Whatever car you consider to be a supercar, chances are you either have a Lamborghini on that list or would be happy to place on on it when suggested. Whether you actually like Lamborghini or not is beside the point, right?
The above is pretty much me.
I have always been very aware of Lamborghini, but was never a fan. On average, I found the cars’ lines too sharp and the overall took to square. Even though I always looked when I saw one, I never paid an awful lot of attention.
Until the day I saw an Aventador.
I was at my usual track, Prestwold, for my annual driving experience. The Lamborghini was parked with its rear to me. My first thought was: “That is one WIDE car!”.
My second thought was in fact the realisation I liked it. It was unmistakably a Lamborghini: sharp lines, low, wide, but a bit less square. I found it strangely attractive. So much so, that I decided I wanted to drive it.
This was what I saw one day at Prestwold.
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Fast forward quite a few months and I had put the Aventador lower on the list of cars I wanted to drive. There was always something else on offer that I chose over the Lamborghini. My best friend decided to put a stop to that.
For my birthday she got me another go in the Aston Martin DB11 (always a pleasure!) and she added the Aventador.
During the drivers’ briefing I was told that the pedals in this car are located a tad to the left. There are only two pedals and they are placed in the centre of the footwell. They said it is a slightly strange experience, because it makes your seating position a bit awkward. That was most certainly true!
It wasn’t uncomfortable, but the positioning of the pedals makes it feel like your right foot is constantly on the brake. Obviously the brake pedal position is just downright unnatural. Thankfully I got used to it quickly enough.
Don’t think this is a normal driving experience, though. Apart from the strange pedal position, the car is also incredibly low and it seems the seats are even lower within it. You have to lower yourself into the car. The rear window is tiny, so there isn’t much to see in the rearview mirror. The wing mirrors are a decent size, but on a track these are used by the instructor, so you, as the driver, haven’t got the usual visibility. Thankfully you only really have to look ahead of you when driving on a track.
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I have mentioned this car is wide. The instructor told me to stay closer to the middle of the track otherwise I might go off track with the left wheels. That instruction was certainly a first!
Perhaps it’s just me, but I expected a Lamborghini to be as brutal to drive as it looks. The Aventador may look a bit more elegant than the other Lamborghinis, it still looks like a brutal and fast piece of machinery, so I fully expected something similar to the time I drove the Nissan GT-R (which almost ate me alive). I was wrong.
The Aventador is a surprisingly sophisticated car. Yes, it’s powerful and fast, but it handles very, very smoothly.
Like with previous reports of my track experiences, I have to note that I, of course, do not know if these cars are limited in any way. What I do know is that they do allow you to floor it, so no limitations there. For some reason I had expected to be pushed into my seat incredibly hard when flooring the Lamborghini, but no. It all felt like a little more than cruising.
Since the car is so wide, cornering is actually quite easy. It’s not hard to control the car at all, whatever you are doing – speeding up, braking, cornering.
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Does this mean I didn’t enjoy the drive? No, I really did enjoy it. I’m happy I finally drove the Aventador, because it certainly is an adventure. One thing is certain, I never want to drive it on the road. Visibility is a bit of a nightmare and the car’s size simply doesn’t help.
But it is fast and it is a beast, albeit a very well-behaved beast.
A Girl Who Loves Cars 