Lighter Murcielago here in ‘08

Lamborghini is rushing to unleash a monstrous, lightweight, rear-drive rocketship supercar late next year, as a last hurrah for Lamborghini’s Murcielago. Sources at Sant’Agata insist the new V12 flagship car will have even more power than the 650bhp Reventón, and will be crushingly fast in a straight line.To be dubbed the SV, Autocar understands that the new two-wheel drive Murcielago will be at least 100kg lighter than the Murcielago LP640’s 1660kgs. Aome insiders say the weight savings could amount to as much as 130kg.Losing the front differential and driveshafts will save Lamborghini more than 40kg alone, while lessons learned from the Gallardo Superleggera project will help for a great deal more.The LP640’s welded-tube steel chassis is a more difficult proposition to pare down than the aluminium-bodied Gallardo, though, and most of the larger car’s body panels are already in carbon fibre. Only its roof and door panels are aluminium.

Lambo’s dieticians will show no murcie

Lamborghini sources insist the SV program has followed the Superleggera program by dividing the focus into three areas: the interior, the exterior and the mechanicals.The body and the interior are the obvious parts to deal with first. The latter will become carbonfibre central; the inner door skins, the seat shells and the centre tunnel are all expected to be made from the stuff. The current leather-lined door panel will be replaced by one piece of die-cast carbon with a pull strap for a door handle. That will save around 2kg per door. Lamborghini will strip out the Kenwood multimedia system but, if it follows the Superleggera program, it will happily sell it back to you as an option. The electronic systems to raise and lower the spoiler, air intakes and front end will also go, and Lamborghini is almost certain to offer two carbonfibre rear wings – one far wider and more outrageous than the other. Sources insist that the Murcielago SV will receive all-new forged and machined alloy rims, which will save at least 6kg per corner themselves. The saving will be bigger in the rear, because the wheels are larger.The car will come as standard with the E-Gear transmission, both because it saves nearly 2kg and because Lamborghini is worried that life will be busy enough for SV drivers without negotiating the chromed gearshift gate of a manual transmission. There will also be massive weight losses through replacing aluminium structural parts with magnesium (brackets, for example) and any non-stressed component will also be lightened.

Powertrain engineers to find another 30 horses

So what of the Murcielago’s glorious mill? Insiders are saying that as much as 680bhp is possible, along with 516lb ft of torque, from what may be the final iteration of a 6.5-litre V12 that can trace its heritage to the pre-Muira era at Lamborghini. Expect new, lighter exhaust internals to serve the dual purposes of cutting weight and easing back pressure.The Murcielago’s traction control software will be heavily tweaked to cope with power being pumped exclusively through the rear wheels. The Murcielago has no skid-control systems. It will also have the fastest shift on a Lamborghini to date; shift times could drop from the current 0.4 seconds to just 0.2. Besides the road cars, Lamborghini could also use the car for homologation for privateer teams already running in the FIA GT championship.