Things To Do Before You Die

I ticked two boxes today in my ‘things to do before I die’ list. I’ll write about the second one tomorrow, but here’s the first box I ticked….

Working at RAF Leeming with Simon from 6th Gear Experience in the Lamborghini LP640, we were down to give some passenger rides at the end of the day. I’d driven the car many times on track, so the 640Bhp acceleration part is no surprise and certainly we’ve often seen 130 – 140 mph on straights, but I’ve never had such a large expanse of military spec tarmac to go at. The main runway was out of bounds, due to the RAF’s obsessive attention to FOD (foreign object damage). If even the tiniest bit fell of the LP and ended up in the engine intake of a jet, that would be what is known as A Bad Thing, so the parrallel taxiway was used.

At 5pm, flying stops, calls to Air Traffic were made and the nod was given. The V12 starts with that high pitched starter whine that’s more like a turbine than a car, then fires with an explosive bark and settles into that urgent idle. The tall, alloy topped gearshift slips into first and the long travel clutch is out, headlights on and we’re out onto the wide, slightly featureless taxiway.

I think it’s fair to say that many people are dismissive of big supercars like the LP. People understand a Ferrari 355, even a V10 Gallardo. But a huge 6.5 litre V12 putting out 640 Bhp is often seen as pointless, unusable, even arrogant. I’ve driven countless laps in the big LP and have to say that while I love it’s exhaust bark and sheer grunt, in the slow turns and tight chicanes, it’s easy to get hounded by smaller, lighter machinery, snapping at you like a pack of hyenas.

But as the speedo surges effortlessly past 100mph just after shifting into third, suddenly I get it. It surges forward, sucking in the horizon with the same huge urge as in the lower gears. Through 140, into fourth and the suspension is suddenly working in ways that it never does below 100. It feels rock steady, but supple as if the thing is saying, “Thank God for that, lets get it on…” 5th goes in and it’s still surging, no suggestion at all that it’s running out of steam. In fact, it’s as if it’s just getting going. 160mph, into sixth and still it’s hard at it.

The passenger seat has now gone very quiet and I’m looking as far forward as possible. The RAF guys know we’re here, but a stray airfield Land Rover right now would not be A Good Thing. I’m making every small input as gentle as possible and listening for signs of stress, but there’s nothing but a high frequency thrum of the tyres on the concrete surface and the howl of the V12 really grafting hard behind our shoulders. I think for a split second of all the machinery, gears, differentials and tyres all strung out tight as the LP surges at the horizon. Aerodynamics are playing a big part by now, as the shape of the body is the only thing stopping us flying. 195mph and still it’s accelerating. I see the marker board I’d chosen earlier, time to get off the gas, as Andy and Simon won’t thank me for firing it off the end of the runway….. A glance down at the clocks as my foot lifts and there it is. 200mph.

As I roll off the power, there’s a distinct nose down pitch that at first makes it feel as if the tail is going light, but I imagine it’s the massive aero load compressing the front springs. The big calipers bite hard on the huge discs and the speed comes down. 100mph feels like walking pace, but that’s still a big number, so I stay on the brakes, heel toe down the box, checking the gauges. That must have been hard work for it, surely. But no temperature spikes or dramas, nothing. Pressures and temps all normal. I’m blipping down into second as my owl eyed passenger rediscovers the power of speech, but the big LP just rolls to a halt ticking over with that urgent, V12 fast sounding idle, as if to say “Again, again, again…..”

I’ve often described the LP640 as a jet fighter with the wings chopped off. Now I know I was right. I fully understand it now. It’s designed to live between 100 and 200 mph. In the same way as flying an SR71 Blackbird subsonic must have been like walking a tiger on a leash, when you open up the LP640, you feel like you’re setting it free and it’s doing what it does best. The raging bull on the bonnet gives a clue to it’s spirit, but when it’s stretching it’s legs like that, it’s far more like a big cat chasing it’s prey.

The tree huggers will doubtless print this out and pin it on the toilet wall for use later, which is fine. But in an age when performance car drivers are photographed, monitored and vilified like chain-smokers as never before, big Lamborghinis are becoming an endangered species and areas like Leeming are a game reserve where they can live as they should.
So next time you see one, don’t just think, “Footballer or drug dealer?” Look at the shape and listen to it go by and be glad that someone’s had the minerals to write a cheque out for it.

Tomorrow, I’ll write about the next box I ticked…

Tagged as: 200mph, 6th gear, driving experiences, high speed driving, lambo, lamborghini, lp640, murcialago, track day driving