(from Lamborghini Press Release) In the late afternoon of October 5th
1879, after a fierce fight in the arena of Cordoba, a bull named Murciélago from Joaquin del Val di Navarra’s farm, had his life spared
by the famous matador Rafael Molina “Lagartijo”. This was a very rare
occurrence in bullfighting, and an honour accorded only to those bulls
that have shown exceptional courage and spirit in the arena. And
Murciélago was indeed such a bull. He was subsequently given to
the breeder Don Antonio Miura, and went on to father a formidable line
of fighting bulls that extends right down to the present day.
True to the tradition in which the bull has
always been the symbol of the prestigious motorcar company founded by
Ferruccio Lamborghini--born under the sign of Taurus, no less--the
management at Automobili Lamborghini have decided to baptise the latest
car in the noble line with the name of a fighting bull. And so, after a
succession of names linked to the world of the corrida, such as Miura,
Jslero, Urraco, Bravo, Jalpa and Espada (the latter being Spanish for
sword, the weapon of the matador, and thus a symbol for the matador
himself) we now have Murciélago--which coincidentally also means "bat"
in Spanish.
The Lamborghini Murciélago is 2-seater,
2-door coupé (with the now familiar gull-wing doors) based on the
traditional Lamborghini layout: mid-mounted V12 engine, typical
Lamborghini transmission with the gearbox mounted in front of the engine
and the rear differential integrated into the engine unit, permanent
four-wheel drive with central viscous coupler.
This layout, successfully employed by Lamborghini for more than 30
years, affords an optimal weight distribution (42% front and 58% rear)
with conspicuous advantages for traction, braking and handling.
The Murciélago chassis has been stiffened considerably to achieve a
torsional rigidity value in excess of 20,000 Nm/°. The suspension
design (independent double wishbones) represents the best possible
solution for a high-performance GT and, again, is in keeping with
Lamborghini tradition. The external bodywork panels are made from
carbon fibre, with the exception of the steel roof and door panels.
The rear of the car features two "active" intakes for the engine cooling
air. With the exclusive VACS (“Variable Air-flow Cooling System”), the
aperture of these air intakes can be varied to suit the driving
conditions. Furthermore, to ensure correct aerodynamic equilibrium at
all speeds, the angle of the rear spoiler can also be altered. According
to the speed of the car, the rear spoiler can assume three different
positions: closed from 0 to130 km/h, partially open (50) between 130
and 220 km/h and fully open (70°) above 220 km/h. Depending on the
aperture of the air intakes and the position of the rear spoiler, the
car's Cx coefficient varies from a minimum of 0.33 to a maximum of 0.36.
Bi-xenon headlights
produce both main and dipped beams. For the
windscreen wiper, it was decided to adopt the proven single-arm
pantograph design. This system increases the area swept by the wiper
blade, thereby reducing blind spots in the visual field of the driver,
and operates correctly at high speed without obstructing the driver's
view when at rest.
The wing mirrors can be folded electrically and are mounted on long
support arms so that the driver can see beyond the rear wings, which are
especially prominent when the air intakes are open. However, mirror
stability is not compromised, even at high speeds.
