Lamborghini has thrown the entire book at us. Nick Hall got the keys
The Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster is arguably the most spectacular looking machine on this planet. When it burbled into view at the company's factory in Santa'Agata just a contemptuous spit away from Ferrari's base, even the marque's stunning press officer Claudia Schneider couldn't keep my eyes off the hardware.
It's hard to believe that this wedge of supercar came from a company that started out 54 years ago making cheap tractors from old military machinery. Since then it has endured some hard times, come close to bankruptcy and spent some time under the control of a shadowy Indonesian syndicate that included the disgraced son of the nation's former president, Tommy Suharto.
He has since been convicted of massive land fraud and faced questions over involvement in contract killings, after a period on the run. Even the Phoenix Four aren't that bad, but in 1998, German giant Audi took control of the company that answers Ferrari's elegant stallion with a raging bull.
This heralded a new dawn for the company and test driver Moreno Conti looks to the heavens when he mentions the name of the German manufacturer. Make no mistake, the investment and expertise on offer at Ingolstadt have been a God-send.
Lamborghini has finally gained the reliability and build quality to match its flamboyant designs. Now they're stronger, easier to drive and just as fast as anything on offer down the road at Modena for a lower price.
The 6.2-litre powerplant has an epic 571bhp at its disposal and can propel the Murcielago to 100km/h in 3.6s and a top speed of 322km/h (200mph). That's slightly slower than the coupé, thanks to the inferior aerodynamics of the chop-top, but it's still enough to get you a lengthy prison sentence in most parts of the world.
Apart from those steel jack-knife doors, the rest of the body is made from lightweight carbon-fibre to keep the weight down to a slimline 1,660kg. Under the skin Lamborghini relies on a tubular steel chassis with carbon-fibre reinforcement. Its nearest rivals now offer carbon-fibre monocoques, but the Santa'Agata company opted for the simpler construction technique and a sticker price about €146,000 less than the similarly powered Carrera GT and Enzo.
The words, supercar and bargain, rarely go together, but it really is the economic option and, if they're honest, hardly anyone will feel the advantages on offer from a carbon tub.
With the hammer firmly down this car can take your breath away with its blistering acceleration - the rear of the car feels like it's ripping in to your lower back. The Lambo stormed to 225km/h (140mph) on a sliver of dust-covered Italian B-road in third gear, the V12 hardening to an intense mechanised roar that is hardly insulated by the carbon body while all four wheels scrabbled for grip.
In the corners, the Lamborghini is possibly the easiest supercar to drive fast thanks to its system that transfers power to the front when the rear breaks away, limited slip diffs for the front and rear, anti-dive, anti-squat and all manner of other technology.
When a car costs this much and goes this fast, such a safety net is a big bonus and the end result is a car that can give you whiplash without a crash.
The driving experience may not, theoretically, be as pure as that from its rivals, but in practice it's so mindblowingly quick that I didn't care. And it's fun, thanks to a rear-biased weight balance that positively encourages the back end to step out before the computers kick in.
Signing a form agreeing to compensate Lamborghini for any damage tempered the enthusiasm to check this out, but Moreno displayed just how well this car pulls itself out of slides by simply releasing the wheel on the exit of bends and planting the throttle.
These cars are geared for the apex, but mostly they travel much slower to exclusive nightclubs, film premieres and football training sessions. The low speed compliance, therefore, is just as important as the handling at 322km/h. And here, with Audi's input, the Lambo scores big.
The engine turns over lazily beneath 2000rpm, the steering is light and you won't need bodybuilding awards to work the clutch. You can even lift the front end to avoid scraping the spoiler on ramps and rough roads. Owners of Porsches and Ferraris still experience the agonising sound of the road forcibly removing overpriced paint jobs.
The car is so wide that I had to go through several Mexican standoffs with other drivers during our test. The lack of rear visibility makes reversing a leap of faith, but these criticisms apply to any car in this class.
As for the design, the Murcielago is a geometric work of art that proves efficiency can be sexy. It's a flowing equation of clean, straight lines which embody the marriage of Italian flair and German simplicity.
DESIGN chief Luc Donckerwolcke faced a problem when it came to chopping the roof off his prized Murcielago - he doesn't like open-top cars. His solution was to create a roadster that, at first glance, looks like a hard top.
To that end, the Roadster incorporates a lowered windshield, black side sills behind the door windows that flow into the movable rear engine vents and give the illusion of a roof structure, and streamlined headrests. Should you flip your car then Audi A4 Cabriolet-sourced rollover protection will pop up from behind the seats. Should you turn your €309,000 Lamborghini over, though, inflicting all the damage that goes with that, you may just wish to die instead.
A rear wing pops out of the bodywork at about 128 km/h (80mph) to help stick the rear end to the floor, but at low speeds the designers just weren't prepared to accept extra appendages ruining the smooth lines.
Yellow stitching in the black leather and that huge six-speed metal gate provide the interior's personality. The rest is relatively muted, and there are a few Audi vents on display but then Ferrari uses Fiat bits and as parts bins go, the German one has to be the better option.
Encouragingly it feels just as screwed together as any saloon to roll off the Ingolstadt production line, which is just about as hearty as recommendations get.
The Italians were, however, duty-bound to make one disastrous and overly complicated design detail. With the Murcielago Roadster it's a major one - the roof.
It is only an "emergency cover", takes 10 minutes to assemble and comes with its own instruction book. Once assembled, Lamborghini advises you don't drive at more than 160km/h (100mph) as it's liable to blow off like a badly fixed toupee in the wind. Apart from that, with the technology on offer the Lambo would work in a blizzard.
Then again, if you have the money for the Lamborghini, you have the money for another car for rainy days. Save this one for the sunshine and it will be the best fair-weather friend you could dream of.