Lamborghini Gallardo 2013 News

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 

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. 

It was only a few months ago that Lamborghini founded its Squadra Corse department to handle its motorsport activities, including its one-make series, the Blancpain Super Trofeo. The Super Trofeo race series spawned its own special-edition racing Gallardo, and now the Squadra Corse department has given us another. Also based on the Gallardo Super Trofeo, the Gallardo LP 570-4 Squadra Corse is a road-going car that leverages technology and weight savings from race car, including extensive use of aluminium and carbon fibre, high-downforce aerodynamics, and quick-release engine cover. The engine is the same V10 used in the race car, accelerating the car to 100 km/h in just 3.4 seconds and to 200 mph in 10.4 seconds. Top speed is 320 km/h. The quick acceleration isn't just about power, however, as Lamborghini has managed to cut the Squadra Corse's weight by about 70 kg compared to the Gallardo LP 560-4. Like the Super Trofeo race cars, the LP 570-4 Squadra Corse is all-wheel drive, and comes standard with the robotised e-gear six-speed transmission operated by steering wheel paddles. The design of the car is intended to highlight the brand's Italian roots, with a decal strip along the flank of each car in the colours of the Italian flag: green, white, and red. Available exterior colours are yellow, white, grey, and red, with a matte black rear wing and high-gloss treatments for the hood, intakes, wheels, and rear diffuser. Inside each Squadra Corse is a minimalist interior finished principally in carbon fibre and Alcantara. The Gallardo LP 570-4 Squadra Corse will make its world debut at the Frankfurt motor show this September and is expected to be the last Gallardo variant before the car's successor arrives.  

If you were thinking Lamborghini’s run of concept reveals were over for the year, you had better think again, as word on the street is that the Italian sports car manufacturer is planning a new concept for the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show in September. But unlike the previous Veneno and Egoista concepts, which were more about celebrating Lambo’s 50th birthday (as well as shamelessly grabbing attention) than showing serious production intent, the latest concept is said to preview the automaker’s replacement for the Gallardo. Autocar, citing sources close to Lamborghini, reports that the new concept will closely preview the Gallardo replacement due in showrooms in the second half of 2014. The car will be joined about a year later by a second-generation Audi R8, which it will share a lightweight multi-material platform with. Instead of going exclusively with aluminum or carbon fiber, the multi-material platform will combine aluminium and carbon fiber and perhaps even some fiberglass to make a structure that’s almost as sturdy and light as a full carbon structure, but significantly cheaper to produce. To help differentiate the two cars, the Lamborghini is expected to have a slightly shorter wheelbase. Overall weight of the Lamborghini should be less, too, and should come in under the1497kg curb weight of the Gallardo. The Gallardo’s 5.2-litr V-10 will carry over, but with extensive revisions to deliver more power and fewer emissions. Peak output should come in at 435kW. This means the new car is likely to be an LP 600-4. Note, an engine with these very specs was previewed in the Egoista concept. And yes, all-wheel drive will remain standard, though rear-wheel drive is likely to be offered at some point during the car’s life. A seven-speed dual-clutch transmission will be fitted instead of the Gallardo’s e-gear automated manual, and we’re not expecting a conventional three-pedal manual to be offered anymore. Styling, meanwhile, is likely to be influenced by the Egoista and earlier Sesto Elemento, both of which were based on Gallardo running gear. In particular, look for the Egoista’s active flaps to make it over onto the Gallardo replacement’s bodywork. As for its name, this too remains up in the air, though one of the possibilities making the rounds is “Cabrera.” In Lamborghini tradition this name comes from a legendary Spanish fighting bull, though it roughly translates to “goatherder” in Catalan and Spanish. www.motorauthority.com  

A Chinese journalist has smashed a Lamborghini Gallardo during a media launch outside the city of Hangzhou. The driver reportedly lost control of the new Lamborghini while driving on wet road with other journalists. The all-wheel drive Gallardo spun, wiping out both the front and rear. The driver reportedly was uninjured, but the car -- which costs 3.3 million yuan (about $530,000) in China but sells for between $400,000 and $578,000 here -- will be written off according to Car News China. The report states that the car was the newly-facelifted Gallardo that debuted at Paris motor show in September last year. It says the 30-year-old journalist, whose name is listed only as Zhu, was an experienced driver.  

The confirmation of the car will see it as one of three supercars on the Lamborghini stand at the Show ahead of its on-sale date later this year. This will give the Australian public their first official look at this all-new entry-level supercar. The Gallardo LP550-2 Spyder is the only convertible rear-wheel-drive variant in the Italian supercar manufacturer’s line-up and has been inspired by Valentino Balboni, who was Lamborghini’s test driver for over 40 years. Making its second official appearance in Australia will be the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, which was also at the 2011 Australian International Motor Show. Since its introduction last year, the Aventador, with its jet-fighter inspired styling and lightweight 60-degree V12 engine capable of reaching 0-100km/hour in just 2.9 seconds, has achieved success globally. “Lamborghini is always a crowd favourite at the Australian International Motor Show and we are excited they will be displaying their newest and most popular models in Sydney, as well as debuting an all-new stand design,” said Russ Tyrie, Show Director. “At this stage, we can confirm that a third vehicle will feature on the Lamborghini stand; whilst we cannot give exact details just yet, it will be a show-stopping concept never before seen in Australia.” The 2012 Australian International Motor Show will be held at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour from October 19-28, 2012. For further information about the Show and to purchase tickets, visit www.motorshow.com.au, which is also compatible with all android and Apple mobile devices.  

Drifting a 419kW Lamborghini around the twisties seems dangerous enough - but imagining doing it at altitudes above 2000m on a snow-covered mountain road. And not just any road. This is the Transfagarasan - a dramatic stretch of asphalt that is one of the world’s great drives, and which was applauded by BBC's Top Gear in their 14th season opener Romanian GT Road Trip. The video is a behind the scenes look at  a photo shoot for the Lamborghini Magazine and features one of the most extreme Gallardos ever to be built. Limited to 150 units, the LP570-4 Super Tofeao Stadale is a street legal version of the radical Super Trofeo race car. It's got some serious grunt thanks to a V10 engine pumping out 419kW. As a result of a weight reduction of 70kg compared to the standard LP570-4 it's also blistering fast. Not only is 0 to 100 km/h achieved in 3.4 seconds but 200 km/h is reached in 10.4 seconds. We're not sure all that grunt would be especially useful in the snow but the driver's drifting skills as he's chased by a helicopter are sublime. Olaf Hauschulz's photographs from the day will be featured in the 10th issue of Lamborghini Magazine. Vlad Manu on Google+