LAMBORGHINI AVENTADOR PL700-4
The Lamborghini Aventador and the Eurofighter Typhoon are kindred spirits from the design to the performance, both are at the leading edge of their respective fields.
it’s not often anything out guns a Lamborghini Aventador for presence especially when the mid engined lump of carbon fibre and expensive, exotic metals is sat, one door cocked, scowling into the middle distance. But it’s not often a Lamborghini Aventador is in the company of a Eurofighter Typhoon fast jet. Presence. Redefined.
The Lambo is lurking in the shadow of the Typhoon as there are actually more parallels between the two than you might imagine. Both are at the cutting edge of the respective arenas in which they operate: the Eurofighter has some of the most sophisticated fly-by wire controls and avionics ever installed in an aircraft that can let the pilot pull up to 9G; the Aventador has cylinder de-activation and stop-start…
And efficiency is a good place to begin no, really,bear with me. It’s unusual to focus on fuel economy straight away when it comes to any supercar, let alone a Lamborghini, but with that standard-fit cylinder cut and a stop-start system that shuts off the big, 6.5-litre V12 when you halt at the lights, Lamborghini’s flagship now returns a relatively respectable 17.7mpg combined. Of course, running the Lamborghini at anything like its top speed of 217mph is going to use lots of fuel, much the same as the Typhoon on full after burners at Mach 2.0. However, the super efficient Typhoon engines are impressively economical when cruising at 43,000 feet clipping along at Mach 0.9 on a whisper of throttle, according to Typhoon pilot Flight Lieutenant Steven Moore of Number 3 (Fighter) Squadron, based at RAF Coningsby.
Dig deeper into the analysis of the numbers and the Aventador’s Top Trumps score takes a turn for the worse: “Set the throttles to idle and push the stick down and she’ll go through the sound barrier,” says Moore. That’s around 660mph at 40,000 feet.
It takes less than eight seconds from the brakes being released for the Typhoon to hit take off speed (155mph), only a further 20 seconds to go supersonic and less than 160 seconds in total to climb from ground level to 35,000 feet at a speed of Mach 1.5. Maximum cruising velocity is over Mach 2.0 (1321mph) at high altitude.
Off the line the Aventador might just edge the jet, with its 690bhp, 507lb ft of torque, 1575kg kerb weight and four-wheel drive system. 62mph comes up in 2.9 seconds, a standing quarter registers in 10.4 seconds at which point the Aventador is travelling at 136mph, not far off the same speed as the plane while it’s all done at 217mph. Just when the aircraft is getting into its stride. That’s what 40,000lb ft of thrust will do to 10,995kg.
While the Eurofighter’s two Eurojet EJ200 turbofan engines eclipse the 12-banger in the back of the Lamborghini, as cars go, the Aventador’s power unit is exquisite to use. From the flare of revs as the motor catches announced by a little coughing pop to the bassy, busy idle it settles to, combusted octane billowing in great vapour clouds from its jet-like exhaust, it sounds stunning.
Pick the throttle up and the symphony of noise behind your head is amplified. Push it to the stop and it goes ballistic as the gravelly tones rise into a yowl. The engine revs and revs… and revs, with astonishing ferocity for something sweeping this much capacity, too. As it rips towards 8500rpm the wave of speed you surf is incredible. It’ll relentlessly pound on past 200mph given the room, but sat inside the cabin, as the velocity rises, the sensation of noise decreases just like in the Typhoon, as Moore explains.
“It’s funny, as it’s exactly the same as in the jet; the faster you go the ‘quieter’ it gets. We’ve got these special helmets bespoke to each pilot, so the radar, the HUD (head up display) and the weapons systems move with your line of sight they also have a noise cancelling feature in them, so the faster you go the quieter it seems to get.”
Unlike the Ferrari F12berlinetta where you follow that raucous engine around, sound spilling into the cabin with the engines in the Aventador and Typhoon behind you, the rush of air whips the sound waves away. To the point where we’re attracting the attention of the noise police at Bruntingthorpe as we just kiss 200mph and we’re almost oblivious to it.
Approaching the double tonne, it feels effortless thanks to the Aventador’s impressive stability. On the runway, with its longitudinal overbanding seams between the Tarmac, catch one of those on a highspeed lane change and it can send some cars into an unnerving speed wobble. Not in the Lambo. It charges on towards the horizon, slurping rather than sipping petrol now.
Tipping into the high-speed sweepers at the track, this four-square feel is most definitely welcome. The steering is meaty and needs firm, accurate inputs, but it’s twinned with an addictive feeling of grip, in part due to the 255/30 ZR20 front tyres and the chopping block sized rears, measuring 355mm across and 21 inches in diameter. The Aventador darts to an apex when you tell it, the trick Ohlins dampers actuated by Formula One-style pushrod suspension easily coping with physics and the forces at work.
Those dampers and the double wishbone suspension are linked to a carbonfibre monocoque chassis, which gives the Aventador incredible rigidity load the car up and you can feel the resistance to twist. This solidity gives the suspension an unruffled, uncorrupted platform from which to do its job. It’s firm, but never does it feel too stiff. Push past the Lamborghini’s dynamic envelope and the nose will bob and shuffle as the front tyres continue their dogfight with the road surface but the Aventador will ultimately win, fighting back like the courageous bull it’s named after. Once that grip comes back and the front end tracks the line you’re asking, you can manipulate the progressive throttle to change the balance of the car.
Pin it from or before the apex and the Haldex fourwheel drive system shuffles the considerable motive force rearwards as the Aventador adopts a gentle attitude. As long as you don’t push past this point, the system will juggle torque back to the front axle to haul you out of the corner with a whiff of drift and on a chorus of Sant’Agata’s finest orchestra. If you do, you’ll solve one of the Aventador’s biggest problems, by being able to see what’s behind you. For if you’re not Balboni-esque at the wheel, you’ll be performing pirouettes a figure skater would be proud of.
The Aventador is pure theatre, a car that’s a scary challenge to tame. But there’s one factor that jars somewhat conspicuously: the gearbox. Toggling to Corsa mode sharpens the shift times from the sevenspeed robotised single-clutch Graziano paddle shift transmission to just 50 milliseconds, and while the thump in the spine feels racy, it’s nowhere near as smooth or versatile as a modern dual-clutch ’box.
Flicking the Aventador’s fighter jet style cover for the starter button and unleashing the noise is the closest I’ll ever get to Steve Moore’s experience. However, after I’ve explored what Lambo’s halo car can do, it’s the Flight Lieutenant’s turn, swapping joystick for steering wheel. He’s used to avoiding surface-to-air weapons (well, in training, at least) but how will he get on moving from an airborne missile to a surface-bound one?
Very well, it turns out. It’s immediately apparent that the level of feel this fighter pilot possesses translates to a road car. Moore’s finesse with the controls shines through straight away the weight with which he hits the brake pedal, how he modulates the throttle and the gentle squeeze he gives the steering going into the faster corners. Confidence is a wonderful emotion, and you can see it building within the Typhoon pilot with each successive lap as he realises this razor-sharp looking chunk of carbonfibre is actually as docile as an old dog when you want it to be.
Confidence is also a dangerous emotion, though,and as we enter a fast third gear right the midengined layout makes its presence known. Moore builds a bit more brake pressure to scrub off speed as the Aventador’s snout shoots towards the apex, only the weight of that V12 starts to overcome the tyres’ adhesion as it tries to continue straight on. It’s here the parallels between driving a supercar quickly
and flying one of the most sophisticated combat planes are closer than ever.
Moore senses the balance changing and, rather than panicking with wild inputs at the controls, gently bleeds off some brake and opens the steering, applying a touch of corrective lock to counter the developing slide.
“You don’t even think about the actual flying and the inputs you make when you’re up there,” he says. “You just make them naturally that’s what your training is for. You fly with one eye on your instruments and systems and another on where you’re actually going.
“When you’re mid-air refuelling with a tanker, you need to be very deft with the controls. There’s a mode on the Typhoon that dulls the sensitivity for these manoeuvres, but you still have to be very delicate and very accurate.”
It’s obvious, and much like the rakish design all angles and lines, even if the Aventador is a touch more stealth fighter than Eurofighter the skills are transferable to pedalling a supercar quickly, it seems.
Lamborghini loves to create links between its cars and the world of aeronautical combat, likening styling inspiration and interior design to a fighter plane. But it seems the similarities genuinely do run deeper than just marketing hype. The Aventador and the Typhoon are kindred spirits.
LAMBORGHINI AVENTADOR PL700-4
ENGINE: 6498cc, V12
MAX POWER: 690bhp @ 8250rpm
TRANSMISSION: Seven-speed single-clutch ISG manual with paddleshift, four-wheel drive
BRAKES: Carbon-ceramic discs. Front 400mm with 6-pot calipers, rear 380mm with 04-pot calipers
DIMENSIONS: 4.78m (l), 1.136m (h), 2.265m (w)
WEIGHT: 1575kg
FUEL CONSUMPTION: 17.7mpg (combined)
0-62MPH: 3.9sec
TOP SPEED: Top Speed: 217mph
EUROFIGHTER TYPHOON FGR4
ENGINE: 2 x EJ200 turbojets
MAX POWER: 40,000lb thrust in reheat
BRAKES: Ground brakes on undercarriage, parachute brake if needed
DIMENSIONS: 15.96m (l), 5.28m (h), 10.95m (w)
WEIGHT: 10,995kg
FUEL CONSUMPTION 600kg per minute (full reheat at low-level flight)
0-62MPH: n/a
TOP SPEED: 1300mph (est)
it’s not often anything out guns a Lamborghini Aventador for presence especially when the mid engined lump of carbon fibre and expensive, exotic metals is sat, one door cocked, scowling into the middle distance. But it’s not often a Lamborghini Aventador is in the company of a Eurofighter Typhoon fast jet. Presence. Redefined.
The Lambo is lurking in the shadow of the Typhoon as there are actually more parallels between the two than you might imagine. Both are at the cutting edge of the respective arenas in which they operate: the Eurofighter has some of the most sophisticated fly-by wire controls and avionics ever installed in an aircraft that can let the pilot pull up to 9G; the Aventador has cylinder de-activation and stop-start…
And efficiency is a good place to begin no, really,bear with me. It’s unusual to focus on fuel economy straight away when it comes to any supercar, let alone a Lamborghini, but with that standard-fit cylinder cut and a stop-start system that shuts off the big, 6.5-litre V12 when you halt at the lights, Lamborghini’s flagship now returns a relatively respectable 17.7mpg combined. Of course, running the Lamborghini at anything like its top speed of 217mph is going to use lots of fuel, much the same as the Typhoon on full after burners at Mach 2.0. However, the super efficient Typhoon engines are impressively economical when cruising at 43,000 feet clipping along at Mach 0.9 on a whisper of throttle, according to Typhoon pilot Flight Lieutenant Steven Moore of Number 3 (Fighter) Squadron, based at RAF Coningsby.
Dig deeper into the analysis of the numbers and the Aventador’s Top Trumps score takes a turn for the worse: “Set the throttles to idle and push the stick down and she’ll go through the sound barrier,” says Moore. That’s around 660mph at 40,000 feet.
It takes less than eight seconds from the brakes being released for the Typhoon to hit take off speed (155mph), only a further 20 seconds to go supersonic and less than 160 seconds in total to climb from ground level to 35,000 feet at a speed of Mach 1.5. Maximum cruising velocity is over Mach 2.0 (1321mph) at high altitude.
Off the line the Aventador might just edge the jet, with its 690bhp, 507lb ft of torque, 1575kg kerb weight and four-wheel drive system. 62mph comes up in 2.9 seconds, a standing quarter registers in 10.4 seconds at which point the Aventador is travelling at 136mph, not far off the same speed as the plane while it’s all done at 217mph. Just when the aircraft is getting into its stride. That’s what 40,000lb ft of thrust will do to 10,995kg.
While the Eurofighter’s two Eurojet EJ200 turbofan engines eclipse the 12-banger in the back of the Lamborghini, as cars go, the Aventador’s power unit is exquisite to use. From the flare of revs as the motor catches announced by a little coughing pop to the bassy, busy idle it settles to, combusted octane billowing in great vapour clouds from its jet-like exhaust, it sounds stunning.
Pick the throttle up and the symphony of noise behind your head is amplified. Push it to the stop and it goes ballistic as the gravelly tones rise into a yowl. The engine revs and revs… and revs, with astonishing ferocity for something sweeping this much capacity, too. As it rips towards 8500rpm the wave of speed you surf is incredible. It’ll relentlessly pound on past 200mph given the room, but sat inside the cabin, as the velocity rises, the sensation of noise decreases just like in the Typhoon, as Moore explains.
“It’s funny, as it’s exactly the same as in the jet; the faster you go the ‘quieter’ it gets. We’ve got these special helmets bespoke to each pilot, so the radar, the HUD (head up display) and the weapons systems move with your line of sight they also have a noise cancelling feature in them, so the faster you go the quieter it seems to get.”
Unlike the Ferrari F12berlinetta where you follow that raucous engine around, sound spilling into the cabin with the engines in the Aventador and Typhoon behind you, the rush of air whips the sound waves away. To the point where we’re attracting the attention of the noise police at Bruntingthorpe as we just kiss 200mph and we’re almost oblivious to it.
Approaching the double tonne, it feels effortless thanks to the Aventador’s impressive stability. On the runway, with its longitudinal overbanding seams between the Tarmac, catch one of those on a highspeed lane change and it can send some cars into an unnerving speed wobble. Not in the Lambo. It charges on towards the horizon, slurping rather than sipping petrol now.
Tipping into the high-speed sweepers at the track, this four-square feel is most definitely welcome. The steering is meaty and needs firm, accurate inputs, but it’s twinned with an addictive feeling of grip, in part due to the 255/30 ZR20 front tyres and the chopping block sized rears, measuring 355mm across and 21 inches in diameter. The Aventador darts to an apex when you tell it, the trick Ohlins dampers actuated by Formula One-style pushrod suspension easily coping with physics and the forces at work.
Those dampers and the double wishbone suspension are linked to a carbonfibre monocoque chassis, which gives the Aventador incredible rigidity load the car up and you can feel the resistance to twist. This solidity gives the suspension an unruffled, uncorrupted platform from which to do its job. It’s firm, but never does it feel too stiff. Push past the Lamborghini’s dynamic envelope and the nose will bob and shuffle as the front tyres continue their dogfight with the road surface but the Aventador will ultimately win, fighting back like the courageous bull it’s named after. Once that grip comes back and the front end tracks the line you’re asking, you can manipulate the progressive throttle to change the balance of the car.
Pin it from or before the apex and the Haldex fourwheel drive system shuffles the considerable motive force rearwards as the Aventador adopts a gentle attitude. As long as you don’t push past this point, the system will juggle torque back to the front axle to haul you out of the corner with a whiff of drift and on a chorus of Sant’Agata’s finest orchestra. If you do, you’ll solve one of the Aventador’s biggest problems, by being able to see what’s behind you. For if you’re not Balboni-esque at the wheel, you’ll be performing pirouettes a figure skater would be proud of.
The Aventador is pure theatre, a car that’s a scary challenge to tame. But there’s one factor that jars somewhat conspicuously: the gearbox. Toggling to Corsa mode sharpens the shift times from the sevenspeed robotised single-clutch Graziano paddle shift transmission to just 50 milliseconds, and while the thump in the spine feels racy, it’s nowhere near as smooth or versatile as a modern dual-clutch ’box.
Flicking the Aventador’s fighter jet style cover for the starter button and unleashing the noise is the closest I’ll ever get to Steve Moore’s experience. However, after I’ve explored what Lambo’s halo car can do, it’s the Flight Lieutenant’s turn, swapping joystick for steering wheel. He’s used to avoiding surface-to-air weapons (well, in training, at least) but how will he get on moving from an airborne missile to a surface-bound one?
Very well, it turns out. It’s immediately apparent that the level of feel this fighter pilot possesses translates to a road car. Moore’s finesse with the controls shines through straight away the weight with which he hits the brake pedal, how he modulates the throttle and the gentle squeeze he gives the steering going into the faster corners. Confidence is a wonderful emotion, and you can see it building within the Typhoon pilot with each successive lap as he realises this razor-sharp looking chunk of carbonfibre is actually as docile as an old dog when you want it to be.
Confidence is also a dangerous emotion, though,and as we enter a fast third gear right the midengined layout makes its presence known. Moore builds a bit more brake pressure to scrub off speed as the Aventador’s snout shoots towards the apex, only the weight of that V12 starts to overcome the tyres’ adhesion as it tries to continue straight on. It’s here the parallels between driving a supercar quickly
and flying one of the most sophisticated combat planes are closer than ever.
Moore senses the balance changing and, rather than panicking with wild inputs at the controls, gently bleeds off some brake and opens the steering, applying a touch of corrective lock to counter the developing slide.
“You don’t even think about the actual flying and the inputs you make when you’re up there,” he says. “You just make them naturally that’s what your training is for. You fly with one eye on your instruments and systems and another on where you’re actually going.
“When you’re mid-air refuelling with a tanker, you need to be very deft with the controls. There’s a mode on the Typhoon that dulls the sensitivity for these manoeuvres, but you still have to be very delicate and very accurate.”
It’s obvious, and much like the rakish design all angles and lines, even if the Aventador is a touch more stealth fighter than Eurofighter the skills are transferable to pedalling a supercar quickly, it seems.
Lamborghini loves to create links between its cars and the world of aeronautical combat, likening styling inspiration and interior design to a fighter plane. But it seems the similarities genuinely do run deeper than just marketing hype. The Aventador and the Typhoon are kindred spirits.
LAMBORGHINI AVENTADOR PL700-4
ENGINE: 6498cc, V12
MAX POWER: 690bhp @ 8250rpm
TRANSMISSION: Seven-speed single-clutch ISG manual with paddleshift, four-wheel drive
BRAKES: Carbon-ceramic discs. Front 400mm with 6-pot calipers, rear 380mm with 04-pot calipers
DIMENSIONS: 4.78m (l), 1.136m (h), 2.265m (w)
WEIGHT: 1575kg
FUEL CONSUMPTION: 17.7mpg (combined)
0-62MPH: 3.9sec
TOP SPEED: Top Speed: 217mph
EUROFIGHTER TYPHOON FGR4
ENGINE: 2 x EJ200 turbojets
MAX POWER: 40,000lb thrust in reheat
BRAKES: Ground brakes on undercarriage, parachute brake if needed
DIMENSIONS: 15.96m (l), 5.28m (h), 10.95m (w)
WEIGHT: 10,995kg
FUEL CONSUMPTION 600kg per minute (full reheat at low-level flight)
0-62MPH: n/a
TOP SPEED: 1300mph (est)
LAMBORGHINI AVENTADOR PL700-4
Reviewed by Unknown
on
9:36 AM
Rating:
Reviewed by Unknown
on
9:36 AM
Rating:
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