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Does this car fly?’ Of all the questions I’ve been asked by curious bystanders while driving and photographing exotic cars, this one takes the cake, and the entire bakery. ‘I’ve seen one like this on TV – it was driving on the road and then it took off like a plane.’ I was about to gently disabuse the chap of this notion, but then I realised that he was probably right. Could I possibly blame him for thinking that the Aventador was actually an aeronautical product, more suited for trans-continental flight than terrestrial duty? I mean, just look at the bloody thing – it looks like it’s about to take wing at the slightest provocation, and with a top speed of 350 kph, the comparison to a flying machine seemed perfectly justified.
They should make it mandatory to have a pilot’s license, not a driver’s permit, to set foot anywhere near this outrageous car. A pair of extra-strength sunglasses is also recommended, failing which you’re likely to be left almost blinded when you first lay eyes on it. Has there ever been a hypercar (or any car, for that matter) with this many razor sharp edges? Just by walking towards it, my skin began to tingle in anticipation of being cut to shreds. From many angles, this car looks like its predecessor, the Murcielago, but that’s just a passing coincidence – in reality, it’s brand spanking new in every way.
The Murcie’s chassis was well known for basically being a bunch of tubes that somehow held together (just like in the Countach and Diablo); this car has a carbon-fibre monocoque, with two aluminium subframes bolted on, the one at the back nestling the monstrous engine. Heck, even the roof is of fully stressed carbon, all of this exotica helping to ‘add less weight’, as it were, and providing exceptional structural rigidity. The rear tail lights, when fully lit up, look smashing, and the piece de resistance, as always, is the nuclear powerplant that passes itself off as an ‘engine’, displayed in full glory under a (optional) transparent engine cover. You can almost hear it ticking, waiting for an opportune moment to explode into life and lay waste to all in its path.
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