Lamborghini Gallardo News

Mix the Mountain with GT3 action — and a stellar show of exotics is lured to Bathurst.

An adrenalin rush at the wheel of a rented Lamborghini Gallardo ended in a roaring crash into a Flinders surf shop on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.Patrons at the Flinders Hotel put down their beers as the yellow Gallardo -- believed to have been hired as a birthday celebration --  careered out of control through a roundabout, took out some poles on sleepy Cook St and let out a roar as it launched into the vacant shop near the pub."He came from the pier end flew through," one witness said. The driver, believed to be a man in his 30s, suffered a minor injury but seemed fine after the incident. "He was laughing about it, thought it was funny," she said.The witness said the Lamborghini, owned by Ultimate Driver, is one of three regularly seen being driven around the area. Its front end crumpled on impact and will require extensive repair. Its pricey 5.2-litre 10-cylinder engine -- which generates 412kW of power and 540Nm of torque -- however, is behind the driver.It has been reported the fast supercar was rented for the man's birthday. The Lamborghini Gallardo price tags start at around $400,000 for the current model, which is being phased out with a new Lambo on the way. 

The Lamborghini dealership brings the luxury Italian car back to the city following the closure of Sydney’s William St store several years ago after it went into receivership. The dealership has opened right before the launch of its new superstar, the Huracan, which is the Gallardo’s replacement.Dealer principal Dwyer Ogle said the newly-opened dealership was good news for NSW’s Lamborghini lovers. “If you have to become a Lamborghini dealer and if you have to open that dealership one month before the launch of the newest model, it is good to be in close proximity to Leichhardt, which is renowned for excellence in all things Italian. We think it is a pretty good location,” he said.“Traditionally the inner west is where most Lamborghinis were sold, which sometimes surprises people who would expect it to be the eastern suburbs.“The majority of orders for the new model are coming from inner west-based customers.” The Huracan made its auto show debut at the 2014 Geneva Auto Show and is scheduled to be released in the second quarter of 2014.The Gallardo was Lamborghini’s most successful model, selling more than 14,000 cars in its lifetime and representing 75 per cent of all Lamborghinis ever sold.Sydney’s Lamborghini enthusiasts were treated to a sneak peak of the vehicle at an event held by Autosports Lamborghini Sydney recently, which meant guests had the chance to check out the car even before its launch at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month.The dealership is owned by the Sydney-based Autosports group, which includes Audi’s Five Dock dealership and employs more than 200 inner west locals. It also has the only Australian Lamborghini-approved collision repair centre, Autohaus Prestige, which is located in Five Dock.Mr Ogle said there was a lot to admire about the Huracán. The Lamborghini’s V10-powered Huracán can go from 0-200km/h in just 9.9 seconds and the car weighs just 1422kg. “The idea of the car is absolute extreme performance coupled with everyday useability in terms of its behaviour on the road,” he said.“Stick it on the track and it is a weapon, stick it on the road and it is as mild-mannered as most other motor cars.The 2010 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera is now being replaced by Huracan. “The days of people accepting their supercars as highly strung creatures are over. People want to enjoy their cars and go away on the weekends with them.”The dealership also sells Fiats and Alfa Romeos and has already received a rush of orders for the Huracán. Autosports Lamborghini Sydney boasts a state-of-the-art interactive program where prospective customers can custom design their own vehicle and then place an order.The Huracan:- Price starts at $465,000- The car is powered by a 5.2 litre V10 engine, produces 448kW and 560Nm of torque- Can hit 200km/h in 9.9 seconds and reach a top speed of 325km/hLove your Lambos? Then watch this space - one of our journalists is planning to go for a spin in a Lamborghini next month.

The 45-year-old will tackle the 12-hour sports car endurance race aboard the No. 99 Lamborghini Gallardo LP520 with long-time friend Peter Hill and gentleman racer Simon Middleton.The Hollywood actor has raced in the Bathurst enduro twice - leading the race in 2011 before his co-driver crashed out - and is excited to be back behind the wheel at the legendary Mount Panorama."I can't wait to get back to the circuit," the man behind the movie Love the Beast said on Tuesday. "The car is fantastic to drive, and the thought of competing once again with a couple of mates at this event is very exciting. I am thrilled that my calendar has allowed me to once again test myself at one of the worlds most demanding circuits."The car is the same one Bana tweeted about at a track day late last year, which led to he and former Formula 1 racer Mark Webber putting together plans to race together in next year's Bathurst 12 Hour.This time around Bana's car won't be a contender for outright honours, their 2008-model Lamborghini competing in Class B while a host of international and local sports car stars race for the win in Class A. "We are there to have some serious fun among an incredible line up of International A-Level Endurance Teams and Drivers."Read the full story at Fox Sports.No such thing as a bad day at @PICircuit, 2008 spec GT3 Lambo, time for another #Bathurst12hour ?? pic.twitter.com/W0eBGWpS7q— Eric Bana (@EricBana67) November 8, 2013

It's enough to make you weep - a $200,000 Lamborghini is off to the wreckers after a test run ended in disaster. The owner was left devastated after the luxury car, due to be delivered to him yesterday by Lorbek Luxury Cars, was written off in an accident while being tested. A mechanic was driving the car when a woman did a U-turn on Arden St, North Melbourne, and hit it. The dealership said the car was a rarity in being near-new and in perfect condition. The 2004 yellow Lamborghini Gallardo had one previous owner, had travelled just 18,453km and was a six-speed manual coupe that retailed for $200,000. Lorbek Luxury Cars owner Srecko Lorbek said: 'We are very upset and the owner is devastated. Perfect cars like this one are hard to find and we went to a lot of trouble to find it. This one was a particularly special one." Mr Lorbek said his dealership would not resell the car.  

The equivalent of more than $1.5 million has crashed and burned on an expressway in Malaysia, where three Lamborghinis formed their own very expensive Italian supercar pile-up.The cars -- a black Aventador, green Gallardo and an orange Gallardo Superleggera with STS spoiler -- had been travelling from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in a group of five Lambos on a charity event when one driver smashed into the guardrail. Another two failed to react quickly enough to avoid the crashed car, and ended up joining it, with all three catching fire.Later reports have since indicated the accident may have been caused by a local driver swerving towards the three Lamborghinis, with the first one crashing in an effort to avoid the swerving car and the others smashing in a chain reaction.Luckily the drivers escaped without injuries, according to Yahoo News Singapore, however there's no indication yet of what speed the cars were doing at the time, or how close they were to each other in the convoy.Emergency services crews extinguished the blaze, but by the looks of the photos posted on Twitter, the three Lamborghinis are likely all a write-off.The Aventador, which was pinned to the guardrail by the other two cars, sells in Australia from $761,500 while the Gallardo starts at $409,500 -- with both also incurring a hefty Luxury Car Tax whack. Insurance may well cover the cost of the cars in the crash, although the Gallardo owners might have trouble replacing them, as the model is about to reach the end of its life.Watch the desktop version of the three Lamborghinis crash and burn video here. This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Lamborghini unveiled the new Gallardo LP 570-4 Squadra Corse at Frankfurt as the second special racing edition spawned by its Super Trofeo series. So of course we want to see it on the track, and the Italian brand has complied with a video giving our first look at it in track action.Almost a clone of the Super Trofeo racer, the street-legal Gallardo LP 570-4 Squadra Corse borrows technology and weight-reduction strategies from the track version, including high-downforce aerodynamics, considerable use of carbon fibre and aluminium -- and a quick-release engine bay cover.Under that cover is the same V10 engine used in the Super Trofeo mated to a robotised e-gear six-speed transmission operated by steering wheel paddles, punting the all-wheel drive Squadra Corse to 100km/h in just 3.4 seconds and on to 200km/h in 10.4 seconds with a top speed of 320km/h.Watch video of the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Squadra Corse here.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

Seeing more than 100 Lamborghinis travelling in a rapid convoy is not one of the world’s more common sights, but that’s exactly what the supercar maker’s recent celebration of its 50th anniversary managed to create. The event saw 350 of the raging bull-badged models converge on Lamborghini’s home town of Sant’Agata in Italy.  Despite far from ideal supercar weather, a keen Lamborghini fan managed to capture at least 100 of the celebrating Lambos converge on a hairpin bend in procession. The convoy is somewhat of a walk down Lamborghini memory lane, with a 350GT, a couple of Muiras, Espadas and Countaches, a few Diablos, several Gallardo, Murcielago and Aventadors -- all displaying their distinctive visual and audible wares. For the keen-eyed, at least four of the Aventadors can be seen puffing blue flames from their exhaust orifices on overrun.   Watch the Lamborghini hairpin convoy video here. This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn  

The Lamborghini Gallardo is about 10 years old and is well due for retirement and a replacement. Cue the Lamborghini Cabrera. That's the working name of the car that will replace the Gallardo, and the latest images -- snapped while the Cabrera was testing at the Nurburgring circuit in Feb -- show it's echoing the long lean lines of the Aventador.The new entry-level supercar is tipped to be powered by an updated version of the 5.2-litre V10 engine found in the current model, but with extra output extracted to hit 447kW -- a hike of about 40kW over the current base model Gallardo and 28kW over the top-spec version. Following Lamborghini's naming convention, that could also the a LP 600-4 added to the eventual moniker.You can depend on it having standard all-wheel drive, although it's likely a rear-wheel drive version will continue to be offered. A new seven-speed dual clutch transmission is set to replace the aging e-gear automated manual, but there's little chance of a pure manual shifter.Aluminium and carbon fibre will largely comprise the construction to help save weight, with a drop expected from the Gallardo's tare mass of 1600kg (1470kg for the rear-wheel drive).The Cabrera is tipped to arrive late in 2014, and Volkswagen Group-owned brand will be sharing the Lamborghini platform with stablemate Audi for its second-generation R8, which should arrive about a year after the Lambo.This reporter is on Twitter: @karlapincott

Grand Theft Auto truly was the first blockbuster game of the modern gaming era. GTA III, launched to almost universal acclaim in 2001 on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox reinvented how we play games and reset our thinking about what we might find in games.There had been big world games before GTA - and plenty since - but none had been so well-executed or offered the variety DMA (now Rockstar North) and its hugely talented team could cram into a disc.GTA sets itself apart from the rest of the herd by being a fantastic piece of storytelling before anything else. Many games that want to be anything like GTA forget that the story can't just be a series of set pieces with the story shoe-horned in around them. Their disregard for story is reflected in the lacklustre voice-acting and direction.GTA games are always funny and always well-acted and written. The story holds you, rather than being an inconvenience.Grand Theft Auto V yet again challenges the status quo. Its world is truly massive, surely the biggest of any game, but with a rich environment full of people and buildings and cars. You could conceivably fill weeks roaming around and finding plenty of little things to do without ever touching the main game.The main game is as controversial as ever. Australia's newly-minted R rating was almost made for games from the Rockstar stable. The team has never been far from controversy and has often pointed to Australian censors' inability to understand the genre.The fictional city of Los Santos joins Vice City and Liberty City as a fully-formed urban environment, completely devoid of any sense of morality.You can cheerfully mow down pedestrians with your car or motorbike, randomly assault passers-by and, as part of the story, rob jewellery shops, slaughter rival gangs and spend a lot of time up to absolutely no good at all.The game itself is much the same as before, but with a refined set of gameplay mechanics. Its slick execution is the result of a rumoured budget of $245 million and five year development. The wealth of experience that came from working on GTA IV with both the PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles means that Rockstar has pushed them to their limits in their twilight years.The cars are, as ever, a wonderful mixture of real cars but with fake names and just enough tweaking to keep the lawyers away. Each of them has their own very distinct handling model, from floaty, long-travel suspension on the Range Rover Sport-like Gallivanter Baller through to the flat-everywhere Voltic by Coil, a rip-off of the Tesla Roadster.From Trevor's falling-apart redneck truck, through to Gallardo and R8-esque machines you can steal from the street, there's sixty years of carefully filtered automotive history lying around Los Santos' many streets.Go to the airport and you can drive a tug or fly a plane. You can jump in the water and hijack an array of boats, grab your scuba gear and go diving or, if you're feeling green (or short of time) catch the tram or train around.In and out of game missions, you can race through the streets of the city, from densely packed narrow streets through to the mobile-home populated, wide open desert of Sandy Shores. Street furniture, such as lights and park benches will either fall over when you hit them or, if they're a little more stout, stop you in your tracks.The variety of experience is worth the purchase, let alone the fun of playing the missions. That variety is further enhanced with a 16-player online mode where you can co-operatively rob a bank or race through the streets.The three main characters in the single-player mode - Franklin, Michael and Trevor - are hardened criminals in their own right. Each has a rich back story and an even richer line in dark humour. Trevor is particularly amusing as he is rolled-gold nuts and gets all the best lines.The three characters are deeply flawed and have poor impluse control - Michael catches his wife en flagrante with the tennis coach, so pulls down what he thinks is the man's house. It turns out to be owned by a gangster who then appears at Michael's house with a baseball bat and a demand for $2.5 million to fix the house.These character flaws are integral to the story and allow for spectacular missions. The ever-present police add to the challenge as they're far more persistent in this iteration - and less stupid.GTA V is a stunning achievement because it does everything so well. It is absolutely not a game for children - the bare breasts in the strip clubs and the already-infamous torture scene see to that (not to mention the extremely colourful language, horrific storylines and unrelenting violence).For car lovers it's a game of Eye Spy as you try to match the various in-game cars with their real world counterparts and gravitate to the one closest to your own tastes. The game is a hilarious free-for-all with a dark sense of humour and sense of the ridiculous. It engages the brain not just for problem-solving but with its epic, blockbuster feel.Hollywood should rightly be terrified of the increasing revenues of video games, because games like GTA V show how much better than a movie a video game can be.