IF you need to feel the wind absolutely tearing - not just rustling - through your hair, Lamborghini has the thing. It's the fastest open-topped car in its history, with a 350km/h top speed - that's 217 miles-an-hour in pre-metric measurements - and the potential to fire itself to 100km/h in just 2.9 seconds. There's just one thing - it's going to cost you $916,950 in Australia. The car is the Lamborghini Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce Roadster and it was unveiled this week at the world's most exotic motoring event at exclusive Pebble Beach in California. Apart from the Lamborghini unveiling, the Pebble Beach Concours Classic car show was won by a 1924 Isotta Fraschini worth in excess of $10 million and the Porsche 956 driven to victory at Le Mans in 1983 by Australia's Vern Schuppan sells at auction for $13.7 million. Lamborghini says its new open-air hero is the first roadster to earn the Superveloce badge reserved for its quickest cars. It comes with a 750-horsepower V12 engine that contributes to its name, producing a whacking 552 kilowatts at 8400 revs and 690 Newton-metres from 6.5 litres without any help from supercharging. Mechanically, there is also a seven-speed Independent Shifting Rod gearbox that is claimed to change 50 per cent quicker than a conventional double-clutch gearbox with far less weight. ‘‘The Superveloce is the purest, most sports-oriented and fastest series-production Lamborghini ever. The Roadster version represents our commitment to satisfying our passionate clients with immensely emotional driving dynamics combined with an extraordinary open-air experience,'' said Stephan Winkelmann, CEO of Automobili Lamborghini. Only 500 cars will be built and deliveries will begin early in 2016. Confirmation of the price means the car is available for Australia, although there is no confirmation yet of any order. “There is no set allocation for Australia or any other country. All orders are taken upon request,” a Lamborghini spokesperson told CarsGuide. The Lamborghini factory is already building the Superveloce Coupe versions of the Aventador, although they're not exactly rocketing out the door. “The Aventador production rate is four cars per day. On the other hand, we produce 13 Huracans per day, the spokesperson said. “From the production numbers you can see Aventador is more limited and, therefore, we sell less than the Huracan in general.” The timing for the Roadster is still only provisional, but it is definitely in the pipeline. “The Roadster will be built following the production of the Coupe version, which was announced earlier this year. Next year.” Outside the engine, the car has a fourth-generation Haldex all-wheel drive system, with Magneto Rheological dampers similar to the ones fitted to some Holden Special Vehicles cars, pushrod-activated suspension and Lamborghini's dynamic steering. On the roof front, the car has a two-piece carbon fiber hardtop - each piece weighing less than six kilograms - with an electrically operated rear window that can be dropped to allow extra engine noise into the cabin. – SG
