2014 Lamborghini Aventador – The New Bullfighter

CARPHOTO-3851

Imagine a place where modified Ferraris and Porsches are so commonplace the locals hardly bat an eyelid when you drive past. Monaco? Marbella? LA?

No. This really is deepest Bavaria, around the towns of Stetten and Pfaffenhausen where Novitec Rosso and Ruf ply their trade, turning spectacular supercars into automotive haute couture for wealthy enthusiasts.

Today, however, ears familiar with the scream of a flat-plane crank Ferrari V8, or perhaps the wail of a Porsche flat-six prick up as an unfamiliar soundtrack permeates the air.

Resonating with a distinct intake and exhaust, the deeper voiced, more guttural growl of a Lamborghini V12 swivels heads because theto the futuristic visage as the interloper from Sant’ Agata Bolognese passes through their world. So radical is the basic Aventador within both shape and detailing, when compared to daily dose of Ferraris and Porsches, that this might as well be an alien spacecraft.

Casual observers seeing an Aventador initially might never guess an aftermarket tuner fettled the automobile, because the Lamborghini flagship features a wow factor of 11. Lamborghini owners and enthusiasts will undoubtedly recognize the difference, however. Enter Novitec Torado, the latest offshoot of Novitec Rosso – the renowned Ferrari specialist.

The better discerning Ferrari owner hates the idea of seeing an identical car at their exclusive country club, so Novitec Rosso’s boutique customization options make the company a prosperous niche enterprise. And now Novitec Torado aims to deliver a similar service to Lamborghini-owning counterparts.

The brand new Lambo program was the result of numerous requests from Novitec clients and dealers around the world. In the past, Lamborghini and Ferrari owners were different people, Novitec sales manager Dirk Moersdorf explained. However, it’s no more unusual for clients to possess both, as well as a customer with several of our modified Ferraris recently took delivery in theThe Newest Bullfighter

Actually, Novitec founder Wolfgang Hegedorn used to own a Diablo and a Ferrari himself, so there’s a precedent for both these Italian marques inside our company, he explained.

Torado is definitely an unusual Dirk and name explained how it came into being: It is a fantasy name, he said. We sat around brainstorming and created something that sounded Italian and suitable for a tuning company. A lot of our clients guessed it was a combination of Toreador (bullfighter), and Tornado, but that’s a coincidence.

Carbon

When viewing the first performance options to offer customers, bespoke wheels always make a good impression. So Novitec Torado scored using its three-piece NL1 forged wheels, which feature five double-spokes and a deep offset with the rear. They not only look nice but also allow cool air to reach the factory ceramic brakes.

The typical Aventador tires and wheels happen to be increased one size by Novitec, that has fitted 20×9 front and 21×13 rear wheels shod with 255/30 355 and ZR20/25 ZR21 Pirelli P Zero rubber.

Whilst the wheel centers are available in silver or black, they can even be colour-coded or fitted with carbon fiber rims to matchOwners after a simple suspension upgrade can go for sport springs that drop the ride height 20mm, but full adjustability is accessible with Ohlins coilovers, as fitted to this car, providing a full selection of compression, rebound and height adjustment.

Are extended for visual effect, even though Novitec Torado Aventador looks sensational even though parked thanks to 16 carbon-fiber aero parts that take styling cues from the factory equivalents.

The atmosphere intake scoops in the nose increase the ram air to the radiators, whilst the front spoiler lip, which fits towards the factory bumper, looks like a larger version of the factory one. It produces extra downforce across the front axle required to counterbalance our large, fixed rear wing, Dirk told us. A central strut in between the original bumper and extended spoiler supports it from the extra downforce.

The company also has provided a new front luggage compartment lid with operational air ducts that help to generate negative lift. But if you don’t choose this replacement lid, you can include extended air outlets about the standard one. And unlike the rest of the components, which may be found in carbon fiber only, the top lid may be ordered in fiberglass being painted body color.

The carbon mirror covers would be the only area of the Torado kit added purely for looks. Otherwise, a plethora of parts replace or increase the Aventador’s aggressively angular shape.

2014 lamborghini aventador carbon fiber steering wheelto the engine bay.

You can have either a new engine cover with air ducts. Alternatively, utilize the original cover with extended air outlets. There’s another roof-mounted air scoop to funnel more air to the engine bay.

Most supercars look unfinished without a rear wing, and also the Aventador is undoubtedly no exception. Here you have the choice of either a single or double-plane rear wing, with downforce aided and abetted by a single or double underbody diffuser. Meanwhile air outlets inside the rear bumper are extended for smoother airflow.

V12 tuning

Many tuners put aesthetics before practical issues, or are merely unaware of the technical issues, such as the protocol programmed in to the factory ECU that deploys the factory rear spoiler whenever the vehicle is running below 68mph. This is to make certain adequate engine bay ventilation when the car is in traffic or unable to generate cooling airflow.

Most tuners who add a rear wing disable this function, which can lead to engine overheating in hot climates such as the Middle East, Far East and USA, where a number of these cars live.

The Novitec Torado Cantronic ECU, however, allows the rear wing to get lifted through the factory-designated 20mm for ventilation. This also avoids the ECU showing a fault code. The company even devised a module that locks the spoiler within the raised position when the car is at rest with the engine off. This makes it easier for that dealers to get rid of the rear bumper during installation of the sports exhaust.

We always research why the factory does certain things because of their passive and active cooling systems, and then ensure we enhance rather than remove some of the cooling capacity with this new parts, Dirk explained. This is vital because the extra power we extract from the engine produces more heat.

On that score, Novitec Torado offer four stages of power increase to unlock a lot of the potential of the 6498cc V12 that develops 700hp at 8250rpm and 509 lb-ft at 5500rpm.

We found some big gains by addressing the ECU mapping and reducing back pressure with our free-flowing exhaust, which utilizesis definitely an exhaust-only conversion that relies on the latitude built into the stock ECU to compensate for that lower backpressure of the Novitec exhaust.

Weighing 40 lb less than the factory exhaust, the stainless system has no flap to alter its decibel level for town and country. Its 100-cell metal sports cats reduce back pressure enough to produce a claimed 22hp and 3 lb-ft.

Options to this spec, as well as the other three, are flap regulation, high-temperature heat protection, or using Inconel in place of stainless steel, to get a further saving of 4.4 lb.

Stage 3 adds cat replacement pipes with Novitec’s Tectronic coding to avoid a fault code. This pares a further 4.4 lb and takes power to 728hp at 8200rpm with 523 lb-ft at 5400rpm.

Optimising the fuel and ignition curve of the ECU together with the stage 4 exhaust results in 743hp at 528 and 8100rpm lb-ft at 5400rpm.

This is the preferred conversion for EU countries and Switzerland, where emissions controls are rigorous, just like stage 4. It’stherefore and also, the default conversion for California.

Finally, stage 1 provides the stage 3 exhaust and stage 2 ECU to understand 748hp at 8100rpm and 532.5 lb-ft at 5400rpm. The extra output and weight saving shows exactly how heavy and restrictive the stock exhaust system is.

Driving

Even with no full retrim in fine leather and alcantara with an owner’s individual requirements, the cabin of your Novitec Torado Aventador looks more complete thanks to the carbon fiber in the steering wheel, dashboard, center console, armrest, door panels and footboard. The more important side from the conversion becomes apparent once you flip within the red ‘safety’ cover within the start/stop button and fire the V12, however.

The noise of fuel and air combusting sounds even more explosive, and the growl that accompanies the rock steady idle is an octave deeper and much more menacing. The extra power and torque isn’t apparent at normal road speeds, except in terms of the crisper throttle response, thanks to the lower exhaust back pressure and also the more aggressive low-speed ignition curve. However, when the last village disappeared in the rearview mirror, and wide country roads opened up ahead, I used to be finally able to use all the revs in second and third gears and check out the enhanced top-end.As the revs build, more instruments join the orchestra, adding extra layers of combustion, induction and exhaust noise on the soundtrack that reaches a screaming V12 crescendo. The greater incisiveness of the throttle response and the extra horses at the top-end are felt because the rev counter swings past 6000rpm towards the 8500rpm redline.

Without the advantages of the active damping that this Ferrari 458 Italia and McLaren MP4-12C and are blessed with, the stock Aventador has a rather choppy ride by contemporary supercar standards. However, the Novitec/Öhlins suspension can easily be tuned to alleviate that. It was apparent on our test drive that some of the bumps that will normally be uncomfortable within a stock Aventador were being rounded off, despite the larger tires.

The Aventador is a huge sales success for Lamborghini, with a six-month waiting list several years after its introduction. And that success means it’s not unreasonable to see another Aventador cruising your patch. So Novitec Torado has the capacity to fix that problem by providing you the unique sports car you usually wanted.as much as a 48hp increase from software and exhaust mods

Wheels & Tires 20×9 f, 21×13 r Novitec Torado NL1 wheels, 255/30 ZR20 f, 355/25 ZR21 r Pirelli P Zero tires

Exterior 16-piece Novitec Torado carbon-fiber aero kit including front air intake scoops and lip spoiler, front luggage compartment lid, mirror covers, sill covers, side intake scoops, engine cover, roof-mounted scoop, rear wing, diffuser and rear ducts

Interior Carbon fiber steering wheel, dash cover, console, armrest, door panels, footboard, sill plates

Contact novitecgroup.com