Bruce

How special is the Gallardo Superleggera? Special enough to grab a key and go for a night-time drive immediately after a ten-and-a-half-hour flight from Heathrow to Phoenix. Special enough for Gus Gregory to want to take pictures of it in the dark. Special enough for the good people of Scottsdale to be drawn from their homes like zombie nightwalkers to cup their hands at the side windows.

Hot on the heels of the gob-smacking Murciélago LP640, the Gallardo Superleggera isn’t just special, it’s spectacular. It’s also continued proof that Lamborghini is a genuine force to be reckoned with. Not just as a maker of supercar pin-ups – Sant’Agata has been doing that since 1963 – but as a manufacturer fit to stand alongside Ferrari and Porsche, both for the standard of its engineering and the robust state of its business.



With sales up 30 per cent, turnover up 43 per cent and pre-tax profits up by a staggering 311 per cent (thanks in part to a burgeoning clothing and accessories range), Lamborghini is well on course to achieve its goal of being the most profitable supercar manufacturer in the world. Total production for 2006 was just 2087 cars (compared with 5000-plus for both Ferrari and Aston Martin), yet even this figure represents a massive change of fortunes for the marque – for its first four decades it produced an average of just 250 cars per year…

That production total is set to increase during 2007, but the Superleggera isn’t going to contribute more than 350 units to the number, for Lamborghini wants to keep it rare and exclusive. So exclusive, in fact, that all of this year’s allocation is already spoken for, despite a 20 per cent increase in price over the regular Gallardo to a very serious-sounding £150,000.

Diehard enthusiasts may feel uneasy at the hard-hearted thread of Teutonic steel that runs through the formerly chaotic but undeniably endearing Italian institution, but there’s no arguing with the quality of the end product. Audi’s involvement also bodes well for the future direction of Lamborghini, for although the perceived threat from the R8 shouldn’t be underestimated, it’s clear that the plan is to steer the mid-engined Audi towards Porsche’s mainstream 911s and push Lamborghini towards producing harder, faster and more extreme cars to tackle Stuttgart’s track-bred GT3 and GT2 models and Modena’s rumoured F430 Challenge Stradale. The Superleggera is the car to take Lamborghini back where it belongs.



Our launch schedule is so tight it squeaks. On arrival at Phoenix, Gus and I calculate that we’ll be on US soil for just 25 hours before jumping back on the Heathrow-bound BA 747, which partly explains why we feel the need to maximise our time with the car, despite the almost total jet-lag-induced befuddlement of our brains. Lamborghini’s PR team generously obliges, handing me the key to a juicy Arancio Borealis (orange to you) Superleggera.
This vibrant shot of orange bull is more effective than a gallon of the red variety. Even in the dark it looks magnificent. Squat, square-jawed and glowering with purpose and aggression, it exudes the kind of hardcore attitude you expect from a stripped and ripped version of what was already one of the most no-nonsense supercars around.



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EVO SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: V10, 4961cc, 40v
Max power: 522bhp @ 8000rpm
Max torque: 376lb ft @ 4250rpm
0 - 60mph: 3.8sec (claimed)
Top Speed: 196mph (claimed)
Price: £150,000
On sale: Now (though 2007's allocation is sold out)

EVO RATING


Lighter, faster and more responsive than standard Gallardo. Looks magnificent too


Clumsy brake feel

DocM

that rear end pictures confirms it guys, there are two different spoilers that can be fitted to the superleggera's rear end.

I prefer the more discrete on...not that it makes any difference

atuv

Amazing car,a true Lambo