Ring Master

AS LAMBORGHINIS ULTIMATE ROAD RACER, THE HOWLINGV12AVENTADORSVJIS THE NEWNURBURGRINGLAP RECORD HOLDER. WE DRIVE IT.

- Matt Prior

AS I WRITE, I’m struggling with the idea that this is, for all we know, the last truly untampered Lamborghini V12. It’s one that’s liberated by atmospheric pressure alone, sans forced induction and/or the tech trickery of hybridisation and heavy batteries that are lambasting the classic supercar genre.

Yes, the future is no doubt faster for such crazy creations, but the theatre won’t transcend anywhere near as much. The Aventador SVJ makes me acutely aware of this and the fact it could very well be the last of a dying atmo V12 breed. Of course we don’t know this for sure, but it seems the stay of execution is almost over.

Making my point all too real is the fact that a number of Lamborghini Aventador SVJs are belting down the main straight at Estoril racetrack (a 4.182km circuit that was home to the Portuguese Grand Prix from 1984 to 1996) mere metres away from me. The noise is hard to put into words. It’s simply otherworldly and much more race meeting than track day.

That’s rare in the world of production cars, to the extent that there’s a ‘last of the interceptors’ feel about the Aventador, with its big, mid-mounted naturally aspirated V12 and all of the promise and compromise such an engine brings.

Sure, Ferrari still makes a naturally aspirated V12 (used in the sublime 812 Superfast), as will Aston Martin for a short while, but neither in quite the same setting as the manic Lambo. There’s a difference between a super-GT car and this, a super-sports car. A supercar of the original sense, partly figuratively, but also literally. An Aventador’s mid-mounted engine breathes through a much shorter exhaust than a front engined GT, so its bark is louder. It’s a fact that means a car like this will never be ‘so what’. It dominates the experience.