Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera, Sequential Gearbox And Amazing Brakes

Sitting there in dark grey outside the Lamborghini factory, the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera looked like a stealth fighter aircraft ready for take-off. More power and less weight adds up to more fun, more excitement or does it?

Before I took the wheel, Valentino Bomboli, who has been testing Lambos since the Miura, was to show me how on ordinary roads in northern Italy among the normal traffic. Bomboli was responsible for the way the car is set up, and it is still just as much a daredevil driver as he was when he first drove the Miura as a young man.

He pressed the Sport button of the e-gearbox, Lamborghini's answer to Ferrari's F1 box, and turned out of the factory into Sant'Agata Bolognese, a village that does not have much more than the Lamborghini factory and quite a bit of traffic.

Soon Bomboli was pressing the accelerator pedal into the floor, shifting gear as needed he reckons that you can shift up at 7,000-7,500 rpm and get just as good results as if you hang on to 8,000 rpm. The engine had started modestly enough but with that distinctive note of the V-10. At low speeds it gave hardly a hint of what was to come. By 3,000 rpm the engine is making quite a bit of noise, and gradually builds up to a howl as you use the revs. It is not dramatic, nor specially exciting, just smooth very smooth but rapid increase in revs. And speed.

Fantastic brakes

The first thing I learned was that the Superleggera has very powerful brakes. Acceleration is also very quick, so much so that several times Bomboli had to stamp very hard on the brakes to tuck in behind a car as he was travelling so much faster.

Unlike the standard Gallardo, the Superleggera gets massive carbon-ceramic brakes, which have stunning stopping power. More than once I did not believe there could be enough braking power to pull us down to speed in time, but down the speed came! These brakes are absolutely sensational, and must be the match of any other brakes out there – certainly, they seemed to offer much more stopping power than Porsche's carbon ceramic set-up.

As we hurtled smoothly, very fast through an open bend being pressed hard against the sides of our seats, Bomboli explained with a satisfied smile that the Superleggera had been set up to give neutral steering on high speed corners, with under steer at lower speeds, against the more general approach of neutral to over steer at low speed giving way to under steer at higher speeds. He said that this gives the driver more fun.

Now it was my turn. I clipped on the full harness, and adjusted the lightweight Sparco seat. Here was a surprise: the brake has a long pedal so I needed to be a shade further forward than I would expect. The steering wheel adjusts, of course, and I was set up so I could see the instruments clearly, and looked down at the center console to see a pair of knobs and displays for the air conditioning setting for the driver and passenger just like on a Golf, and one place where Lamborghini has used some standard Audi-VW parts.

The fascia is black, as is the interior, which is just a tad dull for such a superb car. off I went, pulling on the 'up' paddle to engage first, and noted how smoothly the car took off. Before long I was on a straight and opened up in a low gear, and felt the acceleration of the Superleggera for myself.

The response was good, the car surging forward as the revs rose fast, and I snicked up a gear – you don't get a real kick in the back, but just a smooth and rapid increase in speed as the revs get up over 5,000, and then scream on past 7,000 rpm.

Smooth shifts with e-gearbox

The shift went through quickly and smoothly, and I was already realizing that the latest version of the e-gearbox was very good. Later on, I came to a village, and shifted down as I braked, and the controller obligingly blipped the throttle the right amount – and it does this well whether you are in a hurry or not. As I entered the village, I shifted up to sixth, just to see how the engine would behave. I drove through at 50 km/h (30 mph), and found that the engine was happy to cruise at under 1,500 rpm. I also tried the automatic mode of the e-gearbox, and it was superior to any sequential box I have tried smooth and responsive at any speed.

Just like your ordinary sedan? No, a big difference: when I came to the open road, I floored the throttle, and off we went. Up to 3,000 rpm, the engine pulls steadily, but then starts to accelerate quite well, with the real power coming in at about 5,000 rpm as the V-10 smashes its way through the air, pushing the speedometer needle round the clock more like a rev counter.

On a straight but bumpy road, the car tracked beautifully, and responded best if you held the wheel lightly, allowing the wheels to find their way over and around the bumps. Round the bends you don't get that nice view you get of the fenders showing you the way as you can't see the hood at all, but after a while you can place the car well. The steering is not specially direct for a car of this type, but is pretty good, and has quite good feel. The fact that the drive is taken through the front wheels – as well as the rear wheels may be a factor here.

Great all-rounder

At the speeds I drove round the curves on a strange road, the Superleggera cornered on rails, very flat, and as neutral as Bomboli said it did. The e-box is superb, and well-matched to the engine. The brakes are extremely powerful, although they are jerky at low speeds, a minor fault that Bomboli admitted to, but said that as the brakes worked so well at speed, they did not want to tinker with them.

Clearly, the Gallardo Superleggera is a car of immense talent:

• The engine has plenty of power, and works well at low speed
• The brakes are the best of any I have driven, and must be as good as any you can get
• The e-gearbox is more than a match for its rivals
• The handling is very good with terrific cornering power
• And the four-wheel drive gives tremendous traction and stability in all situations

If you like hanging the tail out, then this may not be the car for you, but if you want to get about the place very, very quickly, come rain or shine, the Gallardo Superleggera takes a lot of beating. What about the emotion of driving? Nine out of ten.

The background to the Gallardo Superleggera

The Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera gives Lamborghini a real edge over Ferrari in this supercar sector, thanks to more power and less weight. The Lamborghini Gallardo is already firmly established as a great supercar, offering tremendous performance, stunning looks and the stability of four-wheel drive.

Now, the latest version, the Superleggera super light goes further, faster. It accelerates to 60 mph from a standstill in 3.6 seconds, 0.2 seconds quicker than before, and the top speed is up to 195 mph.

Initially, the Gallardo was launched with 500 bhp from the 4.98 liter V-10, at that time a brand new engine. Power output was upped to 520 bhp a year ago, and has now been taken up further to 530 bhp at 8,000 rpm. This takes the specific power output to 106 bhp per liter, to give that V-10 even more power and that gorgeous sound.

Better breathing, smoother exhaust

The extra power comes from an improved intake and exhaust system, which both improve gas flow. The engine is coupled to Lamborghini's e-gearbox, a sequentially controlled unit, which was previously offered as an option. This box works well when hurrying, but like most is not quite so good when driving more slowly or in traffic.

Viscous coupling four-wheel drive

Four-wheel drive, with a viscous coupling in the central differential, is standard on Lamborghinis. With 530 bhp on tap, you want to be able to get all the power to the roads, and four-wheel drive is an excellent solution, although many experienced and fast drivers feel they have more control with rear-wheel drive.

To give the driver more control than with most four-wheel drive systems, Lamborghini sends 30% of the torque to the front wheels, and 70% to the rear, so the car is balanced, and you can slide the tail.

This 30:70 ratio is the amount going to the wheels in the normal situation. If wheel spin develops, the ratio alters, to send more torque to the wheels that are not spinning. In this way, the situation is brought under control quickly and smoothly. This is all done by the viscous coupling - an excellent automatic slip limiting device.

As on the original Gallardo, the Superleggera has an aluminum frame of aluminum extrusions which are connected together by precision cast joints - called nodes - and then welded together at the nodes. Some of the panels give some stiffness, and the result is a very stiff and lightweight structure. The aluminum panels are bolted and bonded into position, and just the front and rear bumpers are plastic.

More lightweight materials used

To improve performance further, Lamborghini engineers are using some more light weight materials in the Gallardo Superleggera. For example, the engine cover is carbon fiber and transparent polycarbonate, and polycarbonate is used to replace some glass polycarbonate is not just light, but is very tough, and can be given a special coating so that it is very scratch-resistant. The rear diffuser and mirror cases are now carbon fiber, as is the tunnel cover.

The Gallardo Superleggera has forged aluminum wheel rims and Pirelli Zero Corsa tires. Options include carbon-ceramic brake discs and a rear wing, made from carbon fiber. The seats are also one-piece lightweight jobs.

The Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera weighs in at 2,930 lb (1,330 kg), which is 225 lb (100 kg) lighter than the standard car. This makes the Gallardo Superleggera a formidable competitor in the compact supercar class. It has almost 50 bhp more than the Ferrari F430, and weighs 260 lb (120 kg) less despite four-wheel drive - and has a power-weight ratio of 398 bhp per tonne, which is very high.