If you’ve been reading some of this blog’s articles, it didn’t take long for you to notice that you won’t read only what does a new car bring or what has it changed, like an online newspaper. My passion for cars makes me always start a post with brief introductions of the car’s context, like the focus difference between cabriolets and roadsters from Opel Cascada’s text and the frisson caused by top-notch high-performance cars such as SLS AMG. But how about a roofless which is also one of the best sports cars of these days?
The first glances can label those straight creases and strong cuts as belonging to some sort of futuristic spaceship, but there’s no arguing with how outstanding this car is. If Diablo sailed through the 1990s with the best folded-paper style it was ever seen at that time, Murciélago succeeded it in 2001 with an entire evolution, both at the more sophisticated design and at the improved mechanics. And now, another ten years later, Aventador came last year to take the Italian brand’s best spot at the showroom. The 4.000 units of its limited production received such a big worldwide acceptance also because of the technology labeled by Lamborghini as two generations ahead of anything else on sale. Some of the components were projected highly inspired on what the Formula 1 cars use, and the carbon fiber has one of its biggest participations in a car’s parts since it started to be massively applied. The first Aventador came as a coupé and later received special versions, but this one is the first production roadster. This earns a big importance for how it managed to maintain the performance level in spite of the structural changes required by these categories – lacking a rigid roof demands structural reinforcements and at the same time worsens aerodynamics and therefore the performance.
However, Aventador relies again at the carbon fiber, which was involved at a complete reproject of the rear columns to solve the first problem. Besides that, the second one was cleared with a specially-shaped windshield that optimizes the air flow not only to compensate the performance loss when driving without roof but also to reduce the wind noise at the cabin (allowing the two lucky occupants to chat at a normal voice tone) and even create a better income for the big hexagonal air intakes – the different body also demanded a new hood to the central engine. And when you want to close the sky view, there’s more carbon fiber: instead of Murciélago’s fabric roof, Aventador’s rigid roof weighs only 13 pounds and has easy manual operation. This car will arrive in Europe at late 2013 starting at 300.000 euros, but the common people’s main concern is with what impulses it: using the same engine of the coupé version brings a pleasant déjà vu, since it means a V12 6.5 naturally aspirated. There are cylinder deactivation and start/stop system to improve consumption and emissions, but all that aerodynamic efficiency pays off at the three seconds from 0 to 60 mph, and at the 217 mph top speed, always with s traction and an automatic seven-speed transmission which makes it hard to do sightseeing when driving this car.
