Gallardo LP 550-2 Valentino Balboni

Shahzad Sheikh
30 June 2009

What is a Valentino Balboni?

Not what. Who. He is the virtually revered test driver whose cult fame amongst Lamborghini aficionados has elevated him to near mythical status.

And this is his car?

Kind of. Having worked at Lamborghini for 42-years the Italian marque decided to honour him with a special edition. And there could be few people more worthy. Since 1973 he has sat at the wheel of every prototype churned out at Sant’Agata Bolognese.

So what’s the 550 and the 2 all about?

That’s horsepower and number of wheels driven – and it certainly ain’t front-wheel drive.

Rear-wheel drive?!

The Balboni is the only current Lamborghini that sends its grunt only to the back. ‘It meets many customers’ requests for a model with a unique character, which offers a very special kind of active driving fun,’ says Lambo. Essentially it’s how Balboni wanted it – good man!

To move the transmission to the rear axle, the driving dynamics had to be completely retuned with springs, dampers, stabilisers, tyres and even the aerodynamics reworked. The rear axle differential with a 45% limited slip was redeveloped and the e-gear recalibrated. Finally the traction control was turned down to allow massive powerslides!

Weight is down about 30kg but the reduced traction from two-wheels only increases the 0-100kph time by a fraction to 3.9 seconds – hardly tardy.

Any distinguishing features?

Balboni has a strip in white and gold running from the front panel over the roof and cover engine inspired by classic road-racers of the 1970s, and the car is available in eight colours with dark grey finishing for the wheels.

Inside there’s black leather upholstery with white inserts with a white centre centre console. And there’s a badge below the left side window with Balboni’s signature and production number of the car.

Production number?

Yeah, that’s the bad news. You may be thinking ‘finally I can get a rear-driven Lambo,’ but you’ll have to be quick with your $248,000 for this very special edition, as they are only making 250 of them - talk to your dealer now.

Well give the guy a break, he’s actually retired already.

See the video here

Think you can live up to the name? Let us know below.

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