A beauty and a beast

A massive six-and-a-half-litre V12, a pair of seats and four wheels; this is as mad as supercars get. This is the Murciélago LP640. There’s no luggage area, the air-con looks like Lamborghini spent just two days designing it and stepping into the driver’s seat feels like you’re suited up to pilot a military weapon. Shutting the scissor doors, pulling both paddles together to select neutral and starting the motor feels even more Top Gun.

Some brief mechanical whirring later, the V12 burst into life. This is no modern, perfectly balanced V12. Many bits on this motor can be traced as far back as the Lamborghini Countach and Miura, and you’ll feel it throb and shake the car. Accompanying the idle bass is a buzz that massages your shoulder blades, and you’ll feel the mechanical beast come alive as you feed it fuel and air.

You’ll feel almost every one of the 12 mini-explosions, and imagine the visual symphony of the 12 cylinders moving up and down, spinning the motor faster as the gnashed notes of the chain-driven cams drill into your head. More revs, and there’s the blare of the pipes and the exhaust reverberating though the system. It’s a surging, whooping animal of an engine. You don’t need a tachometer here, just count the revs. A bit jerky, irritated and off-handish, this car will do low speed, but you get the feeling it would rather not.

The 640 stands for PS, a bit more than bhp (631 bhp to be precise). As you squeeze the accelerator harder in a progressive manner, the bellows and snarls from the cave-like exhaust turn harder-edged, as the Lambo drags forward its own wall of sound behind it.

The scenery blurred at the edges and I found myself holding on to the steering wheel as the huge motor churned out power that pushed the seat into my back and pinned my head to the headrest. Every time I did this, I felt my stomach’s some 250 metres behind, trying to catch up — and I was using only 80 per cent of the power.

Initially, this understandably led to mild disorientation. However, as soon as my brains caught up with the car, I squeezed the pedal harder and longer for a more heroic burst of power — it’s a gargantuan 631! Thrown forward in the seat as I braked for a corner, there was some judder from the steering as the front wheels squirmed and the rear shimmied, struggling to put the power down.

But it’s only when I used all of the 8500 rpm, unreal for a motor of this size, did I experience the crazed beast of Bologna in full glory. My neck snapped back as the Lambo screamed up the powerband. The track turned to mush, kerbs, lines and other features dissolving into each other, and everything happening at twice the normal speed. No supercharger, no quad turbos, just a massive engine and crazy revs.

And it went on. Sustained acceleration felt like a series of controlled explosions going off behind me. Every burst of acceleration will shove your internal organs into the backrest and you have to keep your hands and feet on the controls. What it feels like to drive on normal roads is anyone’s guess.

As if this were not scary enough, the rear of the Murciélago carries massive momentum with it and at times wants to carry on straight, long after you’ve turned into a corner. And the worst part is that there isn’t much you can do at this stage, if that heavy ‘pendulum’ in the rear decides it wants to overtake you. The faster you go, the more aware you become of this, and the more controlled you have to be. The contrast is huge. On one hand the car is pummelling you, and on the other you need to be very precise and accurate behind the wheel, always two steps ahead of the car.

In the midst of all this, I got distracted by what I thought was a car coming the other way. My foot came off the accelerator for only an instant in the middle of a corner, but that was enough. Before I could react, the Lambo swerved sideways and then the other way. I didn’t spin, but came to a stop at a jaunty angle.

Yes, this is one of the most exciting and fastest cars ever, up there with the McLaren F1 and Bugatti Veyron. But it’s also a car that can give you instant diarrhoea. You can’t mess with the slip angle of the 335 tyre, the humongous momentum the car builds or the mass of that huge V12 engine.

The LP640 isn’t cheap at Rs 3.5 crore, but then it is very, very special. It’s brutally fast, turns heads everywhere it goes and has timeless appeal. If you think your stomach can take it, go for it.

Spec Check

Lamborghini Murciélago
LP640

Price: Rs 3.5 crore

L/W/H: 4610/2058/1135mm

Kerb weight: 1765kg

Engine: 12 cyls in vee, 6496cc, petrol/ mid, longitudinal

Power: 631bhp at 8000rpm

Torque: 67.3kgm at 6000rpm

Gearbox: 6-speed, robotised manual

Brakes (F/R): 355mm ventilated discs

The Personal Telegraph