November 2018 Issue #23 November 2018 Issue #23 | Page 92

Speaking of incredible, unlike every other American “journalist” who drove the Aventador SVJ
in Portugal, I went a day later on a video wave. As a result, although I got about half the track
time of everybody else, I got to drive the Jota around the not-so-mean streets of Cascais. Af-
ter what seemed like hours of low-speed loafing along the coast, it was time to head back to
the track. Two things you should know. The first is that Lamborghini stressed that they really,
really (perhaps three reallys) wanted us back at the track by 3:30 pm. The second is that they
assigned us a motorcycle cop to assist us with filming. Block traffic in roundabouts—that sort of
thing.
Around 3, we wrapped up filming, and it was time to head back. The officer suddenly, just like
that, took off. Like floored it. Gone, baby, gone. I could have stayed and waited for my video
crew and Wazed back to the circuit. My other option was to do what I did. Hey man, I was
sitting in a half-million-dollar Italian hypercar, bored silly from low-speed video nonsense, and
simply said some profane iteration of, “Oh, why not?” I followed the cop. Within a minute I’m
behind this freak of a bike cop, seeing 185 kilometers per hour (115 mph) on the speedo as we
weave in and out of traffic. I know on one hand it’s wrong, but on the other hand, he’s the law!
This guy’s so dedicated that he’s actually shooing other cars out of the way. Wish I had video!
Rest assured, we made it back well before 3:30 pm. The most amazing part? I never said so
much as a word to the officer. I did give him a thumbs-up once we were on the paddock, and
he returned the gesture.
I bring this wonderful, admittedly less than smart anecdote because holy wow dude is the SVJ
righteous on the street! With no traction issues whatsoever, the car just rocked, and rocked
in a way that I’ve never experienced before. Confidence doesn’t even begin to describe it. I
suddenly felt like a superhero, not only invincible but also with all this insane weaponry at my
fingertips. What would Batman drive? The latest and greatest V-12 beastie from Sant’Agata,
obviously. If I had a cape I would.
We recently named the Lamborghini Huracan Performante our 2018 Best Driver’s Car. Be-
cause both the Performante and the SVJ feature ALA and are extreme, reworked versions of
the “base” cars, it’s reasonable to think that the Jota is just a big, V-12-powered Perf. Not even
a little bit. The Performante is to some degree a fantastic sports car. Rewarding, neutral, bal-
anced—all that stuff. The SVJ is something else entirely. It’s a 10,000-volt fist to the face, a
flaming baseball bat to the skull, a bomb in bomb’s clothing. Does it have a shot at next year’s
Best Driver’s Car? I dunno, as it’s a probably bit too big, a bit too blunt. The Aventador SVJ is,
however, a lock to be voted car most likely to beat up the 2019 Best Driver’s Car. Sign me up.
The Lamborghini Aventador is approaching the end of its life. First launched in 2011 as the re-
placement for the Murcielago, the Aventador is the fourth iteration of the longitudinally mounted
mid-engine V-12 Lambos. (Yes, the Miura had a V-12 behind the driver, but it was transverse.)
The Murcieago was the first raging bull designed fully under the auspices of Audi, Lamborghi-
ni’s parent company ,and had a nine-year life span. If there’s one thing you can count on when
it comes to Teutonic companies, it is predictability. As such, the Aventador has two more years
to go before we its replacement goes on sale.
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