Lamborghini Aventador

By Shaer Lamb o Grihini Reaz

The world's fastest grandfather clock, the Lamborghini Murcielago, has finally been shown the exit door. New for 2011, the Lamborghini Aventador replaces the Murcielago as the head of the Lambo mafia-very fitting indeed.

With bodywork quite clearly being based on the revered Lamborghini Reventon, the Aventador is guaranteed to turn heads due to no reason other than the trademark bright paintjobs of today's Lambos. The numerous slats and vents, combined with the swoopy curves (with the occasional slash here and there) are what make this (or any other Lambo ever made) very, very special. The designers at Centro Stile Lamborghini were primarily inspired by aeroplanes, mostly of the jet fighter category and it shows too - the nose and the rear three quarters have air scoops like those on fighters like the F15 and F/A22 Raptor. No flagship Lambo would be complete without a set of Lambo doors (no way! Where did that one come from) so the Aventador gets a pair (not just one, that'd be weird).

According to its tradition, Lamborghini's new flagship bears the name of a bull - naturally, a particularly courageous specimen from the world of the Spanish Corrida. Aventador was the name of a bull that entered into battle in October 1993 at the Saragossa Arena, earning the "Trofeo de la Peña La Madroñera" for its outstanding courage. What a load of bull. The entire occupant cell, with the tub and roof, is one single physical component. This ensures extreme rigidity and thus outstanding driving precision, as well as an extremely high level of passive safety for the driver and his passenger - seems kind of an oxymoronic, since bull fighting is supposed to be thrilling only due to the element of danger involved.

Thankfully, the quality of the interior design has improved after Audi took control of Lamborghini. While not as apparent in the Gallardo (developed while under Audi), the Aventador reeks of high end luxury inside. Quilted leather seats with colour coded stitching, a beautifully and ergonomically designed dashboard combine to give an experience worth the $400,000USD price tag.

For the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, the engineers in Lamborghini's R&D Department have developed a completely new high-performance engine - an extremely powerful and high-revving, but very compact power unit. The lightweight 6.5 litre V12 puts out 700 hp and 509 lb-ft of torque, astonishing numbers when compared with its predecessor, the Murcielago. Since it hasn't hit production fully and none has been delivered, there are only speculations about the Aventador's acceleration numbers (around 3 secs 0-60mph). Expect the top speed to be well in excess of 210mph and the noise levels to be phenomenal, in typical Lambo fashion.

2011 is already proving to be the year of the supercar, what with the likes of the Pagani Huayra, the Lamborghini Aventador, Ferrari 599 GTO and the Koenigsegg Agera being launched right around this time. The Geneva Auto show was teeming with new sports and supercars, spitting in the face of the global recession. As long as these cars are sold side by side with the holier-than-thou hybrids that are popping up everywhere, it'd make life a bit more bearable for car enthusiasts like me. My fingers are firmly crossed for a couple more of these wallet-busting drool-cars in the near future.

The topic last time around was Painted Faces and we got a quite a handful of good entries. In the end the entry below was chosen because it took an innovative approach to address the topic. For next week we give you Puppet Strings. Entries must be written within 500 words and sent in by noon Sunday to ds.risingstars@gmail.com

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By Niladry Sabir

You're tired of being all that you need to be. You resolve to finally sit down and take a break, lunge free from the woven tapestry of life and jump into your own world of illusions.

This world doesn't exaggerate what you see, rather it clears your vision towards the melancholy, the morbid, and pushes them towards mitigation. All of a sudden, you see colours, there, right in front of you. The photo album you have been staring at becomes a portfolio of your observations.

You open the album to find two perfectly normal pictures taken years ago of you and your then-best friend. They all seem ordinary, none capturing your interest. You keep turning until a colour splash snatches your attention.

It's a red picture, mixed with black, of the same best friend years later. Her eyes are lined with black, her smile twisted into something that could be called a smirk, her cheeks illuminated with a crimson that reminds you of bloodlust.

You turn the page and see another face. Completely white, it's that of the boy you always used to stare at without reason. The white is pure, the white was innocent. It reminds you of the guilt of having forgotten about his friendship.

Your fingers work, and you see your nemesis, the pride of pure gold irritating your eyes. Your vision lingers because you see your own face beside hers, silver showing the way you condescend her.

The image beside it shows the pale greyness of he who calls you up once in a while to let you open your mind, speak what you feel. The grey saddens you as you struggle to remember the last time you had asked him about his illness, tried to reincarnate his fading hope.

The last picture blooms into your lover's face - all happy and not a single spot of change in colours. The only difference between illusion and reality is your face that shows the azure envious hypocrite that can never be satisfied.

You close your eyes and sigh. Masks can take different shapes, can completely change who you are. Paint, however, only works with the base of what you are. It's just an adapted version of the real owner's true emotions. As your brief vision fades, so does your point of view, and you wonder if illusions can die. Maybe what seemed real to you, what made you want to be better was all unreal. Maybe the painted faces lied.