Lamborghini’s Gift of the Century: The Centenario [Gallery]
When Ferruccio Lamborghini founded Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. in 1963, he never could have imagined what the marque would become. After working with agricultural equipment, oil heaters, and air conditioners, Lamborghini focused his talents on sports cars – the likes of which would come to rival Ferrari and other established companies.
100 Years
Fast forward to 2016 – 52 years after the original 350GT and over 40 years after the Countach that decorated so many car kids’ walls as posters – and we’ve reached Ferruccio Lamborghini’s 100th anniversary. In commemoration, Lamborghini was honored in the form of the Centenario LP 770-4: a carbon fiber monocoque frame draped in carbon fiber body panels and encasing a 759 horsepower V12 engine.
If you were one of the lucky attendees of the Petersen’s Lamborghini Cruise-In or at E3 you may have seen this work of art in person. If you weren’t so lucky, hopefully my words and photos can begin to do the Centenario some justice.
Lookin' Sharp
The overall shape of the car immediately screams Lamborghini – the blade-like shape we’ve all come to know and expect, but there’s something else. The car’s sharp geometric aero slices the air around the car from front to rear and on all four corners. Six blades make up the fins of the rear diffuser, allowing the air funneled in through the sizeable air dams in the front fascia and rear quarter panels to escape and pull the car closer to the road while each wheel sports a set of five carbon blade spokes to pass air over the brakes to aid in cooling. At every angle the car exudes an aggressiveness that must be acknowledged and appreciated, even if you’re the type of person that doesn’t love high dollar exotics.
The carbon fiber bodywork is only broken only by solid lines of bright yellow, around the bottom of the car, along the tops of the doors, and even wrapping the circumference of the tires. The interior of the car supplements the carbon fiber with alcantara and more yellow in the form of stitching, though the interior and exterior of the car can be (and have been) suited to each buyer’s preferences.
Raring to Go
As for the ‘performance’ of this performance machine, the powerplant puts the power to the road through a 4WD system complete with rear wheel steering to improve top speed stability and low speed cornering. Although I’ll surely never get to put it to the test, multiple sources have reported the combination of the 8,600 RPM redline and 13” wide rear wheels helps the Centenario break 62 MPH in 2.8 seconds... Absolutely lovely!
Exclusivity
By the time the North American debut at the Petersen came around, Lamborghini has decided to make only 20 roadsters and 20 coupes. Even before the car was seen in the flesh (or carbon fiber, in this case) all 40 cars were sold.
Hopefully we’ll see some of these make their way out into the public (imagine the crowd around one of these at a Cars and Coffee) but until then, enjoy the photos in the gallery above!
