THE 2007 Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 was late arriving for my test drive — about two weeks late. Mario Andretti had spent a few days in the car before I got it. Knowing Mr. Andretti well, I doubt it was he who fried the clutch, necessitating a replacement and causing the delay.
More likely, the culprit came from the rabble of the performance-car magazines, someone who had been given a chance to rip around Laguna Seca Raceway for a few laps while Mr. Andretti busied himself elsewhere. Regardless, the LP640 came to me fresh from a fortnight in drydock.
The motoring press has compiled a frightful record in its testing of Lamborghinis. A colleague at Car and Driver magazine crashed one a while back. A few years before that, at a media event on a European racetrack, a writer took off at full throttle and crashed in the first turn. He and his passenger were killed.
Already, members of the press have totaled at least two LP640’s, which only recently went on sale. Not surprisingly, Lamborghini has become ever more reluctant to turn journalists loose with its cars for solo test drives.
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