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LP640 Roadster Bares, Dares All
Topless Murcielago is Tops
by David M. Brown
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Top this: Top down, you accelerate from that irksome freeway red-light to 60 miles an hour in 3.4 seconds, and this graceful V12 will see green until around 205 miles per hour (photo cameras or police chasers excepted) - enough to get you from Phoenix to Flagstaff in a cool hour and 15 minutes. Could a beauty with a Pinnafarina body sunning on the Italian Riviera deliver that much excitement?
The Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster, which debuted at the 2006 Los Angeles Auto Show, retains the many assets of the LP640 Coupe while adding drop top excitement as well as bodystyle and mechanical innovations for strength and verve.
The "LP" designates the engine position - "longitudinale posteriore" - and the number the mesomorphic 640 horses. Murcielago refers to the legendary bull, whose indomitable courage in a famous 1879 bullfight in Cordoba, Italy, caused matador Rafael Molina "Lagartijo" to spare his life.
Incorporating changes to the engine, suspensions, gearbox, exhaust system, brakes and electronics, as well as to the interior and exterior designs, the Coupe debuted at the Geneva Car Show in 2006. The legendary industry front-runner first appeared at the 2001 International Car Show (IAA) in Frankfurt, with more than 2,000 Murcielagos already produced from the Lamborghini factory in Sant'Agata Bolognese.
"How can you pass the LP640 Coupe?" asks Ros de Giaxa, general manager for Motorsports of Scottsdale/ Lamborghini of Scottsdale, Raintree |
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and Hayden roads in the Scottsdale Airpark. "The only way I know is take the top off a LP640 and let her rip up to 8,000 rpm, if you dare. This very special Lamborghini will deliver you in style, and in time, anywhere you're going." The price tag begins at $390,000.
Drop Top Gorgeous
"As always for any Lamborghini," de Giaxa adds, "purism, sportiness and functionality combine into a motoring work of art." The Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. stylists have retained the new and front and rear bumpers of the Coupe as well as the exhaust system terminal integrated in the diffuser on the rear bumper. The ragtop body also combines sheet steel on the roof and external door panels and carbon honeycomb as well as the wing, or scissor, doors.
Also from the Coupe, the Roadster features an asymmetrical interior arrangement, providing the driverfocused experience that makes Murcielago the frontrunner of luxury sportscars. For instance, perforated leather, with lozenge-shaped stitching called "Q-citura," appears on the chair cushions, the dashboard tunnel console, the roof panel, and the driver's side door lining (Coupe owners can also order this appointment).
The 6.5-liter 12-cylinder, which attains 640 bhp at 8,000 rpm, is also the Roadster power plant. You'll reach maximum torque of 487 lb-ft. at 6,000 rpm. As a result of boring and stroking the already potent 580 horsepower block, the Murcielago Roadster jumps to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds - a |
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