Lamborghini LP837
We join firm’s engineers to get an early taster of Murciélago replacement
The arrival of a new Lamborghini is a huge event – so has it produced another winner? Well, on the evidence of this prototype drive, the answer is yes! Thanks to its powerful 6.5-litre V12, slick-shifting seven-speed gearbox and innovative, lightweight chassis, the Murciélago’s replacement is even more exciting to drive, yet easier to exploit. And with looks inspired by the Reventón concept, it should blow away the competition. Roll on March’s Geneva Motor Show.
It's pitch black, we’re in the top lane of the six-mile bowl at Italy’s Nardo proving ground, and we’re about to hit 200mph. Our eye is trained on the speedometer, but also on the car in front. Such is the heat from its three exhausts, there’s a solid, foot-wide ball of blue flame hovering behind the car!
Auto Express has joined Lamborghini for a top-secret test of the supercar that replaces the Murciélago. We’re driving the second of three LP837 prototypes, and we’re deep into the top ratio on the new seven-speed gearbox.
Driving at high speed at Nardo isn’t as easy at it used to be, though – time hasn’t been kind to the surface, and even Lambo’s regular testers admit it’s pretty dangerous with a ‘technical’ speed limit of 150mph. The nose of the Lamborghini is thrown up and down violently over concrete pimples, and as the speed increases, the hits become so hard that the front suspension is clanging into the bump stops.
Yet if things are working hard below decks, the all-new engine and gearbox are coping easily; cruising on part throttle with plenty of punch left and going a long way to justifying the claims of technical director, Maurizio Reggiani that it’s a 220mph-plus machine.
We’re out here well past midnight because it’s the only time the big V12 Lambo can run without its camouflage – the airflow at 200mph would rip it off.
Impressive as the 700bhp 6.5-litre V12 engine is, the gearbox is every bit its match. Lighter than the unit it replaces and now with seven speeds, it eschews double-clutch technology by running a twin-plate clutch and rips through gears faster than you can believe possible, each ratio banging home with a rich, metallic thump. It’s also smooth at low speed, which is perhaps even more impressive.
We’re encouraged by the engineers to give the prototypes a hard time. And the LP837s feel immensely strong from the second you climb aboard. The ride is brilliant, especially given that there is no electrically adjustable suspension and that the single-rate, pushrod system has been taken directly from racing. It’s also quiet when you want it to be – maybe a little too quiet – but it’s absolutely brutal and manic when you go full throttle in either the Sport or Corsa modes.
Finished models will rev to an incredible 8,250rpm, and as for the sound? Well, a lot of the warbles and inconsistencies in the Murciélago’s engine are gone, replaced by a brutally hard bellow that turns into a full-blooded scream.
No other supercar is as easy to drive fast. On Nardo’s tricky 4.5-mile handling circuit, the LP837 inspires confidence. The front end is communicative, with its race-bred suspension attached directly to a carbon fibre chassis. The back end never feels like it will let go in high-speed corners.
Instead, it’s composed, smooth and feels very adjustable. The rear end will step out only with everything switched off and with extreme provocation from the driver. The new four-wheel-drive system instantly distributes torque around the car and eliminates understeer, letting all four Pirellis do their best to grip and go.
No other supercar feels as integrated – and this is only a prototype! It’s so easy to drive, quickly or slowly, that it basically eradicates the physical threat you felt every time you stepped into a Murciélago. Despite that, driving one is no less of an event.
Thanks to the carbon chassis, finished models will weigh around 1,450-1,500kg, but the newcomer feels lighter than that, probably because the chassis is so stiff that it does everything you ask of it with near-intuitive directness. Inside, the prototypes were unfinished, but promise a high, wide central tunnel, a much straighter driving position and a lot of the designs hinted at with the Reventón project.
