SUPERCAR SNAPSHOT: Lamborghini Murcielago SV
MaKING AN IDIOT OF MYSELF, AND THEN NOT MAKING AN IDIOT OF MYSELF IN ONE OF THE GODFATHERS OF THE SUPERCAR BREED
It was very orange. And I was very green. But there it was, in Goodwood’s pit lane, and I had the keys to the 663bhp Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 Superveloce.
The occasion was the 2009 Autocar performance car extravaganza, and I’d started as a road tester a few months earlier.
I was confident in all sorts of cars, but this was my first ever supercar, and bloody hell – what a way to start. And on an infamously brave circuit, too.
Still, what do you do in that situation? You swallow the rising nerves-verging-on-hysteria, take a deep breath, walk towards the car, remind yourself that you’re a good driver, with plenty of track experience, and this is just another car (yeah, right)…
And set the alarm off while attempting to get in. Uh huh. That’ll calm the nerves right down.
In my defence, I was far from the only one to fall foul of the Murcielago’s bloody-minded alarm. Lambo’s own test driver, who was very fast and had turned up to make sure that we knew it, had done the same thing earlier on.
Much flapping and pressing of the key fob later, while colleagues looked amused in the background, I had quieted the alarm, lifted the scissor door, dropped into the deep bucket seat and fired up the V12.
Mastering Madgwick
Now, you may have read about the deep, deep wonder of the 5.2-litre V10 in the Audi R8 and Lamborghini Huracan. An engine of the ages; filled with naturally-aspirated, high-revving delirium. And quite right, too.
Well, that engine is a goldfish to the toothy shark that is the Murcielago's 6.5-litre V12. I’m slightly at a loss for superlatives, but it is 8500 mechanical rotations of monstrous, wonderful, screaming insanity. Which brings me on to my second ‘snapshot’ of this car.
The first being that wobbly-kneed, rooky moment in the pits, and the second being on Madgwick; the fast, long right-hander on Goodwood’s race circuit.
This is a very senior corner. Get the steering input correct from the off as you turn in, and you can hold it steady through what is actually two apexes, and let the car’s lateral grip (which is vast in the Murcielago) do the work.
I had done a few laps before I got it all hooked up properly. Before it felt like the car was fully balanced, the steering input and track position just right. You hold everything steady and say your prayers to the car gods as the circuit ribbons in and away, and then in again for one brief lick at the inside of the Lambo before flinging you, hell for leather, out towards Fordwater.
In some cars, Madgwick is flat. Maybe someone with massive kahunas could do that in the SV. But I was keen to avoid ending my burgeoning dream career rather abruptly in Goodwood's barriers. So I was not nearly flat, but let’s say I was enthusiastic.
Vehicular Wipeout
The real joy of supercars like this is the challenge of them. When you get it right, it feels like you’ve risen to a challenge. You are a total hero. You have mastered the vehicular equivalent of Wipeout.
I mean, my mum could drive most modern supercars with relative ease. But here I was, feeling the grip from those massive tyres, the vibration and unyielding ferocity of the V12, being dumbstruck by the almighty bellow from that mid-mounted orifice at the back of the car.
What a terrifically visceral thing. Perhaps more than just a supercar snapshot, it was a bit of a life moment for me, when I began to think that I could be good at this road testing thing. After all, if I could drive the Murcielago properly through Madgwick, I could drive anything properly.
Of course the Murcielago is flawed – that gearbox and that driving position, for a start. Predictably, I don't care. Just look at it. The Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SV. Unashamedly extrovert, hellishly fast. Just flipping wonderful.
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Comments (1)
As James said, You've written a wonderful bit. Made me feel like I understood, at least a little, what you experienced. Me, I wouldn't get near the beast!