Midweek Motoring with Gavin D’Souza
The Lamborghini Murciélago had a great run.
If the spaceship-like Countach was the poster child of the 1980s and the brutish Diablo the primary cause of spontaneous roadside neck sprains in the 1990s, the Murciélago was without a doubt the car that got the youth of the 2000s making engine noises at the dinner table.
Although no more than a heavily reworked Diablo, it was the first of the raging bull flagships to have significant German intervention from its new parents at Audi.
And now as the Murciélago joins the pantheon of legendary Lambos in the supercar heavens, it’s time for a seasoned calf to rise to the occasion and take its place as head of the herd.
The name of this new bull has been the subject of speculation over the past year, with everything from Jota to LP700-4 being thrown into the hat.
More recently, the name ‘Aventador’ – which like the rest, was the name of a famous Spanish fighting bull – has been registered as a US trademark by the company, so it’s probably safe to start getting your offspring to practice saying ‘Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4’.
Not much is known about this new bull, except that it will use a carbon-fibre-heavy chassis, bodywork and interior, along with various other dietary measures to keep weight to as low as possible, as part of the company’s aggressive new emissions strategy.
Unlike Ferrari, which has no qualms about dumping upwards of 500kW on to the tarmac via only the rear wheels, Lamborghini will stand by its stance that all-wheel-drive is mandatory for the proper utilisation of anything more than 360kW; although that was probably just the folks at Audi being good parents.
So, in spite of the massive weight loss efforts, the new Lambo will still have a heavy four-wheel-drive system (albeit heavily revised) and consequently, the ‘-4’ suffix.
As final tests of the car are being finished, Lamborghini was good enough to reveal the new engine and gearbox for this car months beforehand.
The transmission
Also unabashedly retained (but again heavily revised) is the single-clutch automated manual gearbox – no double-clutch frippery here, this is a ‘real’ gearbox, which Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann says is a “more emotional system”.
What this means is, like the outgoing E-Gear transmission, this new ISR (Independent Shifting Rods) gearbox will cause your skull to make frequent and ferocious contact with the head restraint with every swap of the cogs.
The upshot is, it’s miles faster (50 milliseconds per gearchange) than the previous E-Gear unit and in spite of its relatively aged single-clutch layout, it is fairly advanced, using four shifting rods and a twin-plate clutch.
Sadly, enthusiasts, despite wildly exciting rumours about this car featuring the world’s first seven-speed manual gearbox, even the very option of selecting your own gears through a conventional H-gate has been well and truly deleted.
The engine
When the new car goes on sale some time in 2011, many of its wealthy and somewhat clueless buyers might be confused into thinking it has the same engine as the outgoing Murciélago LP640.
I imagine many a sharp-suited Lamborghini dealer will have to explain profusely to their customer that although it remains obstinately naturally-aspirated and has the same 6.5-litre capacity and 60-degree, V12 layout as the outgoing engine, it shares almost no components with it.
It is in fact the first entirely new V12 engine in the company’s 47-year history.
The company’s very first car, the front-engined 350GT, was fitted with a 3.5-litre DOHC aluminium V12 that punched out a meagre 209kW.
Over the years, this same engine was bored and stroked out, and fitted with the bolt-on technological updates (none of which were turbochargers, mind) of the time, and shoehorned into the chassis of just about every flagship Lambo right up to the 500kW Murciélago SV.
Since they are so similar though, the way to identify the mighty upstart (codenamed L539) due to replace this legend of an engine is its firing order, which is so proudly emblazoned on its carbon-fibre breastplate.
The cylinders have a longer stroke but a narrower bore, hence the maintained displacement, there is a higher compression ratio and the whole motor weighs about 18kg less. It sits lower down too.
The result is a stonking 522kW (it’s the new 447) at a banshee-like 8,250rpm and 690Nm of peak twist.
While it is understandable to have forgone the dual clutch transmission, industry pundits have been quite surprised to find the company has omitted direct-injection from its efficiency and emissions efforts.
They claim issues with exhaust pressure and the requirement of additional (heavy) equipment to truly produce results as the reason for this, but it’s safe to assume we will see the technology on the smaller Gallardo replacement first.
Expect more details on the next big bull to filter out over the coming months until the car’s official reveal at next year’s Geneva motor show.
Until then, watch the new engine spin its cams off on a dyno, and revel in the pure V12 bliss.
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