Yahoo Movies Nothing Sounds Better Than a Murciélago on a Dyno
With the manual gearbox all but an extreme rarity in the world of modern supercars, the value of cars that offer that experience have skyrocketed. This trend includes vehicles like the Lamborghini Murciélago, which featured a gated six-speed gearbox in limited quantities during its production run. Thanks to the team at Hoonigan, we have a chance to see just how much horsepower the 6.2-liter V-12 in the back of one of these rare manual machines is able to lay down on the dyno.
The car in question is a 2003 Lamborghini Murciélago owned by a gentleman named Ace. He purchased the V-12 Lambo with around 19,000 miles on the clock, but it is now approaching the 60,000-mile mark on the odometer. During that time, the car has remained nearly mechanically stock. As it sits today, the car runs a titanium exhaust system with an X-pipe, while a Gintani tune is installed on the ECU. The visual mods are a bit more extensive, including a rear spoiler borrowed from one of Lambo’s GT1 racers of that period. The JDM-style Itasha livery probably isn’t to everyone’s taste, but it's hard to ignore how good the Rotiform Aerodiscs look up front. Any disagreements about the visual cues will surely be silenced by the sound coming out of the rear of the car, regardless. The clip does a great job of highlighting why owners of these cars tend to tweak the exhaust system. The noise is still unmistakably V-12 Lamborghini, but with just enough of that F1 texture we all desire.
Lamborghini says that the early Murciélago V-12 is good for 572 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque at the crank. Strapping the Lambo up to K&N’s all-wheel drive dyno, it was always clear the car wouldn’t get close to that figure during the test. That said, it is somewhat surprising to learn that the V-12 was only able to muster ratings of 455 hp and 435 hp during its two respective passes. The peak torque number was also only ever as high as 300 lb-ft, which is fairly far off from what you might expect. The crew cut testing short so as to not risk any injury to the pricey V-12 engine.
Those figures actually make the Murciélago the least powerful car to be tested in the “Dyno Everything” series. That’s not a knock against Lamborghini in any way, but more a testament to the metal that Hoonigan brings through the door. Even if the Murci wasn’t able to nab a top spot on the charts, Hoonigan will be hard pressed to find a better sounding machine to put through that test.
You Might Also Like
