LAMBORGHINI AVENTADOR

The Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 Roadster left me stupefied. Despite my 

experience with countless other high-powered exotics on a variety of racing circuits, 

including nearly all of its Gallardosiblings, the all-wheel-drive, 700-horsepower 

flagship dropped my jaw to the ground.

Less than 24 hours earlier, I had been sitting on an airplane at 39,000 feet studying press releases about the Italian automaker's newest range-topping convertible. While everything looked spectacular on paper, I was genuinely concerned that its new cylinder deactivation system and open-roof configuration would spoil some of the fun - soften its personality, to be more specific.

Yet here I was, approaching 150 miles per hour on a front straight after dropping off the 20-degree banking at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and the Aventador Roadster had extinguished those thoughts like a cold bucket of water on a lit match. The scissor-door supercar was screaming near redline – my heart rate was only a few ticks behind - and I was near speechless.

The Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 coupe was launched at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show as a replacement for the automaker's Murciélago flagship. But unlike its predecessor, which was built around a steel frame chassis with double-wishbone suspension, the all-new Aventador boasted a full carbon-fiber monocoque occupant cell and advanced push-rod suspension. We first drove Sant'Agata's latest V12 Coupe nearly two years ago, and our own Matt Davis dove into its technical wizardry during his First Drive review. But this time I was standing face-to-face with the new sun-serving Roadster, as it has its own set of tricks to show off.

It isn't as stiff as the coupe, torsional rigidity is down about 37 percent.

Lamborghini carries the Aventador's carbon-composite tub forward when constructing its new Roadster. But surgically cutting the roof off any coupe introduces the potential for turning the chassis into a wet noodle (take the lid off a shoebox and watch how flimsy the open container becomes), so the automaker called upon its extensive experience with carbon-fiber to reinforce the rocker sections of the monocoque (the tub and windshield surround are one piece) and lay down more composite on the tunnel and firewall behind the passengers. It isn't as stiff as the coupe (torsional rigidity is down about 37 percent), but without a laser sight you'd never know.

Thankfully, gone is the Murciélago Roadster's flimsy soft top, as the new Aventador Roadster features a sturdy two-piece forged-composite (a sandwich of carbon is bonded in a hot 1,100-ton press) roof that becomes a stressed part of the chassis when installed. The roof panels are lightweight, only about 13 pounds each, but their bulk occupies the whole trunk when stored.

As expected, the exterior of the Aventador is also significantly altered in the transformation from coupe to roadster. Even though the fixed roof is gone, Lamborghini's signature scissor doors remain (complete with hinge brackets that automatically break free to allow easy exit if the vehicle is overturned). To increase the safety margin, Lamborghini has also added twin pop-up rollover posts that quickly extend just behind the passengers to further protect craniums if things accidentally go topsy-turvey.

Lamborghini's signature scissor doors remain.

Taking a closer look, one will also notice the resculpted rear pillar, new engine hood with two pairs of hexagonal windows, and two-tone body finish – the windshield pillar, roof sections and rear window up to the "fins" are all painted black. More subtle details, like the jagged trailing edge of the windshield over the occupant's heads (designed to limit buffeting) and the chamfered window edges (engineered to ensure a perfect fit into the hard-top seal) aren't immediately noticed but capture the eye in time.

Inside the cabin, one of the most noticeable additions is a small, power-operated retractable rear window located just aft of the passenger's ears. When raised, it blocks the wind and acts as an effective acoustic barrier between the engine compartment and cabin. When retracted, the breezes resume and the full fury of the twelve-cylinder is more audibly enjoyed. The difference between the two settings is drastic.


At the heart of the Aventador is a naturally aspirated dry sump 6.5-liter V12 that's mid-mounted in the chassis in an aluminum subframe. With variable valve timing, the 60-degree 12-cylinder delivers 700 horsepower and 509 pound-feet of torque, making it about the most powerful naturally aspirated engine on the consumer market. Despite its massive displacement, the engine's redline is a stratospheric 8,500 rpm - angels can't even sing that high.

New for 2013, Lamborghini has configured the engine with cylinder deactivation.

New for 2013, Lamborghini has configured the engine with cylinder deactivation. At speeds below 84 mph, and during light throttle, one bank of cylinders will lose their fuel supply and the powerplant becomes a smooth-running inline-six. The process is seamless, and it reportedly adds one mpg to the Lamborghini's EPA highway rating. The new Roadster also features start-stop, meaning 6.5-liters of goodness comes to a halt when the vehicle is stopped for more than a few seconds. No worries, says the automaker, as it will relight faster than you can move your foot off the brake and back to the accelerator.

The powerplant, mounted backwards with its output shaft pointing forward (as it has been since the Countach era), is mated to a seven-speed single-clutch automated gearbox (Lamborghini calls it the ISR, for Independent Shifting Rod). Power is sent to all four wheels through an electronically controlled fourth-generation Haldex clutch that varies torque from zero to 60 percent, based on speed and available grip. Using launch control, the 3,582-pound Aventador Roadster - slightly more than 100 pounds heavier than the coupe - will shatter the 60 mph benchmark in about 2.8 seconds as it is propelled towards a maximum velocity of 217 mph.

Of course that is just the tip of this jagged sugar-coated iceberg.
As with the fixed-roof model, the Roadster's other mechanical pleasantries include the aforementioned push-rod suspension with fixed damping, six-piston front calipers (over 15.74-inch carbon-ceramic rotors) and four-piston rear calipers (over 14.96-inch carbon-ceramic rotors). Standard wheels are staggered 19- and 20-inch alloys, but the Roadsters in Florida had even larger forged alloys with massive contact patches consisting of 255/30ZR20 tires in the front and 355/30ZR21 rubber in the rear (the test vehicles were wearing Pirelli P Zero Corsa compound on the track).
The Aventador Roadster is unquestionably intimidating in the flesh. Its sculpted aluminum and composite body panels, modeled after America's B-2 and F-22 military aircraft by Filippo Perini, give it a sinister look and its physical stature is threatening – the Italian is more than a foot wider and nearly a foot longer than a British McLaren MP4-12C, yet the Lamborghini is nearly three inches shorter in height overall.

The Italian is more than a foot wider and longer than a McLaren MP4-12C, yet three inches shorter in height.