Gallardo uses an aluminium bodyshell constructed on an automated production line at Sant’Agata. Naturally it offers huge torsional strength, but even with the benefit of aluminium suspension components, the car still weighs a portly 1420kg without a drop of fuel in the 90-litre tank. A lightweight the Gallardo is not.
Nothing other than double wishbones would suffice for the suspension, and as well as reducing unsprung mass, they’re supported by anti-roll bars at both ends, both of which sit remarkably close to each other. You see, the baby Lambo is actually a touch more foetus than infant, measuring just 4300mm in total length, while still sitting on a 2560mm wheelbase. It is a very small car on the road, a full 175mm shorter than a Ferrari 360 Modena.
Aluminium everywhere, diminutive dimensions: where does all the weight come from then? Two places, the first being the transmission. Like big brother, the baby Lambo uses a four-wheel-drive system whose front and rear limited slip differentials and centre viscous coupling add almost 100 kilos. We’re now far enough down the line not to worry about all-wheel-drive spoiling a supercar, and the Gallardo’s gene pool couldn’t be stronger: four-wheel-drive Lambos are the best of the lot.
The second weight penalty is equally unavoidable; 4961cc of 90-degree V10 is never going to float above the scales. The engine dominates everything and seems to take up half the car, and it carries with it some serious numbers: 492bhp at 7800rpm and 376lb ft at 4500rpm. Power rumbles through either a six speed manual ’box (tested here) or the same set of cogs hydraulically activated by two paddles behind the wheel for an extra £7600. Ferrari calls it an F1 change, Lambo calls it e-gear. We call them paddles.
The most interesting statistic is that £117k price. The world wants to tout the Gallardo as the Ferrari 360’s nemesis, but in reality it is £14k dearer and 92bhp stronger than the Ferrari - a clever ploy.