A new 1/2-mile (804 m) world record was set during the recent racing event in Florida — 376.4 km/h (233.88 mph). It now belongs to the Gallardo LP570–4 Superleggera «11 tuned heavily by Underground Racing. As a reminder, the stock version of this Lamborghini carries a 10-cylinder naturally aspirated direct-injection engine. It churns out 570 horsepower transmitted to all four wheels. These numbers actually constitute the name of the model — the LP570–4, while the Superleggera term means „super light“.
The experts from Underground Racing have fitted the car with the most powerful turbo kit — the X-series Turbo System. Its top horsepower is not disclosed, however, a rumour suggests that it is more than 2,000 hp. We also know that the tuner has upgraded all the units responsible for power production and delivery: the engineers have reinforced the engine and gearbox, upgraded the fuel system, installed new exhaust manifolds for the turbos and a modified exhaust system, refined the engine cooling system, etc. For safety reasons, the car is fitted with a roll cage and fire control system.
Below you can find a video with the record-setting run and a timeslip.
At Unlim 500+ festivals of speed held in Russia, we were also registering ½-mile speed and time numbers during 1,000-m runs. However, it would be wrong to compare the results achieved in our country and overseas. The fact is that during the competitions in Russia the winner is determined based on the best elapsed time, while the speed is not taken into consideration. On the contrary, in the United States, the victory goes to those showing better speed results, while the time needed to cover the distance is insufficient. This fact introduces many adjustments — technical preparation of the cars is different, the competitors use different driving techniques, tyres, engine setup, etc.
At the moment, Russia’s ½-mile speed record belongs to the Saleen S7 Competition Total Race (2,000 HP) — 346 km/h.
Interesting to know is that 1 mile (1,609 m) world record also belongs to the Lamborghini Gallardo, however, this time it’s a car from Russia customised by a different tuning studio. In December 2013, Leonid Vilde drove his Lamborghini Gallardo Nera Exelixis / GTR RT / ZOD / SPP / GTT / Altechno / Syvecs (1,850 hp) to a 1-mile world record — he covered this distance in 20.845 sec, reaching the speed of 409.09 km/h (254.2 mph). Here’s the video of that run for those who have forgotten it.
P.S. The battle between GT-R and Gallardo still rages on, though we can already reveal some patterns in it: GT-R shows better results when it comes to short distances — 1/8- and ¼-mile, while Gallardo outperforms it at longer distances — ½-mile and 1 mile. Anyway, time will tell, though Gallardo has an undeniable advantage of having better aerodynamics and a larger engine displacement.
