This Lamborghini Gallardo was sitting next to the Tap Out slammed Surburban at the Goin’ Hard Wheel booth, and while I find customized Exotic Cars quite nauseating, this one was actually quite tasteful. Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "Italian Masterpiece Art on an Italian Masterpiece" »

Hello, Vegas. Did you miss me? This joint is like some sort of cruel mistress for me and she likes it rough, if you know what I’m saying. It’s not even Day One and already I feel like a past-her-prime, ridden-hard-and-put-away-wet Glitter Gulch cocktail waitress who’s sucked down one too many Chesterfield’s in her time. In Blogville terms I’m eons late to this game having already been crushed by the likes of Boss Man Rob, John “10 Jameson’s Deep” Coyle, Jim (have yet to nickname him) Brennan and that smarmy little minx, Jen Dunnaway (I’m warning you, Dunnaway, Stay away from my Honda Booth!). This may be my first and only blog as the cocktail of cheap vodka, cold medicine, exhaustion and the smell of desperation may leave me face down in a steaming pile of a $3.99 all-you-can-eat buffet. Hit the jump to see some of what I saw as I try to get found in Lost Wages. Viva, SEMA!

Continue reading "Random Observations Stumbling Across The SEMA Show Floor" »

Kartier Forged has a ton of great ride pages on CarDomain with some amazing pics. Check ‘em out!

The Gallardo might not be the best drift car, but that didn’t stop Samuel Hubinette from getting it sideways, and at the end of the shoot for the Italian Stallion’s promo video, the Crazy Swede apparently wanted to “liberate” one for personal use. To be honest, I wasn’t all that pumped on the finished product—remember that thing about how a Lamborghini would get you girl’s phone numbers?—but watching all the killer camera cars and the logistics behind the production was pretty awesome. And it’s not like there’s a lack of sexy Italian eye-candy either…

So if you didn’t think  Steve-O and Tom Green were idiots—and um, assholes—before watching this clip, something tells me you will now. Apparently this Murcielago is owned by a rap producer they’re friends with, but I still don’t think that you should jump on a car like this, regardless of whether the owner tells you it’s OK. I’m a total pacifist, and this incident makes me want to support capital punishment. To hell with these pieces of [expletive deleted].

You don’t have to have a Harvard MBA to realize that “more” is the four-letter word that drives the exotic supercar market. More power. More speed. More sex appeal. More exclusivity. And, let’s get real: when folks slide into the driver’s seat of an exotic, many of them wind up needing more room — for their egos. So what’s up with the latest-and-greatest Lamborghini Gallardo?

As its numeric designation indicates, the new 550-horsepower LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni gives up 10 ponies to the reigning mainstream model, the Gallardo LP 560-4. (Lucky you, if you’re in a tax bracket where a $233,000 car is mainsteam.) The 550-2 takes a couple tenths longer to sprint from zero to 62 mph (3.9 seconds vs. 3.7). The Baboni Gallardo even comes up short in the top speed department: 199 mph vs. a hair under 202 for the 560-4.

If this all sounds, well, backward, no one at Lamborghini will argue with you. If fact Valentino Balboni himself is the first to agree, because the car that bears his name is about going back — to basics. Basic, in this case, being rear-wheel-drive like the Countach and Miura.

Continue reading and view more photos at MOTORMAVENS.Com

Ben over at Jalopnik said no, but a bunch of their readers said yes. So what do you think? This Murcie is owned by Swedish freeskier Jon Olsson.

Almost exactly a year ago, we got tipped off that Underground Racing had built a twin turbo Gallardo, and CarDomain members went predictably bonkers over it. Well, Heffner Performance has upped the ante, and gone ahead and mounted a twin screw system to the Murcielago. Here’s a quote from the company regarding the set-up:

After several long months of development we have completed our twin turbo Murcielago. As of August 2009 we have tuned the car up to 1 bar of boost which resulted in just over 1100 at the wheels. For now we are playing around with the car at various boost levels and documenting the differences in performance with our trusty V Box. In 90 degree heat the car pulled off a 5.10 second 60-130 at around 950 RWHP. For reference a stock 580 horsepower Murcielago takes around 9.5 seconds to make the leap from 60 to 130.  With a little more boost it will dip into the 4 second range for sure.

While I realize some people think this kind of power is absolutely ridiculous, if I had the coin, I’d definitely hand my Raging Bull over to Heffner for a steroid injection. Listen to it scream on the dyno below, and head over to StreetFire for some in-car footage of the beast accelerating on the freeway.

Sometimes I come across things that leave me speechless. I really don’t know what to say about this. But I’ll try… I’ve started this post with the best picture of the car. The 16 year-old in me actually really loves this picture, and I could even say this is pretty bad ass to do on a Lamborghini—despite seeing similar attempts on Honda Civics for the past decade that I’d like to forget. The rear diffuser fin lights are actually pretty damn cool, if nothing else. If the car was all normal and just those fins were illuminated I’d give it a 100% WIN. But it goes downhill from here. Continue reading at the Real JDM.

The Reiter Lamborghini Murcielago Strada concept has been making the rounds on the internet recently. Rather than talk about the car, which you can find elsewhere, I just want to discuss my first impression of just one part of the car…

Check out the exhaust tip placement.

I love seeing things different than the norm, and sometimes when I see new things I need to really consider why they exist and if there is actually a future in it or just a random trend. Clearly the possiblity of placing the exhaust finisher/exit ports in a location like that is far easier to execute on a rear engined car than a front engined car. Yet without a doubt a tuning trend has continued to point towards the higher mounting of the exhaust tips whenever possible. We’ve seen this with higher mounted exhaust on the Amuse GT1 S2000. We’ve seen even more subtle S2000 examples with the Mugen SS rear bumper and exhaust combination which moves the exhaust up ever so slightly. The primary advantage in those cases is aerodynamics and controlling under body turbulence (putting a diffuser well below the exhaust and getting the pipes out of the way).

Continue reading "Future Tuning Trend? High Exiting Exhaust Tips" »

I just happened to stumble across Mecca. Jason Thorgalsen recently photographed the most impressive Supercar Garage I’ve ever seen and it couldn’t have come at a better time. You guys aren’t going to believe what he found. Here’s a direct quote:

Recently, I was invited to a friends place to check out his house and car collection. Among his collection he has 2 Challenge Stradales, Murcielago, Carrera GT, and a F40. The black CS has some nice mods done to it including straight pipes, gold rims, and a Scuderia stripe in matte black. The Murcielago has the AWD system converted to RWD with a few other mods so its a real monster! Last but not least the Carrera GT has straight pipes! When you finally leave the garage, you walk through the house and come to find the F40 sitting right next to the living room! The whole room is dedicated to Ferrari, so having a real one in there just seems right. Then in the living room is one of the best video game setups I have ever seen. Four of us sat down and got to racing on Forza 2. It was pretty fun racing head to head while trash talking to the person right next to you.

Sixteen more pictures after the jump.

Continue reading "Speaking of Supercar Garages…" »

So, off I went to San Francisco to check out a new club. This one is called Club Sportiva. Join this one and you get to do INSANE DRIVING!!!!!!

Pricey for sure, but we aren’t drivin’ Pintos. In this episode of “World of Cars,” I’m screamin’ the best of the best. Serious machines through the streets of San Fran. And taking a Lambo down Haight Street yelling “Down with corporate greed!” made it a day worth remembering.

If you can’t buy an exotic, DO THIS.

If I ever make it over to Italy, going to Sant’Agata to see the Lamborghini factory is going to be one of the first things I do. Obviously, there are tons of gorgeous shots in this Supercars Exposed clip, but just getting to see the Murcielago’s massive V12 laid bare makes the entire clip worth watching. The only thing I was a little confused about? In the very beginning, there’s a shot of someone applying a Lamborghini racing sticker. The footage looks old, and since Lamborghini didn’t participate in motorsports until recently, I have to wonder what’s going on there. Anybody know?

Yes, that Balboni. As in, the same lucky mother who’s been a test driver for Lamborghini since 1968 and driven over 80 percent of all Raging Bulls ever created, Valentino Balboni. It would seem Lamborghini wants to pay tribute to its chief test driver by working up yet another wicked variation of the Gallardo. The 5.2-liter V10 behind the seats has been ever so lightly detuned to offer up a mere 550 horsepower, all of which kick at the rear tires. With the Gallardo’s delicious all-wheel drive system in pieces, the engineers at Lamborghini had to rework their magic on the car’s suspension – serving up new spring rates, stabilizers, tires and dampers. At a featherweight 3,035 lbs, this sucker clicks off the naught to sixty dash in 3.9 seconds. If you’ve got $219,300 lying around and can lay your greedy paws on one of the 250 to be built, give us a call. We’ll be your new best friend. More pics at MotorAuthority

When I was covering American LeMans Series last year, I absolutely loved watching the GT1 and GT2 classes race, and this GT3 clip from Italy makes me miss being at the track. Of course, it’s awesome to see the ‘Vettes, Vipers, Astons and Ferraris on the grid, but I’m particularly stoked to see Lamborghinis being driven in anger. We may never know for sure why Ferruccio never fielded his Raging Bulls, but you have to admit, they look gorgeous in racing livery. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; there’s nothing sexier than an exotic car stripped of its niceties and turned into a race machine. Great work on this footage SpeedHunters!