First pics: rear-drive Lambo Spyder

People of the Internet, meet your new drift hero: these are the first official pics of the new Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 Spyder.

It is a rear-wheel-drive version of the drop-top Gallardo, built for the ‘purist'. That's right, it's a drifty Lamborghini. And drifty Lamborghinis are good. The Balboni - that other rear-drive special - was a splendid bit of kit.

Gallery: the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 Spyder

Ditching the standard four-wheel-drive setup endemic of Lamborghini's new Teutonic era meant retuning the car's dynamics to cope with its new-found propensity for going sideways. The rear axle gets a 45-per cent locking differential, and Lambo tells us the standard ESP programme puts an emphasis on stability, while ‘Corsa' allows "larger drift angles". Larger drift angles are good things.

The 5.2-litre V10 puts out 550bhp and 398 torques - fractionally less than the standard 560-4 Spyder - that give it a 0-62mph time of 4.2 seconds, a 0-124mph time of 13.4 seconds and a top speed of 198mph (again, all fractionally less than the standard drop-top).

Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann said this particular model "will appeal to a very special group of customers that enjoy a spirited driving style and also like to experience the sheer pleasure of open-air driving".

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