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King Kong of cars

Photos: Ashley Baxter

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 LP 640. There’s no luggage area; the air-con looks like Lamborghini spent just two days designing it, and stepping down into the driver’s seat feels like you are suited up to pilot a military weapon.

Close the scissor door, shut pull both paddles together to select neutral and start the motor and it feels even more Top Gun.

Some brief mechanical whirring later, the V12 bursts into life over my shoulder. This is no modern perfectly balanced V12. Many bits on this motor can be traced as far back as the Countach and Miura, and you can feel it throb and shake the car. Accompanying the idle bass is a buzz that massages your shoulder blades, and you can feel the mechanical beast come alive as you feed it fuel and air. You can imagine the visual symphony of the 12 cylinders moving up and down, and spin the motor faster and the gnashed note of the chain-driven cams drills into your head. The V12 is only a foot behind you. More revs, and now it’s the blare of the pipes and the exhaust reverberating though the system that come through. 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.

But now it’s time to see what 631bhp can do (640 stands for PS, which is a bit more than bhp). Squeeze the accelerator harder and harder in a progressive manner, and the bellows and snarls emitted from the cave-like exhaust will turn harder-edged as the Lambo drags forward its own wall of sound behind it. The scenery starts to blur at the edges and I find myself holding onto the steering wheel as the huge motor churns out massive power that pushes the seat into my back and pins my head to the headrest. Every time I do this, I feel my stomach’s some 250 metres behind, trying to catch up, and the best part is that I’m only using around 80 per cent of the power.

Initially this understandably leads to some mild disorientation. However, as soon as the brain catches up with the car, I squeeze the pedal more and for longer and even more heroic burst of power. Remember this is not 300, 400, 500 or even 600bhp; it’s a gargantuan 631!

I get thrown forward in the seat as I brake for the corner, there’s some mild judder from the steering as the front wheels squirm and the rear shimmies as it struggles to put the power down.

But it’s only when I use all 8500 rarified rpm, unreal for a motor of this size, do I experience the crazed beast of Bologna in full glory. My neck is snapped back as the Lambo screams up the powerband. 6000, 7000, 8000. Off the brakes, kerb, steer, thottle, reel in the horizon. No supercharger, no quad turbos, just a massive engine and crazy revs. And it goes on. Sustained acceleration feels like a series of controlled explosions are being set off behind me as the motor over my shoulder goes critical. Every burst of acceleration shoves your internal organs into the backrest and you have to use your muscles to keep your hands and feet on the controls. What it must feel 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 really all that 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 and deliberate you have to be. The contrast is huge. On one hand the car is pummeling you, like King Kong himself is hurling you forward under brakes, sideways in a corner and the back as you accelerate hard out, exhaust screaming. And on the other you need to be very precise and accurate behind the wheel, always two steps ahead of the car.

Then when driving photographer Ashley back to the pits at only 80 per cent, and with even less concentration, I get distracted by what I think is a car coming the other way. My foot comes off the accelerator for only an instant in the middle of a corner, but it’s enough. Before I can react, the Lambo slews sideways and then the other way. We don’t spin, but I come to a stop at a jaunty angle.

Yes this is one of the most exciting and fastest cars ever. You can’t mess with the slip angle of the 335 tyre, the humongous momentum the car builds or the mass of that V12 engine.

The LP 640 isn’t cheap at Rs. 3.5 crore, but then it’s special. It is brutally fast, turns heads everywhere it goes and is a car that has timeless appeal.

If you think your stomach can take it, go for it.

Technical Data

Price Rs 3.5 crore

Length 4610mm

Width 2058mm

Height 1135mm

Wheelbase 2665mm

Kerb weight 1765kg

Engine 12 cyls in Vee, 6496cc, petrol

Power 631bhp @ 8000rpm

Torque 67.3kgm @ 6000rpm

Gearbox 6-speed, robotised manual

Brakes (F/R) 355mm ventilated discs

SHAPUR KOTWAL

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