Looks like the glorious era of the Aventador came to an end as we test drove the Ultimae, Lamborghini’s perfect finale for its naturally-aspirated V12 super sportscar. A dramatic sky above our head framed a truly memorable day during a breathtaking, visceral and mindblowing on-the-road experience. The one only a Sant’Agata Bolognese-made jewel is able to deliver.
Few hours before getting the key of heaven delivered, we headed to Polo Storico to feel and touch a bit of heritage, acquiring useful elements helping us to understand the very last Avendator better.
The Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae’s lines perfectly define its top notch performance just standing still. Next to us, a two-tone, grey-on-grey body configuration, with lines and details in Rosso Mimir, with the accent line continuing along the car with matching accents on the rear fins of the visible carbon fiber rear diffuser. 20” and 21” forged alloy, monolock wheels come as standard together with Pirelli PZero Corsa tires.
There is no car capable to look as fast and intimidating as an Aventador staring at you: this long, wide, wedge-shaped concentrate of driving pleasure-oriented technology leaves you simply speechless like nothing else on the roads. It shows a specific front bumper for increased aero load on the front end”; its airducts and side cooling inlet reduce aerodynamic interferences from the tires and optimize wake flow to the rear radiator. A lightweight rear bumper completes the dynamic exterior and recall the SVJ’s track-oriented heritage. The active aero system’s rear wing moves into three positions — closed, ‘maximum performance’ and ‘maximum handling’ — depending on speed and the drive mode selected — Strada, Sport, Corsa or Ego — optimizing the car’s overall balance and working with vortex generators created in the front and rear of the chassis’ sottoscocca in order to maximize air flow and assist brake cooling.
The way the Ultimae’s scissor doors dreamy open heavenwards is an integral part of this hypercar drama, and this jaw-dropping sensation is well echoed in the interior: the two seat aeronautic-styles cabin is a perfect as well as aggressive mix of carbon fiber, high quality leather and Alcantara, enriched with stitchings and trims; the seats sports ‘Y’ concept motif.
The almighty twelve-cylinder, 6.5-liter ‘Longitudinale Posteriore’ engine delivers 780 hp and 720 Nm of torque to its permanent four-wheel drive system. The fact that this incredible power output has been achieved without the help of turbochargers or any form of electrification is pretty impressive in 2022. The instant throttle response, the spine-tingling soundtrack and the way it revs up to 8,500 rpm embodies at its best all the characteristics we love to live while driving a super sportscar. The engine, paired with a 7-speed single clutch gearbox that allow you to shift gears in up to 50 milliseconds, has a strong and unbeatable charisma. Its tremendous power makes it pulling with increasing vigour as the revs rise, then, Past 6,000 rpm, the V12 literally explodes, and ecstatically screams like anything else in the Universe to its limit. Every gear change is like a thunder that shakes your soul, the car close any road gap in a blink, the eyes need minute to set them up to this high-speed frequency, every image you see over the windscreen smashes into your face and instantly disappears behind you. Mesmerizing.
The ultimate Aventador takes advantage of the LP 780-4’s extremely rigid and carbon fiber monocoque, and the extensive use of carbon fiber throughout the body, contributes to its dry weight of 1,550 kg. It accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.8 seconds, reaching a top speed of 355 km/h. Lateral control is optimized through four-wheel steering, ensuring agility at low and medium speeds and enhanced stability at high speed. Lamborghini Dynamic Steering (LDS) on the front axle is calibrated for responsive feedback with sharp turn-in while adapted to integrate with the active rear-wheel steering on the rear axle: separate actuators respond in five milliseconds to drivers’ steering movements, allowing a real-time adjustment to steering angles enhancing cornering properties.
The Ultimae is thrilling and frightening at the same time: even if the chassis features the latest tweaks, this 780-hp machine always require to be threat with extreme respect. No matter where you are and how fast you are pushing. Due to its ultra responsive steering, the latest naturally-aspirated, V12-powered Lamborghini gift turns into any kind of corner with an astonishingly sharp precision, the front end goes wherever you want to with extreme accuracy and the whole car — as said before, wide and long — seems to be sewed around your body, specially when in Corsa mode, where Ultimae feels like it’s one with the tarmac and “burns” every meter of the road with unexpected brutality.
Well done Lamborghini!
After a ten years model history, the Aventador’s swansong condensed here the maximum expression of its iconic V12 engine dynasty. The Ultimae not only appears to be the latest example of past we will all crave to be back for, but also the very last chance to own a Lamborghini V12 super sportscar untouched by any hybrid nor lithium-powered “clean”, efficient and consume-saving system. Be wise..
