Lamborghini Murciélago

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Lamborghini Murcielago coupe

The Lamborghini Murciélago is a GT and supercar automobile made by Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. and designed by Luc Donckerwolke. It was introduced in 2002 as the successor to the Diablo. The body style is a two door, two seat coupé.

An open-top version called the Murciélago roadster was introduced in 2004 for the 2005 model year. The roadster features similar performance to the coupe with a more aggressive rear flank, as well as a considerably higher price tag.

The Murciélago sports a 6.2 L version of the legendary Lamborghini V12 engine, a six speed manual or six speed e-gear sequential gearbox and All Wheel Drive. It also has a rear spoiler that can be raised to an angle of 70 degrees, the side mirrors fold in to increase aerodynamics and side scoops that automatically open to the needed size to let in just the right amount of air needed to cool its engine. The name Murciélago comes from a bull that survived 24 sword strokes in an 1879 fight at the arena of Cordoba, and fought with such passion and spirit that the matador chose to spare its life, a rare honor. In another Lamborghini tie-in, the bull was later presented as a gift to Don Antonio Miura, a noted breeder, and went on to sire a line of famous fighting bulls. Murciélago also means bat in Spanish, and a Murciélago roadster is featured briefly in the movie Batman Begins. The coupe's base price is US$ 273,000, which is US$90,000 more than its smaller sibling, the Lamborghini Gallardo.

Lamborghini have announced two more powerful models, the XTR, a track-only car with a 700 bhp version of the V12, and the LP640 with 640 bhp. Although the XTR is not street legal the LP640 met the standards and is expected to be introduced in March of 2007. ([link]), going on sale spring this year.

LP640

The LP640 version was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in March of 2006. It features a 6.5 L engine, now producing 640 bhp, improving performance substantially. There were also a few minor external changes, primarily to the low air intakes.

Specifications

Model	Engine	Power	Torque	Top speed	0-100 km/h	0-200 km/h	0-300 km/h	Quarter mile
Coupe/Roadster	6192 cc V12	433 kW (580 hp) at 7500 rpm	650 N·m (479 ft·lbf) at 5400 rpm	330 km/h (205 mph)	3.8 s	11.4 s	34.2 s	~12 s
LP640	6496 cc V12	471 kW (640 hp) at 8000 rpm	660 N·m (487 ft·lbf) at 6000 rpm	340 km/h (211 mph)	3.4 s

Trivia

• Drivers of the convertible model are advised to stay below 100mph when the roof is in place. Future models will be getting a carbon fiber roof that is expected to allow them to exceed that limit. The optional Interior Carbon Package offer in the newer models include interior car components made from carbon fiber. These components include covers for the driver side display, dashboard covers (both for the left and right hand side), covers for the air conditioning and radio, handles on the sides of the central tunnel, gear lever, frames around the armrest and the ashtray.

• The engineers at Lamborghini have included carbon-ceramic brakes in the design of the Murcielago. These carbon-ceramic discs differentiate the Murcielago from other models. Advantages of these discs include improved handling, agility and efficiency. and shorter braking distances with reduced pedal effort. Therefore braking efficiency remains constant at both low and high temperature, with no fading, even after hard use. This leads to longer lifetime use of the car and a state of the art system.

• While the Murciélago is no doubt an impressive machine, it was nearly outperformed on Top Gear's test track when piloted by a British Touring Car Championship driver. He was unable to pull away from a Mitsubishi Evo VIII FQ-400, a 4-door saloon with a 2.0L I4 Turbo engine, being driven by Jeremy Clarkson. In the hands of "The Stig", however, the Murciélago was 1.1 seconds faster around the track than the Mitsubishi

• The Lamborghini Gallardo and Murcielago are both featured in Rockstar Games' . The Murciélago will also appear as the Autobot Jazz in the Transformers movie

• Vanessa Bryant is the only person in the world to own an automatic Murcielago. The car was given to her as a gift by her husband, but upon realizing she could not drive a manual transmission, Kobe Bryant had the car converted to an automatic. The estimated cost of the car after conversion and customization was $400,000

References

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