The price of speed

A very unpublicized problem that billionaires face these days has finally been addressed by Lamborghini, with the announcement of their $4 million supercar, the Veneno, which they unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show last week. Rarer than even the most obscure disease, the Veneno will be limited to a production number of just four units—with only three units being put up for sale to customers—taking even Ferrari’s custom built 456 Venice Station Wagon seem almost mainstream.

To put this into perspective, the odds of seeing one up close is over a hundred times less than seeing a Bugatti Veyron on EDSA driving past a Vin Diesel shampoo endorsement billboard. It costs as much as 17 and a half Ferrari 458 Italias, and were all pre-sold faster than you could say “ridiculous.”

Named after the most lethal fighting bull in Spain that defeated the famous torero José Sánchez Rodríguez, the Veneno is a one-off model that was created to commemorate Lamborghini’s 50th anniversary. Looking more like a fighter jet than a car, the Veneno’s roof features huge jagged cuts, oversized wheel arches to house those 21-inch wheels, massive openings to help engine cooling, and a central fin and an adjustable rear wing to keep it from lifting off on the autobahn as it approaches its top speed of 352km/h.

Built on the Aventador’s carbon-fiber chassis, the trademarke scissor doors are still a key feature, as is a modified version of the 6.5-liter V12 engine that has been tweaked to deliver more horsepower than there are words in this article—which in case you’re wondering is a fairly healthy 750 hp.

It also shares the Aventador’s 7-speed Independent Shifting Rods transmission, all-wheel-drive, and basic plumbing, but with the more aggressive use of carbon-fiber, has managed to shave off over 400 pounds from the Aventador’s already slender figure of 3622lbs. Oddly though, despite the power-to-weight improvements, this only equates to a tenth of a second off the 0-100 times and less than 5km/h improvement in top speed.

But buying this car for its lap times is as important to its owners as buying a Patek Phillipe watch is about telling the time. This is a statement for those who can afford it and a symbol of national pride for those who have built it. Which probably explains why each of the three cars sold has one of Italy’s national colors on the roof that is contrasted against the compulsory gun-metal gray finish, meaning that if they should ever meet again, they can form a 12-million-dollar picture of their national flag, which will of course end up as Internet memes that will find its way on your Facebook walls.

It may seem absurd, I know, but when the only thing you can give the man who has everything is something his neighbor cannot have, super car makers have little option but to come up with such ostentatious creations like the Pagani Cinque, the Koenigsegg Trevita, Bugatti Veyron Pur Sang and the Batmobile. Yet despite having a price tag that looks more like a phone number, and a total build number smaller than an average Italian family, the Veneno has still failed to topple the Maybach Exelero’s eight-million-dollar sticker price that European billionaire Arnaud Massartic reportedly coughed up.

For the sake of trivia and nothing else, just say that you could squeeze yourself on to the already sold out list of three future owners, unless you’re able to import this through Port Irene, going by the current computations used by Lexus Manila when they brought in the one LFA, this car should sell in the Philippines for approximately P406, 922, 659. And 21 centavos. This, I should point out, does not include LTO registration, however.

But just as well. Because according to the SMC-Citra consortium, who are finalizing negotiations to acquire controlling interest in Star Infrastructure Development and Star Tollway Corporation, 196 motorists were apprehended along the Star Tollway during the first month they started strictly implementing the speed limit rule violation.