Beating the Tamburo!
The opportunity to take more than one friend or member of the family in a Lamborghini has not been possible since the demise of the fabled LM in 1993. Until now that is, with the launch of the new Lamborghini Urus. Whilst the LM was more of a truck (the ‘Rambo-Lambo’ conspicuous by lack of even a mention at the launch at Barangaroo in Sydney), the new Urus is a luxury super suv. At its Oceania premiere I was able to sample the new Lamborghini experience, which combines the DNA and qualities of the current Lamborghini offering. Take the very best bits of the Huracán and the Aventador super sports cars, such as four-wheel steering and carbon ceramic brakes, throw in air suspension and lots of other high-tech stuff including torque vectoring, and Lamborghini has created an SUV capable of 0-100 km/h in 3.6 seconds with a top speed of 305 km/h. Despite its increased centre of gravity and the fact that it is much higher and heavier than the other models from Sant’Agata Bolognese, the Urus is capable of stopping from 100 km/h to a stand-still in just 33.7 metres
This is a sports car on steroids that is capable of running on sand, snow, gravel, race-track or tarmac, with breathtaking performance and amazing all round capability. This is in no small part due to its exciting new V8 4.0 litre twin-turbo engine, the first occasion that Lamborghini has utilised turbo power. All controlled from the Tamburo, or Drum at the centre of the ultra-modern interior which comfortably seats four. And the name, well, as has been the tradition at Lamborghini, the name Urus is derived from the world of bulls. The Urus, also known as Aurochs, is a wild ancestor of domestic cattle. The Spanish fighting bull, as bred for the past half-millennia, is still close to the Urus in its appearance.
Pass the Salt please
Lake Gairdner in South Australia is hard to reach. Seven hours drive from the State Capital, Adelaide, the last two hours of which is on dirt roads in the Outback and the last 25 kms of which is pretty tortuous on corrugated, dusty and treacherous tracks. If you manage to stay on the road and avoid the wildlife (that was one very large and lucky Emu that I am glad I missed), the view as you top the rise and see the dry salt-lake gives one a feeling, as of a small child spotting the ocean for the first time. The excitement makes one want to...
read moreUrus
Beating the Tamburo! The opportunity to take more than one friend or member of the family in a Lamborghini has not been possible since the demise of the fabled LM in 1993. Until now that is, with the launch of the new Lamborghini Urus. Whilst the LM was more of a truck (the ‘Rambo-Lambo’ conspicuous by lack of even a mention at the launch at Barangaroo in Sydney), the new Urus is a luxury super suv. At its Oceania premiere I was able to sample the new Lamborghini experience, which combines the DNA and qualities of the current Lamborghini...
read moreA Passage To India
“Is emotion a sack of potatoes, so much the pound, to be measured out? Am I a machine?” to borrow a line from Chapter XXVII of E.M.Forster’s 1924 novel, A Passage to India. Well, there was plenty of emotion shown over machines at the 2018 ’21 Gun Salute International Vintage Car Rally and Concours Show’ held in New Delhi. This magnificent event was a romantic mix of ‘A Drive of the Lutyens’, named for the architect Edwin Landseer Lutyens (1869 -1944) who laid out so much of the administrative heart of the new city; black tie dinners at the...
read moreElectric Avenue
I am totally sold on electric cars having just returned from a trip to the NSW countryside on behalf of Signature Luxury Travel & Media magazine. Hosted by Tesla and Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts (which being enlightened has charging points at all of its properties in Australia) I spent three days sampling the fantastic hospitality of Crowne Plaza whilst buzzing around in a Tesla S P100D and Tesla X P100D. Fantastic, I loved the driving experience (immediate torque and linear power), but most of all the haptic screen which controlled...
read moreMaserati Incomparabile
1971 Maserati Ghibli SS Spyder, factory right hand drive offered for sale: The Ghibli Spyder is perhaps even more attractive and elegant than the original coupé and is oft regarded as one of the most beautiful cars of the period. The Spyder also came with the option of a Factory hard top. It is believed that in total 128 Spyders were produced. 82 cars were 4.7 litre of which 56 were manual and 26 automatic transmission. There was a total of just 46 cars built to 4.9 litre SS specification with 7 automatic and 39 manual. Of these 39 manual SS...
read moreSydney Concours d’Elegance
Two international Concours d’Elegance took place on the weekend of 27th and 28th January 2018. Respectively they were held in Sydney, Australia, and in Palm Beach, Florida, USA. Whilst the Cavallino Classic in the States may have been a grander affair with a bigger classic car gene pool to call upon, the honour of being the first major Concours show of the year went to Sydney by dint of time difference, if nothing else. But having said, that the quality of the 60 cars on show at the Sydney Superyacht Marina did not suffer in comparison...
read moreBook 2
The New Edition of the Classic Car Auction Yearbook by Adolfo Orsi and Raffaele Gazzi reports on the 2016-2017 Season with unprecedented statistics showing long-term gains and how to interpret today’s buyer’s market. Since 1994, the Classic Car Auction Yearbook has been the ‘bible’ of the collector car market offering readers an unparalleled, in-depth analysis of top international auction sales data, following how important cars, marques and models have performed among a variety of scopes. Published in Italy, the entire book is written in...
read moreBook Review
2017 was of course the year of Ferrari, as one of the most recognised luxury brands on the planet celebrated its 70th glorious year. There were of course lots of illustrious publications on offer to celebrate the marque’s milestone birthday. One slightly esoteric, but nonetheless welcome addition to the Ferrari canon is Barry Farr’s ‘Ferraris in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s’, a large format landscape (380mm x 300mm) work of 176 pages which catalogues Ferraris as per its title. Sydneysider Farr became a tifoso at the age of just eight when...
read more2018
Happy New Year dear readers. I trust you have had a good Christmas and all the very best for 2018. I was on the water on Boxing Day for the start of the 73rd 628 nautical mile Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and an eventful and fast one it was too. Pictured here is the super maxi Black Jack – first out of Sydney and third into Hobart. Coming up for the first part of 2018 I am planning on covering the following events. If any editor has any particular requirements or requests please let me know:- January – Sydney Concours...
read moreBlowering Dam
On the 40th anniversary of Ken Warby breaking the World Water Speed Record, his son David was out testing Spirit of Australia II, designed by Ken, for his own record attempt in 2018. Blowering Dam in country NSW, Australia was and will be the venue as David builds up from his current best of (only!) 172 mph in his quest to go past the still existing mark of 317.60 mph!
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