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Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster loses roof, keeps the speed

Supercar builders seem to becoming good at making convertibles that make negligible sacrifices. McLaren recently launched the 570S Spyder, which is exactly as fast, stiff and efficient as the coupe with only about 100 pounds of extra weight. Now, Lamborghini has done virtually the same thing with its flagship Aventador S Roadster. The Aventador S Roadster features the same naturally aspirated V12 as its hard-headed twin, and it makes the same 729 horsepower and 509 pound-feet of torque. That engine will take the roadster to the same 217 mph top speed as the Aventador S coupe. The only sacrifices appear to be that the roadster weighs 110 pounds more than the coupe, and it has a claimed 0-62 mph time a tenth of a second slower. But we're not sure you'll care about that tenth of a second with the wind in your hair and the V12's exhaust note in your ears. And if you ever get tired of the exposure to the elements, you'll always have the top with you, since the top panels, weighing roughly 13 pounds a piece, can be stowed in the front trunk. Actually, there is one extra sacrifice to choosing the convertible, and that would be the price. The Aventador S Roadster has a starting MSRP of $460,247. That's roughly $40,000 more than the coupe. That could get you a well-optioned and customized Aventador S coupe, but no amount of custom interior configurations can get you the full auditory experience the Roadster can. Related Video: Featured Gallery Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster: Frankfurt 2017 Related Gallery Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster View 14 Photos Image Credit: Lamborghini Lamborghini Convertible Supercars lamborghini aventador s

Lamborghini Huracan Performante's active aero is the secret to its speed

The most revolutionary real technology at this year's Geneva Motor Show didn't look like it on the show stand. If you squint at the Lamborghini Huracan Performante, it merely looks like a Huracan with a big wing. Up close, you can see the fractal texture of the forged-composite aerodynamic add-ons, but that still doesn't tell you why this car is so special. Lamborghini calls it Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva (ALA), or active aerodynamics. This is one of the biggest keys to the Performante's claimed production-car record lap time at the Nurburgring Nordschleife of 6 minutes, 52.01 seconds. The Huracan Performante's number is not without controversy, but I personally care very little about the obsessive phallic-measuring contests that are 'Ring lap times. What's fascinating about the Performante is that, if the lap time is even close to legitimate, it shows that ALA is a major step forward in automotive performance. More than just lap times, the Huracan Performante is an example of why Lamborghini remains special in a world of democratized performance. We sat down to discuss this with Lamborghini's Research and Development Director, Maurizio Reggiani. And one last note on the lap time: Reggiani says with the same temperature and exclusive access to a dry track, "that in this average of speed we can repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat." In previous conversations, Reggiani said that the key difference in performance would come not from horsepower, but weight reduction. For Lamborghini, that means plenty of carbon fiber. But the newest Huracan is not a Superleggera, the old title for the hardcore variant. "Superleggera is too much an objective, a description. Performante is really the DNA of the car. In Italian, Performante means really the best performance," he said. Reggiani continues, "Nothing happened by chance. It's really a building-block approach where you say this can give this contribution, this can give that. Where can you improve something and what is needed to improve something?" That brought them to the active aerodynamics solution, which channels air to stall the front or rear aero elements of the car to change the downforce and drag. Reggiani says, "This can be achieved only with a system that is really light, [has] fast responsiveness. Based on this ...

Lamborghini has built more Huracans in 5 years than it did Gallardos in 10

Production numbers can be pointless without some sort of context that validates the information. For instance, 14,022 cars built in five years sounds like nothing, but when it's added that those 14,022 units are Lamborghini Huracans, it's more impressive. That specific number is significant because it matches the number of Lamborghini Gallardos produced during its 10-year run, even though the Huracan has only existed for 5 years. Lamborghini has been doing extremely well as of late. Year-over-year sales rose for the eighth consecutive year in 2018, and the Urus SUV is bringing in gobs of new customers. Reportedly, the company might even cap its production for 2020 at 8,000 units in order to maintain a certain level of exclusivity. At the core of the company's identity is the V10-powered Huracan. In the first half of 2019, the Huracan accounted for roughly 26 percent of the 4,553 cars sold, a number that represents a 96-percent increase compared to the same time period in 2018. Since it first debuted as a coupe for 2014, the Huracan line has expanded quite a bit with numerous different styles and performance levels. There's the rear-wheel drive model, the Performante, the EVO, and Spyder variants. The 14,022nd car built is a Huracan EVO coupe wearing a Grigio Titans paint scheme, and it's headed to a customer in Korea. There's no reason to believe Lamborghini demand will slow. The Urus has quickly become a cash-cow in a crossover-hungry market, and the possibility of an electric 2+2 as a fourth model could boost the brand even more.