Growing up, I didn’t hang up posters of the Backstreet Boys, Leonardo DiCaprio, or 2pac. My room was adorned with four posters that I still remember vividly. The Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari Testarossa, Nissan Skyline R34 and the McLaren F1, you know, the orange one with the forest background that we’re probably all too familiar with. It’s been many years since I’ve really fantasized about owning one of those rare exotics, even though by today’s standards they would be considered pretty “cheap” relative to their original MSRPs. So what would I hang on my wall right now? It wouldn’t be the Bugatti Veyron, which would be almost too predictable, or the Mercedes-Benz SLS, which would be too clichéd. The Nissan GTR would be a good option but that would be too practical. What car could hang today that I know would be ruthless, awesome like the cars of my youth? I haven’t found a car for years, until now: the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento.
The Lamborghini Sesto Element was originally revealed only as a tech show concept at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. Apparently some extremely wealthy people who are bored with their Enzos and McLarens pressured Lamborghini to put the Sesto Element into production. The excitement generated was so great that Google Trends, a Google product that tracks search trends, saw a 60-fold increase in searches for Lamborghini Sesto Elemento in September 2010, just after the initial presentation at the Auto Show. from Paris.
After the Paris Auto Show, all of our oil tycoons, ponzi swindlers and Hollywood friends thought it would be wise to help stimulate the global economy by turning their attention to Lamborghini and pushing them to make what will become the most expensive production car in the world. world. . Lamborghini recently announced at the Frankfurt Auto Show in September that they will produce just 20 versions of this car. So unless you plan on getting an infusion of capital from Warren Buffet, I’d cross this one off your list.
The Sesto Elemento was originally designed around the Gallardo, but was built differently by sitting on a new all-carbon technology that Lamborghini was keen to test. The technological upgrades consist of a number of resin jellies, carbon composites, special high-tech fabrics, and a bunch of other new stuff that’s only interesting if you have a chemistry degree, but what’s really spectacular to me is that the resulting car weighs exactly 999 kg. That’s less than the weight of a Ford Focus, 40% lighter than the Lamborghini Murcielago at 1,650kg and 25% lighter than the Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera, an already light and stripped-down Gallardo weighing in at 1,340kg. To put the weight into perspective from the other side, the Sesto Elemento weighs only twice as much as the Ariel Atom, which is essentially just a glorified go-kart.
Vehicle weight isn’t the best measure of anticipated head bangs, that is, until you factor in the power plant that will power this beast. The Sesto Element will share a tuned version of the Gallardo’s mid-mounted V10, which produces a neck-breaking 570 horsepower and 398 pound-feet of torque going from 0 to 60 in 2.5 seconds. With that power and low weight, the Sesto Elemento has an extremely low power-to-weight ratio of 1.75kg per hp. The Toyota Prius is not far behind (ha!) with an output of 14.08kg per hp, a BMW 760Li produces 5.13kg per hp and the world famous McLaren F1 produces 1.95kg per hp.
Still not impressed? Did I mention that aside from being obscenely fast and anorexia light, Lamborghini has also installed a permanent all-wheel drive system? That’s how it is. Even with an AWD system, the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento still weighs less than most of the competition and is able to keep power and traction steady while the 570 horsepower gets going.
Aside from all the fancy numbers on paper, I have to say that this is probably one of my favorite car designs I’ve seen in years. Traditionally, I’m drawn to the curves of Aston’s artwork, the finesse of Ferrari’s ingenuity or the elegance of Rolls Royce, but Lamborghini took a totally different route with the Sesto Elemento and Aventador. Both cars feature sharp edges and clean lines that are so impressive, you need to buy life insurance just to look at it. I think Lamborghini took a big risk in straying from industry design norms by making their latest creations look futuristic and menacing, but I really like it. I don’t see James Bond driving a Sixth Element on any given day, but I could very well see Chuck Norris eating one for breakfast.
There has been talk in recent years that since Audi took over Lamborghini, they are nothing more than tame bulls with R8 engines, but I think Lamborghini decided to make a statement with the Sesto Elemento. Lamborghini wants to be known as anything but meek; entering its website, it stops with a warning: “Red evokes sin, guilt, pain, anger, but also passion, courage, loyalty, honor, success and fortune. Do you dare?” I would echo that question: do you dare? Do you dare to buy and drive a Sesto Elemento? Lamborghini could also provide a pre-written condolence letter for each of the 20 future Sesto Elemento owners. I bet after spending over $3 million on the Sixth Element, the only thing left will be the tire marks of the legend that it was.