Article by Dr. Clark Allen, the first Aventador SV owner in the United StatesPhotos by Jordan Shiraki
SV to Monterey and Back
We had pulled out of Las Vegas with the first Lamborghini Aventador SV in the country only five days earlier. Eager for the road, we were driving through traffic, heat and the desert wasteland to arrive in Los Angeles for the Stampede. Running the next day with a La Ferrari, 918, many other exotics and even another SV that had been freshly bought, we came into Monterey hungry for the week ahead.
What an experience we had before us; first in class at the Concorso and two hours in traffic to the Quail, but it was the SV. It was a great week in a great car, but it was time to leave. We arose early on the last day of car week. The beast awaited into the garage below. They were saying high 110’s in the desert and we needed to get out early. We got into the familiar roads but then the fog came on. Dusty and dry, parched California earth with muddy sprinklers hit our car in the early grey light. We pressed on the 101 into Bakersfield and to a Taco Bell for lunch. The Jiffy Lube adjacent emptied with pictures and goodwill, but we were burning time. The desert was getting hot. I had watched the Aventadors in Rome go into limp mode during the 50th. Would the third radiator hold? They said it would, but we were in an Italian mid engine supercar. What could go wrong?
Over the mountains and into SPORT mode. Faster up the hills and then down into the desert. Temperatures rose into the 120s and we shifted the revs down into STRADA. Nervously we proceeded. The temperature rose up to 122 F, and the SV ran cool; we could handle the temps. Then outside of Barstow we went for it, and moved into CORSA. What a machine. Into the gas pumps for more fuel and then onto the interstate.
It was cooler running into Sin City as the strip called to us on the horizon. We shifted into lower gears and the roar of the V12 sang out across the desert. The Italians had done it. The Super Veloce was not just a sticker on the rear quarter panel, it was a thought that came to life and took on a journey of its own. What a machine, what a car. Each previous V12 had a peak and they memorialized it as the SuperVeloce. The fact that this car is the most extreme interpretation of the current model was evident. This time it was somehow supercrazy but also superlivable. Why? We cared not, we craved the road and the sound of that V12 roaring across the molten desert on a hot August day.
“Owners’ Escapades” is our new feature series where those who own the world’s finest cars can share their experiences and adventures behind the wheel. To submit your story, send us an email at OwnersEscapades@duPontREGISTRY.com, or call 1-800-233-1731.
