How much power is too much power? It depends on who you ask. An authoritarian ruler will tell you there is no such thing, while a set of tires will have a pretty good idea of where that threshold lies.
For most people, 500 hp would a comfortable, nicely rounded figure. It sits dead middle between having no power and that once pretty unicorn figure of 1,000 hp that the Bugatti Veyron managed to make mainstream. It's enough to put you at an advantage during most bar talks but also not make you look like you're trying too hard.
500 horsepower is also near the higher limit of what most people would feel comfortable with on the road. Of course, when it comes to the actual delivery, the numbers don't tell the whole story. The same output will feel one way in a large, luxury limousine, and completely different in a light sports car with a manual transmission and no electronic helpers.
Well, that may be true for the arbitrary figure of 500 hp we've set, but 1,750 hp will feel like you're sitting on a rocket regardless of the type of vehicle you're in. Unless it's an actual rocket, in which case good luck lifting one inch off the ground.
That amount of power in a Lamborghini Gallardo, though, is bound to bring something pretty special. As you know, maximum power can't be accessed on demand - you don't just open a tap and 1,750 hp start flowing out. It's strictly related to engine rpm and, when turbos and boost are involved, it gets even more complicated.
Ask the tires, though, and they'll tell you that not having all that power available from the get-go is actually a good thing. Just look at the way this Gallardo sets off in its quest to reach the highest possible trap speed after half a mile: slowly, carefully, minding the all-important grip that's so hard to gain back once it's lost.
The result is a 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) time that would make a stock hatchback think it actually had a chance against this monster. It took it 5.25 seconds to reach that speed, but once it got there, all hell broke loose. That speedometer needle moves quicker than some rev counters I've seen, and the Draggy results back that out.
It looks like our Gallardo took 8.38 seconds to reach 124 mph (200 km/h) and 12.17 seconds for the 186 mph (300 km/h) milestone. The trap speed at the end of the half-mile dash showed 223 mph (359 km/h), but the driver kept going just long enough to reach a 225 mph (363 km/h) overall top speed. Watch the hair-tingling run below.
"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie) Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News