that stands up at speed.
The underside of the car and that lip spoiler produce enough downforce to keep this from becoming a flying object. Not only do these features provide function, they also look great.
A famous design feature for any top-line Lamborghini, are the scissor doors. Swing them open and you are greeted to a surprisingly spacious interior. Watch yourself while entering the car, as it's not very hard to bang your head on the roof or the door. Once inside, you find the seats to be very supportive, with massive shoulder embracing bolsters - which also cut out on your three-quarter vision.
The seat to steering relationship is very easy to set, as the steering both tilts and telescopes. The pedal box however is quite tight. It's not as bad as things used to be in the days of the Countach, but its still not very spacious, thanks to the front wheel wells and the fat transmission tunnel. Best then to wear slim shoes.
Once seated, you find that you do sit very much in the middle of the car. You are far from the door, and the dash seems very big and distant. That makes aiming the car a little hard when you first set out, but you get used to it very easily.
It is also very easy to use the clutch and gearbox. The clutch is light, and the gear change is very easy too. It is not the sort of transmission that would allow fast gear changes, but that doesn't matter, because any time you lose in changing the gear gets eclipsed when you pull the clutch out and jam the throttle!
Once I got used to the feel and the dimensions of the car, I started tapping into its power reserve. The very instant you tap the throttle, the engine bursts into action and flings you forward like someone has hit the hyperspace button. It's reassuring then that the brakes are also good enough to bring you back down to legal speeds in a hurry.
The sound that this engine and exhaust makes is addictive. I can't remember the last time an engine sound putting such a huge smile on my face. It's no engine bay behind the cabin - it's the devil's workshop!
Triple figures are reached very quickly and it continues to pull like a train. Up until now, I thought a Porsche 911 Twin Turbo was fast - which of course it is - but the Murcielago feels like its in a different league. It is stable too, very stable, which makes it all the easier to go ballistically fast. This is truly a supercar.
Skilled through the Bends
Years ago supercars were fast in a straight line, but some lacked finesse through the twisties. Not anymore. This massive beast is surprisingly easy to toss around twists and turns. The steering might not give the greatest feel of what the front wheels are doing, but still, the grip is amazing, and now you can carve through corners as if in a small roadster. In fact, it does remind me a lot of the Audi TT. Audi owned Lamborghini may not be comfortable with the analogy, but if you can imagine an Audi TT with nearly 600 hp you'll be getting closer to what this car feels like!
Whilst the Murcielago may be one step down from the likes of the Carrera GT and Enzo, it's an important step. This is a supercar that you could live with. The Murcielago is much more user friendly. Throw in a couple of bags and it's no problem going away for the weekend, knowing the the journey will be comfortable and fun. It even has computer controlled suspension so you can choose the ride firmness from four different settings depending on your mood.
I could do this all day, but my time was soon up and I returned to Lamborghini Canada's head office. Michel Camilleri, the Sales Manager is confident that selling 12 cars a year at a price tag of CAN$410,000 will be a doddle. It's not hard to see why, once you have driven this car.
This raging bull is one of the best of the supercar breed. I want one, very badly indeed.
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