Thunder and lightning finally come together as Lamborghini celebrates its diamond anniversary with the launch of another jewel, breaking a world record along the way. Ian Lamming headed the parade
ON POLE position at the spiritual home of motorsport the track stretches out before me and my Dutch racing driver.
So this is what the head of the grid looks like for F1 star Max Verstappen, nothing out front but the menacing din of 19 other cars behind him all wanting a piece of his track.
Nineteen? Is that all? I have nothing in front of me but I do have 382 snarling Lamborghinis behind wanting my space as we prepare to do a monumental circuit of Silverstone to break a world record.
I’m in a Huracan STO, the stripped back track car favoured by enthusiasts. My Lamborghini test driver Jeroen Mul has wandered off to make final preparations and because the car is left hand drive and I’m sitting on the right in what most people would automatically consider the driver’s seat, people are taking my picture and videoing me thinking I must be famous.
Thrilled to be invited to the 60th anniversary of Lamborghini anyway I did cheekily ask the lovely press officer if there was any chance of hitching a ride in the world-beating cavalcade. “Jeroen is going to take you in his car,” says Juliet Jarvis casually. So I dig out Jeroen, jump in his STO and before long am absolutely stunned to discover we are leading the parade.
I’m equally amazed to be rubbing shoulders with Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann, director of communications Automobili Lamborghini Tim Bravo, head of design Mitja Borkert and chief technical officerRouven Mohr, as drones fly overhead, cameras snap away and my car’s myriad GoPros are turned on to record the event.
Gentlemen and ladies – the car behind me, one of the first Lamborghini supercars, a Miura, is owned by a women from London – start your engines. Oh my goodness, the noise of 382 Lamborghinis I’m sure would have been picked up by the British Geological Survey’s earthquake monitoring equipment in Edinburgh.
As I wait by my Huracan countless Lamborghinis hustle on to the circuit from the pit lane to do a quick lap before joining the back of the queue, a deafening and spine-tingling cacophony that brings a grin to my face.
And finally, as the photographers clear the grid and Jeroen and I buckle up for the ride, the parade lap to end all parade laps begins, reaching the dizzy speed of 21mph – surely another Silverstone record. Any faster would be cataclysmic when you consider the cheapest Lamborghini on track is around £180,000 and some of the classics could fetch £3m.
It’s fine by me as it prolongs the experience but one overexuberant chap in a bright green Urus can hold back no more and despite Jeroen’s gesticulations to stay behind he flies by, his flashing white teeth a clear sign of his ecstatic overtake. He doesn’t seem to care when marshals black flag him off the circuit and isn’t even cowed when Jeroen later has a quiet word about his errant behaviour.
But then it is a day to celebrate a remarkable history of how a tractor company began making some of the world’s most amazing sportscars.
The latest, the Revuelto, is unveiled at the anniversary event amid crashing music, stroboscopic lights and smoke. Lamborghini’s latest hypercar is a 6.5 litre, V12, hybrid, or as the management would like to describe it ‘a spaceship’.
Consider the figures – 30 per cent more power than an Aventador SVJ, 30 per cent less CO2. So that’s 1,000+PS, 0-60mph in 2.3 seconds, a top speed of 220mph and a price tag of £550,000 – and you realise why they call it the HPV (high performance vehicle).
According to Mr Winkelmann Lamborghini is in ‘the best shape ever’ with record turnover, profits and deliveries. They are sold out of all models for this year and next which should give us enough time to save up for 2025.
Revuelto is named after a famous Spanish fighting bull of the 1880s and is Lamborghini’s first ever plug-in hybrid, hence the marketing catch phrase of ‘thunder and lightning finally come together’.
V12s are what Lamborghini does best, so there’s an ultra-lightweight 6.5 litre version in the back. Then add three electric motors, two of which sit on the front axle making it by default a 4×4 and you are ready for the off. Power also has to pass through an eight-speed, dual clutch automatic gearbox, with the whole car built around a carbon fibre mono-fuselage, while designers also chuck in four wheel steering for good measure.
Inside is all new too with three displays, one for the driver, another for the passenger and one to share in the middle, all slim and hi-tech, very spaceship. You can even swipe from the centre display to the co-driver’s.
Revuelto is Lamborghini’s biggest project of recent years with everything designed from scratch, celebrating the mighty V12 and the monocoque chassis. It is very low, compact, with high-set twin hexagonal exhausts set to rip through the space/time continuum at warp speed.
The interior is surprisingly roomy for daily life, in fact the extra volume allows space if the driver needs to wear a crash helmet on the track. There’s more space behind the seats than ever before and there’s even stowage for your drinks cup and mobile phone. There are 400 different colours to pick from and the choice of 70 shades for the interior.
Like all previous Lamborghini events the 60th anniversary celebration is a seminal moment, one to remember, to cherish, to pass on to the next generation. I’ve now seen and lived what it is like to be on pole position and witnessed the birth of another stunning Lamborghini. And they call this work? I don’t think so.
Fact File
Lamborghini Revuelto
Engine: 6.5 litre V12 hybrid
Power: 1,000HP
0-60mph: 2.3 secs
Top speed: 220mph
Transmission: eight-speed auto, AWD, 4WS
Price: £550,000.00
