LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO LP 560-4

The Lamborghini Gallardo LP is a true supercar with a wild engine and awe-inspiring features, says Ouseph Chacko

When you first lay your eyes on the Lamborghini Gallardo, you’d think the car was one of the Decepticons from Transformers. And when the engine erupts into life and scares the guano out of a flock of birds nearby, you fall in love with it completely.

Meet the new Gallardo LP 560-4. It is a faster, lighter and more powerful version of the old 5.0-litre Gallardo. And though it looks like it could easily wipe out three species of fauna for breakfast, this is the cleanest, most economical and ecologically efficient Lamborghini ever made.

But then, I wasn’t where I was to see how eco-friendly this Lambo is. I went to drive the living daylights out of it — at the Lamborghini track day at Chennai. This was the first time Lamborghini did this in India and judging by the response it got, there’s more to come.

Lamborghini and official India dealer, Exclusive Motors, organised this fantastic event to promote the car to existing and potential customers. In the one week that the event was on, nearly 200 people visited, leaving the track with smiles and the sound of the 5.2-litre V10 still blaring in their minds.

While I was looking on at the visitors, I realised with almost child-like enthusiasm that it was time to drive. You got two laps at a time, plus one lap to cool the car down. A typical lap went like this: Nail it down the straight. Brake. Downshift. Turn-in. Skim the apex. Unwind steering lock. Pedal to the metal. Max Venturi, Lamborghini’s aptly named pro-driver, helpfully said that this is the fastest way around this circuit.

At this point, three sub- conscious alarms went off — a huge one that said, “Don’t trash the Lambo”, another that was trying to take in the massive aural experience that the 5.2-litre V10 was growling out, and the third bit, which was the smallest, focusing on Max’s instructions.

Instructions are vital. The track was wet from the previous night’s freak downpour, and with the 552bhp from the beautiful Italian Iniezione Diretta Stratificata (direct injection) V10, it was easy to take a foolish trip into the surroundings. Luckily, the Gallardo was more friendly than intimidating. The steering was light but accurate, the turn-in, sharp, throttle responses were crisp and it built speeds so fast that occasionally you’d find your thoughts getting lapped by the car.

It’s hard to think of a car that accelerates like this one. Lamborghini claims a 0-200kph time of 11.8 seconds and a top whack of 325kph, helped by the snappy gearbox and the strength of the acceleration at its best. The engine tears towards its rev limiter in first — you then need to be on high alert to avoid running it against that limiter. Put your foot down and the traction from the AWD system and Pirelli PZero Corsas is simply astounding. At the heart of this behaviour is the power, but the other key factor is its relative lack of weight; at 1500kg, it’s pretty light for a 4WD supercar.

At the end of about 20 insane laps, it was time to pack up. What was nice about this track day was that the instructors were keen enough to let visitors really drive the car. So they let people drive in Race and Corsa modes (where all safety nets but the ABS are switched off) and offered genuinely good advice to help improve lap times. Like everyone at the track that day, there was a permanent smile splashed across my face. And the memory of the burbling Gallardo on a trailing throttle still remains.

Spec Check

LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO LP 560-4

Top speed: 325kph

Price: Rs 2.25 crore (ex-showroom, Delhi)

L/W/H: 4345/1900/1165mm

Engine: 5204cc, 10 cyls in vee, direct injection petrol

Power: 552bhp at 8000rpm

Torque: 55kgm at 6500rpm

Gearbox: Robotised sequential e-gear

Fuel tank: 90 litres

Brakes (F/R): Ventilated discs

Tyre size (F/R): 235/35 ZR19, 295/30 ZR19