Lamborghini Egoista Concept: The Jet Fighter Car

Lamborghini Egoista was unveiled in Lamborghini’s 50th anniversary that almost stunned the audience and car enthusiast across the world. This is a car made for one person only, to allow them to have fun and express their personality to the maximum. Designed by Head of Design for Volkswagen Group Walter De Silva. The design is purely for hyper-sophisticated people who want only the most extreme and special things in the world. It represents hedonism taken to the extreme, it is a car without compromises, in a word: egoista (selfish). Lamborghini Egoista is one of the greatest innovation happened to the overall automobile industry.

Lamborghini Egoista is very unique and amazing car, because it is a Four Wheeled UFO. Up front, the Egoista features a carbon-fiber trunk lid, a pair of LED headlights that seem to glare at you with evil intentions, and well-formed air intakes that are both functional and elegant. The hard angles you see from the front end are at first a little scary and rather overwhelming, but after examining them, you’ll find that they are actually well done and flow well with the theme of the car.

Around the backside, things pick back up where the front end left off. The LED taillights are nearly as sinister looking as the LED headlights. Above the two outer taillights are the two air flaps that raise and lower, as needed, to keep the back end planted to the asphalt. Just below the vertical center-mounted taillight are orange-highlighted exhaust exits.

From the profile view, the Egoista takes on a more Lamborghini-like look, though it is still rather extreme. The diving nose leads into the large glasshouse that rises upward to allow the driver to enter or exit the cabin. Just aft of the rear wheels, there is a large air intake with an orange highlight on the inside.

The cockpit’s interior is extremely rational, its functionality taken to the extreme. There is a racing seat with a four-point seatbelt, each strip a different color, the airbags, and the bare minimum of instruments. The focal point of these is a head-up display, typical of jet fighters. "To get out of the vehicle, the driver must remove the steering wheel and rest it on the dashboard, open the dome with an electronic command, stand up in their seat, sit down on a precise point of the left-hand bodywork, then swivel their legs 180 degrees from the inside of the cockpit to the outside of the vehicle. At this point they can set their feet down and stand up", said Walter De Silva.

Under the hood, the Lamborghini Egoista features a 5.2-liter V-10 engine that borrowed from theGallardo engine. Instead of producing the 560 to 570 horsepower that it does in the Gallarod, but the Egoista’s V-10 can pumps out an impressive up to 600 hp and a climb in top speed to 202mph, it will run 0-60mph just in 3s. Unfortunately, this is as far as Lamborghini went in giving information on the drivetrain, but we think it’s safe to assume that this includes a dual-clutch automated manual transmission.

Read More

Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Spyder on 2012

The open-top sports car segment has seen a lot of pretenders recently, cars that attempt to hang with the big boys only to be reminded that it takes another level of power and fast to be able to belong in elite group of open top sports cars. While other brands have had a problem designating which car belongs in what group, Lamborghini has had no problem doing so.

The Sant’Agata Bolognese-based automaker has finally released their latest exotic, the Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Spyder Performante. Based on the Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder, the Gallardo Spyder Performante is what happens when Lamborghini engineers go the extra mile in further reducing the weight of an already lightweight supercar. While some may shun at the attempt, thinking that chopping off more weight would be next to impossible, the folks at Lamborghini set out to prove the naysayers wrong, reducing the car’s weight by 143 lbs, leaving it with a dry weight of just 3,274 lbs, which, in case you’re keeping score, makes this the lightest Lamborghini to be released in the open-top sports car segment.

This is the Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Spyder Performante.

UPDATE 07/11/2011: In the latest episode of Fifth Gear, the team wasted no time testing the latest Gallardo LP 570-4 Spyder Performante, a car that has been built as a response to models like the Ferrari 458 Italia and the McLaren MP4-12C. In this video, Tiff Needell drives the car around the south of France and lets us know what he thinks about the supercar, as well as how it fares against its competitors. Check out the video after the jump!

Details on the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Spyder Performante after the jump

Noted photographer, Jordan Shiraki, is sharing his amazing talent with us once again with some snapshots of the Performante taken during a two day stint with the super car as part of the vehicle’s first private photoshoot in the US. Check out the beautiful photographs in the gallery provided! Shiraki also shared a video of his encounter which you can check right here!

Exterior

Not to be mistaken for the Gallardo Superleggera despite the uncanny similarities between the two, the design of the Gallardo LP 570-4 Spyder Performante is a testament to Lamborghini’s dedication of building supercars that stand out from its peers. The Gallardo’s well known dynamic wedge shape is accentuated by sleek contours that make the car look stunning from every imaginable angle.

Though similar to the Gallardo Superleggera, the Spyder Performante does have it own unique features, including a remodeled front bumper that takes the shape of a three-dimensional, trapezoidal frame housing the large intakes and together with the sharply-defined V-shaped nose and the LED daytime running lights, the Spyder Performante’s front end is sharp as a tack.

Lamborghini’s Centro Stile also took the time to modify the supercar’s underbody, as well as adding new sill elements, a redesigned diffuser that seamlessly slots in four large tailpipes and a large, albeit optional, rear spoiler that provides better aerodynamic results.

Jordan Shiraki Photography

As for the supercar’s body shell, Lamborghini opted to use aluminum and, with the help of cast node elements and extruded profile, made a stiff spaceframe structure where the other aluminum panels can be integrated without any problems. This allows for a body shell that’s both impact resistant and handling precise.

Then there’s the matter of carbon fiber, which is crucial in reducing the car’s overall weight – the Spyder Peformante is 143 lbs lighter than the Gallardo Spyder. Lamborghini engineers made use of carbon fiber, using it on a number of body parts, including the rear spoiler, side sills, diffuser, exterior mirror casings, and some parts of the supercar’s underbody paneling.

The Spyder Perforante also comes with a set of lightweight 19-inch wheels, similar to the ones found on the Gallardo Superleggera. Titanium was the material of choice for the wheel bearings and bolts while using a set of 235/35 Pirelli P Zero Corsa series tires on the front and 295/30 Pirelli P Zero Corsa series tires on the rear.

Interior

The interior of the Gallardo LP 570-4 Spyder Performante is loaded to the brim with some of the most extensive materials on the planet. The company, after all, puts a premium on high-end luxury, and the interior of this car is absolutely no different.

Similar to the exterior, Lamborghini built the interior with one thing in mind: reduce the weight of their vehicles while giving the interior a high-class touch. The use of carbon fiber has been a staple of the company and for this car, it’s got chalk full of it, including on the center tunnel cover, the door panels, the sports seats’ shells, and the surround of the e-gear automated manual transmission lever. The interior also sports a black finish made from Alcantara with a customizable option of choosing contrasting colors with the seats and the seat stitching. These colors match the available exterior paint schemes: Grigio Telesto, Nero Noctis, Bianco Monocerus, Arancio Borealis, and Giallo Midas.

Performance

Jordan Shiraki Photography

The Gallardo Spyder Perforante’s power comes from a 5.2-liter V10 engine that produces 570 horsepower at 8,000 rpm and 398.3 lb/ft of torque at 6,500 rpm. The V10 engine also has a displacement of 5,204 cm with a specific output of 109.6 horsepower per liter.

As with any Lamborghini Gallardo model, the long-stroke engine comes with dry sump lubrication and a cylinder angle of 90 degrees, a critical element that lowers the car’s center of gravity, thereby improving on its handling dynamics.

The Gallardo Spyder Perforante also has a dual-plane crankshaft with the connecting rods of the opposing pistons sharing only one bearing, allowing the car to alternate ignition intervals of 54 and 90 degrees and producing that unmistakable roar of a V10 engine.

With this much power inside of it, coupled with the goal of losing overall weight, the Gallardo Spyder Performante is capable of a 0-62 mph time of 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 201 mph.

Pricing

Pricing has yet to be revealed by Lamborghini, but if you’re looking for a ball park figure, the closest the Gallardo Spyder Performante will come to in terms of price tag is it’s alter-ego, the Gallardo Superleggera, which goes for around $240,000. This is actually pretty close to the rumored pricetag of about €182,900 ($246,567 at the current rates). So without knowing for sure, you can safely assume that it will cost somewhere around that figure. Quite a fortune, yes?

That’s what it’s going to take to buy one, which, by the way, should be sometime next year.

Competition

True to its Italian rivalry, the Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder Performante has a distinct Prancing Horse rival in the Ferrari 458 Italia. While the Lamborghini has the edge in engine power - the 458 Italia comes with a 4.5-liter V8 engine - the Prancing Horse has a faster 0-62 mph time of just 3.4 seconds, five-tenths of a second quicker than the Lambo. The two cars, though, share some identical similarities as both have 570 horsepower in them and boast a top speed of 201 horsepower.

The only thing that’s worth pause with the 458 Italia is its infamous reliability issues and the fact that a base mode costs about $275,000, slightly higher than what the expected price tag of the Gallardo Spyder Perforante has.

Read More

2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 European Spec

The stage is the Nardo Ring, and the star is the Lamborghini Aventador, an impossibly bright neon sign marking new territory in the land of supercar extravagance. Its performance? Extraordinary. At 2.8 seconds to 60 mph and 10.6 seconds to the quarter mile, it's the second-quickest production car we've ever tested, mere tenths off the once unmatchable pace of the Bugatti Veyron. But more impressive is how easily reached the Aventador's capabilities are; this may be the friendliest mid-engine V-12 supercar in the world.

Not that Lamborghini has forsaken its roots. In traditional form, the all-wheel-drive Aventador is named after a bull and styled like a fighter jet. Its centerpiece (mid-piece?) short-stroke 6.5-liter V-12 makes 691 hp at 8250 rpm and 509 lb-ft of torque at 5500 rpm. It features a host of eccentricities that focus equally on wowing crowds and returning performance superlatives. Its chassis is built primarily of carbon fiber; horizontally mounted and pushrod-actuated Ohlins shocks sit at all four corners; its start button is covered by a red plastic flap you flip with your thumb to access as one might do to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile; and its wing and air inlets deploy like flaps on a plane. (A dash indicator relays the wing's position should you be too busy to check the rear view, or, in Italian fashion, simply not care.)

Even its launch control system boasts the wonderfully grandiose title of "Thrust Mode," and using it is trivially simple. On the center console, select Corsa from the three-mode Drive Select system and flip off stability control. When "Thrust Mode available" appears on the tach, plant the brake pedal with your left foot and slap the throttle down with your right. The V-12 over your right shoulder settles at 5000 rpm. Sidestep the brake, and the four Pirelli PZero Corsas, with a combined width of 3.5 feet, chomp mercilessly at the ground, leaving bite marks through first gear. Shifts occur automatically, and each one thwacks your head against the headrest. For as striking as the Veyron-rivaling acceleration results are, straight-line insanity wasn't Lamborghini's primary focus. No, the engineers say their first goal was to make the Aventador a more accessible supercar, and nowhere is their effort more evident than during our handling tests.

 Click to view Gallery

The ease with which the Aventador generates an average 1.05 g around Nardo's skidpad is remarkable. It clearly communicates the onset of its limits and responds agreeably to sharp steering inputs and throttle control, transitioning from slight understeer to oversteer with eerie simplicity. Its likewise malleable on Nardo's massive 3.9-mile road course (see sidebar). It shrinks the harder it's pushed, an impressive feat for a 3816-pound supercar that's as wide as a Silverado 2500HD. The short-stroke V-12 revs so smoothly and so quickly, it finds the 8250-rpm limiter seemingly too soon. And while we were unable to confirm Lamborghini's 217-mph claim, the rate at which the Aventador reached 172 mph on the front straight left little doubt.

Switching between Sport and Corsa modes reveals two different personalities, thanks in part to the flexibility afforded from the electronically controlled Haldex AWD system. Lamborghini engineers call Sport "funny handling" mode due to its heavy rear power bias and the resulting fun the tail provokes. In Corsa, the most aggressive mode, the front differential receives more power and locks more aggressively. One misstep in Corsa is the synthetic, feels-like-we're-getting-rear-ended shift harshness at wide-open throttle that Lamborghini intentionally programmed into the seven-speed automated manual, calling it "highly emotional."

 Click to view Gallery

While the shift harshness is one software fix away, Lamborghini's single-clutch gearbox has deeper issues. Though capable of snapping off 50-millisecond gear changes, it seems to shift smoothly only at wide-open throttle in any mode that isn't Corsa. Shifts happen slowly at low to moderate speeds, and, annoyingly, the transmission must change to neutral if you stay stopped for too long, to reduce clutch wear. Lamborghini maintains that the transmission is lighter than a comparable twin-clutch unit. This may be true, but more important, the transmission adds more theater to the experience.

Lamborghinis are events, after all -- rolling circuses of extravagance and power. As kids, we had the Countach postered on our walls not because of how well it drove, but because of the desire it conjured. The Aventador has the same effect: It's more concept than car, something that exists only at the end of a rainbow. What makes it even more special is how reachable its astounding capabilities are.

Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/exotic/1201_2012_lamborghini_aventador_lp_700_4_test/viewall.html#ixzz1l7IZoC4G

Read More