12 times the Lamborghini Aventador went wild

Geneva, 2012. Audi launches the (then) new A3, and Merc unveils the all-new A-Class. In a quiet corner of the hall, Lamborghini unleashes something wilder: a modified Aventador with 691bhp.

As Lambo stated at the time, it is a "radically open automobile", which is about as specific as you can get. There is no roof. Nor windscreen. The Aventador's carbonfibre monocoque was significantly altered to accomodate such openness, woven from fibres soaked in epoxy resin that is said to stabilise the structure but keep it soft. Like fabric.

It's also lighter than the regular Aventador, packs four-wheel-drive, and is street-legal. Click here for TG's inside line on the development of the 'J'.

Launched just one year after the J comes the next party outfit for the Aventador: an Aventador named after one of the strongest, fastest fighting bulls ever. Famous for, um, gorging a matador to death in 1914.

Enter the Veneno. Just three of these would be made, each costing €3m plus tax, for which you get the Aventador's 6.5-litre V12 (though boosted to 739bhp), a 220mph top speed, permanent 4WD and quite the birthday suit (it was built to celebrate Lamborghini's 50th).

Just look at it. The front is shaped like a beak for airflow reasons, there are cartoonly muscled arches, a flat underbody, and an adjustable rear wing. Even the alloys have been roped into this business of airflow: the carbon rim-rings are said to work like turbines to channel air onto the brakes.

There are cuts and slits and did we mention the small matter of the roof scoop?

Debuting just months after the Coupe comes the Roadster version of the mad, bad Veneno. A permanent Roadster, mind, as there is no roof, nor one which you can fold away. All you get is a rollover bar and a hearty pat on the back for bravery.

And no roof of course, means more noise from that 6.5-litre, 739bhp V12, capable of pushing the VR from 0-62mph in 2.9s and a top speed of 220mph.

It mirrors the Coupe's outlandish bodywork, though the CFRP monocoque and body parts do help keep the weight down to 1,490kg (dry). Though Lambo built three Veneno Coupes, it built nine of these Roadsters, which each costing £3.3m.

That's it above on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Obviously.

OK, we've purposefully dialled it down for this slide, because the onslaught of two Venenos might have caused minor heart palpitations. This is a very, very unique Lambo, not for any engineering showcase or mad bodywork, but because it's the Lamborghini Aventador Top Gear helped out Heathrow Airport with. For a day.

690bhp, a few stickers and some flashing lights, and we were away. TG's Dan Read noted at the time: "The golden rule? Give way to planes. Even if it’s surprisingly tricky to see them. Viewing the world from inside an Aventador is like viewing it through a medieval battle helmet…"

For the full feature, click here

Named after a Minotaur, this Paris 2014 Lambo showed off a mid-engined, two-seat concept featuring - whisper it - hybrid technology.

Yes, the Asterion borrowed the Huracán's 607bhp 5.2-litre V10, mounted in the middle of course, with a dual-clutch seven speed gearbox powering the rear wheels. Along with an electric motor mounted onto the transaxle, and two further electric motors on the front axle. So - like the Porsche 918 - the front motors helped deliver four-wheel-drive, along with torque vectoring.

Where's the Aventador connection, you might ask? The Asterion uses an adapted version of the Aventador's carbonfibre monocoque in the lower section, though incorporates a different roof structure, while the wheelbase was stretched for better interior space. So it's part Aventador, at least.

Though it's still a full-blooded Lambo. The Asterion’s total power output is a whopping 907bhp. It’ll accelerate from 0-62mph in a little over three seconds, hit 185mph flat out, and emit just 98g/km of CO2. Oh, and manage 30 miles on pure electric power alone.

Click here for the full story...

Only the fiercest Lambos get the full Super Veloce treatment, and this 2015 Geneva Motor Show car was no different. It was the first time the full production Aventador got the headline 739bhp (the Venenos don't count).

Lamborghini engineers fiddled with the valve timing and variable intakes, and fitted a lightweight free-flowing exhaust system to help liberate the extra horsepower from the free-breathing V12. Then came the various weight-saving measures to slash 50kg off the standard car's kerbweight, resulting in a 0-62mph of 2.8s, and a 0-125mph time of 8.6s. Brutal.

There's lots of carbonfibre - Lamborghini finessing its expertise of the material - along with adaptive dampers and more edges than a cutlery factory.

Big Read: one night with the Lamborghini Aventador SV

A few months after the SV Coupe landed, we were treated to the Roadster version. Same as, then, only with a smidge more weight - it's 50kg less than the standard Aventador Roadster, but 50kg up on the SV Coupe - with a still bombastic 0-62mph time (2.9s vs the SV Coupe's 2.8s).

The SV body has been fully optimised in the wind tunnel too, including those new quick-release hard-top panels, which weigh less than 6kg each. They’re finished in matte black as standard, but you can spec them in matt carbon fibre, or the car’s body colour. Any one is the correct answer.

And so we come to the Aventador's Act Three: the Centenario. Unveiled at Geneva in 2016 (sensing a theme here?), it was built in the year Lambo celebrated 100 years since Ferrucio Lamborghini's birth. Also, it's the most powerful toro to have escaped from the farm.

The 6.5-litre V12 gets its most powerful ever output, with 760bhp on offer and a rev limiter raised to 8,600rpm. 0-62mph in this car takes 2.8s, 0-186mph takes 23.5, and it'll top 217mph. But the Centenario is more than just power.

There's rear-wheel-steering, lots and lots of carbonfibre (naturally), an extendable rear wing (integrated into the body at low speeds, extending out 150mm and 15 degrees during what Lamborghini deems “high performance conditions”), and the mother of all rear diffusers…

We've driven it too. Click here for our full review.

Another big power Aventador comes courtesy of the roofless Centenario Roadster. The spec of course, mirrors the Coupe's, with 760bhp from that V12, and much speed.

There’s also carbon aplenty – including for the whole monocoque – as well as some intensely clever aerodynamics and Lambo’s embracing of connectivity, with snazzy stuff like CarPlay, web radio and telemetry systems all on board.

It cost £2m, with just 20 built. And all, unfortunately for you, are sold out.

You’re not looking at a Lamborghini Aventador with vents and splitters and power, you’re looking at history: this is the first ever one-off model built by Lamborghini’s racing division, Squadra Corse.

Welcome then, to the ‘SC18’. Ok yes, it is indeed a Lamborghini Aventador with vents and splitters and power, but more than that it represents a new path for enthusiastic Lamborghini motorsport customers to develop their own, personalised road-going offerings.

Read the full story here

In 2019, we saw the fastest and most powerful supercar to ever emerge from Lamborghini's gates, packing the Aventador SVJ's whopping great 6.5-litre V12, and - whisper it - hybrid technology.

You can read the full story here, but suffice to say, it didn't hold onto that mantle of 'fastest, most powerful' for very long...

... because in July 2020, Squadra Corse uncorked this little monster. A limited-edition, rear-wheel-drive track-only machine packing an unholy 820bhp, from a naturally-aspirated V12.

Mighty. Read the full debrief on the SCV12 right this way.