Corsa is like digging deep into the bowels of the Aventador. There is a rapid change in behaviour and the first signs are those explosive gearshifts, combined with a stinging pain at the base of your neck. The new ISR gearbox isn’t like modern-day dual clutches, but I’d pick it for making the driver a part of the action in the most natural manner possible. The shifts are outrageously quick, and until yesterday I thought that the Gallardo’s e-gear setup wasn’t half bad either. Every gearshift becomes a fight to keep it clean and smooth, but it’s your backside that begs for its life, even before you worry about looking foolish in front of the world press. Yet, Corsa has one last trick under its sleeve. Approaching the back straight complex at Vallelunga is a left-handed hairpin and letting more gas than I should have the tail stepped out more than I’d imagined – there was very little electronic intervention as I caught the steering on correction. It’s at that point that you know that the drama is still there – all pervading.
You go back to the track for one last time, one last high. So you leave it in Sport and enjoy the car as it is meant to be. And boy, does it come together in a manner which shows why Lamborghinis have become poster objects of young men for generations. There is a sense of drama in everything that happens – the gearshifts, the way the grip builds even as the Aventador you are driving is now on its third set of tyres for the day. There is still an explosion every time you pin the throttle and shift the gears, yet Lamborghini has just made the process that much easier, smoother and slicker. The manic power delivery and the loony-ness when you overdo it is more restrained, but it’s every bit the Lamborghini modern-day drivers will learn to appreciate.
I can’t help but wonder how the 1600 lucky souls around the world (11 in India) may be feeling right now. All I can tell them is this – they’ve invested in, what is without an iota of doubt, the best super sportscar in the world right now.
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