The Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster
The Roadster is a continuation of the Italian tradition of open cars, particularly the cars that have made the Lamborghini name what it is today.
Confirming and strengthening the extreme, exclusive character of the Murciélago Coupé, the Roadster is the “icon” of the new Lamborghini era.
The design of the Murciélago Roadster is exclusive, aggressive and extreme. Whilst designing the Roadster, Luc Donckerwolke – the head of the Centro Stile at Lamborghini – did not settle for simply “cutting” the roof off the Coupé, but gave the open car an original look and a special feeling, a styling of its own, making the Murciélago Roadster absolutely unique.
The Murciélago Roadster was recently voted as the world’s most beautiful supercar as part of the „The World’s most Beautiful Automobile 2004″ awards. The decision was taken by an international jury comprising designers, car and art historians, and specialist journalists.
Based on the technology of the Murciélago Coupé, the Roadster version differs in several key features, such as new parts of the frame, in steel and carbon fibre, designed for additional torsional and flexural rigidity. Incorporated into the overall design philosophy, one of these features, the engine frame, is offered as an option in visible carbon fibre.
Without altering the extreme nature of the car, a soft top can be fitted. It is designed – as is the tradition for this type of vehicle – solely for temporary use (for example a sudden shower) and for speeds of up to 160 km/h (100 mph).
Special attention was nevertheless paid to safety. The Murciélago Roadster is fitted with a special automatic, electronic roll bar which is activated in a few milliseconds from the housing behind the seats in the event of an emergency (roll-over).
The dimensions are the same as for the Coupé. Only the height is different: the Murciélago Roadster is nearly 70 mm lower.
The engine is what a Lamborghini is all about: a 12 cylinder V60° of 6192 cc producing 580 HP (426KW) at 7500 rpm and maximum torque of 650 Nm at 5400 rpm with L.I.E. Lamborghini electronic control. The gearbox is the same as in the Coupé: a manual 6-speed. A robotized 6-speed e-gear system is also available as an option.
The Roadster, like all Lamborghinis, is equipped with permanent 4-wheel drive.
The top speed of the Murciélago Roadster, depending on aerodynamic configuration, is over 320 km/h (around 200 mph).
The Murciélago Roadster is the most extreme and exclusive product line.
The interior has so-called asymmetrical open-worked leather upholstery (left-right split). The driver’s area is a genuine “Pilot-Oriented Challenger”.
The Lamborghini Murciélago
True to the tradition of this world-famous company with the bull as its brand emblem (company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini was born under this sign of the zodiac), Lamborghini has again given the latest product in its distinguished product family the name of a bull. After a series of names taken from types of bull and terms borrowed from bull-fighting – Miura, Islero, Urraco, Jalpa and Espada – the new product has been named Murciélago. This is an unusual but appropriate name for the latest no-compromise sports car from the Lamborghini company.
The Lamborghini Murciélago is a two-seat sports coupé with two doors that, in the Lamborghini tradition, are pivoted at the front and swing upwards. The complete concept of this new model is typical of Lamborghini, with V12 mid-engine, the transmission mounted ahead of the engine, the differential behind it integrated into the engine block and permanent all-wheel drive with a central viscous coupling.
The Murciélago is powered by a 6,192 cc V12 engine. This has an all-aluminium block and is capable of complying without difficulty with even severe exhaust emission limits (EU3 in Europe, EPA, CARP and TIER1 in the USA, JAP in Japan). Its power output is 580 bhp (426 kW) at 7500/min and its maximum torque 650 Nm at 5400/min. This engine accelerates the Murciélago supersport model from 0 to 100 km/h in approx. 3.8 seconds and gives it a top speed of more than 330 km/h.
The new Murciélago’s body is based on a high-strength steel lattice-tube framework, with a high proportion of honeycomb-structure load-bearing elements reinforced with carbon fibre. The sheet steel and carbon-fibre elements are bonded together or joined with steel rivets. The frame, with the load-bearing sheet-steel roof and carbon-fibre reinforced floor panel, has additional reinforcement in the form of ribbed steel sheets; these also have a load-bearing function.