It's just gone past 3pm on a dreadfully humid day and the mercury is still hovering on the searing side of uncomfortable. Photographer Christopher and I are sitting in the 562bhp, 324kph Lamborghini Spyder Performante on the Eastern fringe of the UAE, some 150km away from the bustle and grind of Dubai's traffic-clogged arteries.
The towering Hajar mountains fill up the Lambo's windscreen and an awesome mountain pass curling and curving around the arid landscape sits temptingly within reach. It's a fitting place to test the fastest Lamborghini convertible on the market.
Our 10km route packs almost 30 corners of alarmingly differing character — it's riddled with blind crests, off-camber bends, hairpins and long sweepers. If there is a fault in the chassis, this piece of tarmac will uncover it.
Old news
The Bianco Monocerus — ‘white' for those who don't speak Lamborghini — Spyder Performante that I've brought to this mountain-versus-motor showdown looks markedly different from its lesser sibling. It's got a pointy new front end with a Jay Leno-spec chin spoiler, carbon-fibre sills and a rear wing and diffuser lifted from the Superleggera.
Overall, it tips the scales at 1,485kg dry, making it 65kg lighter than the ‘regular' Spyder. Now that may not sound like much, but the engineers had their work cut out because the base car is a relative lightweight to begin with.
So, as you'd expect in a new Lamborghini, there is an unholy amount of carbon fibre inside and out. The door cards, the wing mirror housing, most of the flat underbody, the rear diffuser, the transmission tunnel, the handbrake, the said wing which neatly slices your rearward view in half, and the engine clamshell are all made from the expensive weave. Even the seats are carbon-fibre racing buckets draped in Alcantara and there are no decadent electric motors weighing them down. This thing is more weight-obsessed than a teenage girl.
However, from where I'm sitting, no amount of carbon fibre or Alcantara can conceal the fact that the Gallardo is a seven-year-old design. The cabin is clutter free, but it looks dated compared with what its newer rivals like the Ferrari 458 Italia and the McLaren MP4-12C offer.
The Fezza has a display that tells you whether the tyres have reached optimum temperature for hoonage, and the Macca gets an iPad-impersonating central touch screen the size of a small TV. In the Lambo you have to make do with Audi's previous generation MMI. The new A6 saloon has a better infotainment system.
But those are mere trifles, because now it's......time to turn up the noise
Roof off. Sport mode on. Plant the throttle. All hell breaks loose as the Performante wails off the line and head-butts the scenery like a deranged 5.2-litre bovine.
First gear expires at 80ish kilometres. Slam the second home, blink and that's 100kph dealt with. The tortured wail of the dry-sumped V10 winding up to 8,500rpm ricochets off the cliff faces, adding yet another layer of drama to our not unsubstantial rate of progress. The Performante attacks the mountain pass with a gruff racecar-like intent.
The Haldex all-wheel drive system is constantly flitting the power betweenthe front and rear axles, and the bespoke race-bred 235/35 front and 295/30 rear Pirelli P Zeros are clawing at the roadto prevent me from getting cosy withthe armco. Astonishingly, despite mylead-footed driving, body roll is almost non-existent and the only giveawayof the mad cornering pace is thefeeling that my head's about to let go of its mountings. But let's kick thingsup a notch anyway.
Captain Courage
Corsa mode — Italian for race — allows a considerably greater amount of slip at the rear axle. And since the AWD system can channel up to 70 per cent of the 562-strong cavalry to the back rubbers, there's immense scope for smoky, slidey fun.
In Corsa throttle response is spikier, gear changes more rapid and traction control pretty much nods off; only waking up occasionally to gently suggest that you might consider taking things a bit easy and then dozing off again. Things are more carefully metered in Sport mode. The electronics give you just the right amount of leash; enough to have some fun but they're never too meddlesome. Corsa is much more intense.
It's a relief then the chassis is extremely well balanced and with a weight distribution of 43/57 front/rear the handling is generally neutral. I dart from apex to apex, with the Performante hanging its tail out slightly and only under provocation. It's nothing like the unpredictable and snotty Murciélago.The ride, even on some of the badly tattered roads around here, isn't bad either. It's miles better than the bone-breaking Superleggera.
You see, the absence of a rather large piece of metal at the top means there is a slight flex in the chassis. Although in most cars this would mean the four wheels go about their individual business with only a faint inkling about what the rest of the car is up to, in this case it's proved a blessing.
The extra give in the structure combined with the tweaked suspension means the ride isn't teeth-clatteringly stern. The transmission has been to anger management too; it swaps cogs withjust the right amount of aggression. And then there's the telepathically responsive, straight-talking rack-and-pinion steering. It's light at low speeds but acquiresa beefcakey character as I power in and out bends at break-neck speeds.
There is a constant flow of information from the carbon fibre and Alcantara-trimmed wheel to my palms as I gather pace, the furious V10 barking and howling to provide the perfect background score. This Lamborghini is a revelation. It's undoubtedly one of the most involving and interactive cars I've driven in a while.
But predictably, there are some issues...
Verdict
For starters the six-speed robotised manual transmission is getting on a bit. Even though it's received several tweaks over the years and is now capable of swapping cogs in 0.5 milliseconds, itfeels a bit last season compared with the sharp double clutch systems its competitors boast.
But the biggest problem, by far, is the price. The base car costs Dh970,000. And that's before you even peer into the optional extras list. The fantastic carbon brakes will set you back Dh71,500, matte paint finish is a Dh57,000 option, while the fixed carbon fibre rear wing on our test car costs a stupefying Dh28,000.
Suitably swept away and armed with a self-destructive will, you could easily spec-up your car to a head-spinning Dh1.2 million-plus. That's an inexplicable premium over the 458 and the MP4. But hey, if we leave the Aventador out of the equation, the Spyder Performante is easily the best version of the best Lamborghini around. Sadly, even if we put things into that blinkered perspective, the Performante just doesn't make sufficient sense. Then again, since when have Lamborghinis been about making sense?
Specs & ratings
- Model LP570-4 Spyder Performante
- Engine 5.2-litre V10
- Transmission Six-speed auto, AWD
- Max power 562bhp @ 8,000rpm
- Max torque 540Nm @ 6,500rpm
- Top speed 324kph
- 0-100kph 3.9sec
- Price Dh970,000 (base)
