
Lamborghini Aventador SV: Beyond Good And Evil
LAMBORGHINI AVENTADOR SV
BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL
Words: Alessandro Marrone
Photography: Giorgia Rossi
This is one of those days that touch your inner spirit, those moments in which as soon as you have a second of psychological break, you start thinking about how lucky you are to be living in the same period of similar engineering masterpieces. A pile of iron and more noble materials such as carbon fiber, crazy figures on the technical sheet and the most insane ability to transgress any rule of common sense and understatement, give us a perfectly current supercar that however is able to make us live an epochal driving experience. The Aventador SuperVeloce, as the name suggests, is the symbol of speed, it is the 119th element on the periodic table, it is a chemical reaction that takes place inside our body and that raises the sensory shock to a level of physical pleasure that you feel every time the digital tachometer starts rising – and know that it does that in the blink of an eye, constantly, without the slightest intention of starting back over again before you have pinched the full scale. While you observe it you are assailed by a series of inputs that inevitably revolve around the violence of its design, the anger of its edges, the dynamism of every stretch studied and realized to bring out an effectiveness that knows no half terms. The abbreviation SV – SuperVeloce (which means super fast) – has firm roots in the legacy of Lamborghini and in Sant’Agata they certainly could not baptize this special edition as “ICrushYourBonesAndThenI’llStartPlayingShangai”, but the meaning is pretty much that.
Starting from the base of one of the fastest supercars ever produced, the Aventador LP700-4, today’s Aventador SV, is kindly entrusted to us by our friend Raul Marchisio, founder and owner of RM Autosport Monaco, a former professional driver who would be able to put sideways your living room table with Christmas dinner already set. It is one of the 600 models produced in coupe version, finished in Verde Ithaca color and with the carbon style package “the more, the better”. You can’t take your eyes off it and the hateful thing is that once on board you’re not able to look at it from the outside, for the rest there are all the ingredients that make a Lamborghini iconic and that turn a daydream into a two-seater with a naturally aspirated V12 in central rear position, a huge adjustable wing to overcome an equally huge diffuser and the four exhaust tailpipes one next to the other. The aesthetic metamorphosis between a standard Aventador and an SV jumps to the eye even before your brain has received the nerve impulse, noting the numerous aerodynamic appendages such as the front splitter, side skirts, new ultralight rims with center locking (matching with the body), details in carbon and the more aggressive and provocative rear in automotive history. You know it’s a car, but standing next to it you feel like challenging the wrath of a dragon awakened from a very long sleep – it’s nervous, annoyed and can’t wait to take off the head from your body.
We leave the busy streets of the Principality and we head towards a few kilometers of asphalt quite clear and smooth enough to allow us letting the bull to be unleashed, aware of the fact that no road will be wide and long enough to ground its 750 horses, despite all-wheel drive contributes in making the driving experience less frightening than it could be. On paper, the Aventador SV should be a difficult beast to tame, with a stiff trim like an adamantium board and a single clutch 7-speed sequential gearbox that every time seems like throwing an anvil straight into the middle of your back – actually it is even much more pronounced. Difficult to describe with words the blind fury with which the SV increases its revs run and thrusts its large body along roads that climb to the hills above Monaco. The noise is deafening but delightful, a primordial bark that reiterates that the n/a 12 cylinders absolutely do not have to die and how they are able to represent the quintessence of the highest driving pleasure. The 6.5cc could not be the youngest out there, but it doesn’t fear comparisons and manages to set off the SuperVeloce from 0 to 100 kph in just 2.8 seconds, also thanks to the exceptional traction of the four big tires, 255/35 /20 at front and 335/25/21 at the rear. The rear wing is then adjustable in three different settings, using a special tool, joy for those who want to use it on track. The engine never whispers, at idle or just moving it makes the rocky walls around us trembling, constantly waiting to be thrown at over 8000 rpm. The torque of 690Nm allows you to throw behind any remaining shred of common sense and that physical relationship with the chassis quickly becomes something morbid, something you can’t stay without, thanks to what is probably the most important technical upgrade, magnetorheological suspension.
Once in you are embraced by two skeleton-like bucket seats, beautiful and far from the idea of comfort that some boring journalist would like to find along something like fuel consumption (by the way, 24.7 l/100km in the city, 16 l/100km combined). The arms are extended forward towards the steering wheel in alcantara – ideal link for a controller alive just like a reptile heart – and the eyes bounce between the road and the familiar jet fighter cockpit, entirely covered with carbon fiber and alcantara, as the sky, the door panels and any other corner where your eyes will rest when they are not too busy trying to keep you alive. The Aventador SV is challenging, not only for its size and its power, but because it has a nervous behavior, analog feedbacks in an era where we are taught by the electronic capabilities of most sports cars. The gearbox will not be crazy fast and will shudder a bit, especially in city traffic, but when it’ll start kicking your body, that only accentuate the violence of a supercar that is already an instant classic. Just like in a sentimental relationship, we fall in love with the defects, ‘cause they’re part of it and those nuances that may seem obsolete, too extreme or even exaggerated, are those peculiarities that make the SV something able to go well beyond good and evil. The cult of speed on wheels has these forms, this voice, this apparent ability to make us feel fragile and unfit to exploit its full potential. This is what puts us in our place and makes us understand that this time is different, that every corner is a challenge against ourselves and that at the end of the day we will have lived a totally different experience from any other. Some remove the mats, add two spoilers and some badges here and there, raise the price tag, invent some catchy slogans and discover hot water. When Lamborghini uses the letters SV it is because the magic potion is so hot that it turns every dream into reality and the Aventador SV is a purebred bull exasperating every concept of automobile. The LP750-4 is the peak of contemporary motoring that winks at modern supercars. Difficult to find a rival that answers in the same way to the desire for something so pure and with enough horses to dye your hair in white at the first push on the brakes – or at the first acceleration, the choice is yours.
LAMBORGHINI AVENTADOR SV (2016-2017)
Layout – mid-rear engine, all wheel drive
Engine – V12 cylinder 6.498cc
Transmission – 7-speed automatic gearbox
Power – 750 hp @ 8.400 rpm
690 Nm @ 5.500 rpm
Weight – 1.675 kg
Acceleration – 2,8 sec.
Top Speed – 350 kph
Production – 600 units (Coupe)