First look: Lambo does it again with topless terror

LAMBORGHINI has released yet another 330km/h limited-edition roadster, this time a topless version of the Murcielago-based, jet-fighter-inspired Reventon which made its debut in coupe form at the 2007 Frankfurt motor show.

Two years on at this week’s 2009 show, the Italian supercar-maker wheeled out the Reventon Roadster, which it describes as its “most extreme car in the history of the brand”.

It is the second such limited-edition roadster under the Volkswagen-owned bull brand this year. Just five months ago, Lamborghini launched the limited-edition roadster version of the Murcielago, the LP650-4, which it then described as its “wildest Murcielago”.

The €1.1 million ($A1.86 million plus taxes) Reventon Roadster gets a few more kilowatts – 493kW compared with the Murcie roadster’s 478kW – courtesy of its top-shelf 6.5-litre V12 lifted from another of Lamborghini’s limited-run models, the lightweight Murcielago LP670-4 SuperVeloce coupe.

However, the open-top Reventon is no faster across the ground than the Murcielago roadster – both covering the 0-100km/h sprint in 3.4 seconds and topping out at 330km/h.

Like the original Reventon coupe, only 20 of the Reventon Roadsters will be built for “friends and collectors” of Lamborghini, making it one of the most exclusive supercars in the world, if not the fastest (the Bugatti Veyron, for example, does the 0-100 sprint in 2.5 seconds).

Lamborghini says the base body cell of the Reventon coupe – made of steel and carbon-fibre pieces glued and riveted together – was so strong that it required only minimal strengthening for the roadster once the roof was removed.

This helped to restrict the weight gain to just 25kg over the coupe, at 1690kg.

The body is skinned in carbon-fibre, except for the steel doors that open scissor-style.

The aircraft styling theme of the body, which includes the same arrow-head front and forward air intakes as the coupe, is continued inside with aircraft-style liquid-crystal display instruments in place of the traditional analogue dials.

The driver, however, can switch the display to the circular-style read-out if they prefer the older style.

At the centre of the instruments - which sit in a machined aluminium casing in the carbon-fibre dash - is a G-force meter to tell the driver when they are having fun.

Like other Lambos, the Reventon Roadster gets the E.gear six-speed sequential manual transmission with a hydraulic shift operated via steering-wheel paddles. It has three modes, including a fully-automatic option.

A conventional (for Lamborghini) double-wishbone suspension is used to locate all four wheels, while braking is via four carbon-fibre ceramic discs – all 380mm in diameter.

A rear spoiler deploys at 130km/h, adopting an even steeper angle at 220km/h for increased downforce.

All-wheel drive is standard, with most of the driving force going to the rear wheels through a viscous drive which sends 35 per cent of the drive to the front wheels should the rears begin to spin.

All 20 of the Reventon Roadsters will be painted in a matt grey colour called, imaginatively, Reventon Grey.