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TAMING THE GREEN HELL

There’s a new production car lap record at the epic Nurburgring-Nordschleife, set by the brand-new Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. Using Pirelli tyres, the SVJ recently went round the historic German circuit in 6m44.97s.

Pirelli is of course no stranger to breaking records at the track that Sir Jackie Stewart famously described as the ‘Green Hell’, with the latest benchmark continuing a sequence that began in 2010. In the last eight years, there have been eight records set at the Nordschleife by cars equipped with Pirelli P Zero tyres. Specifically, the P Zero Trofeo R: a motorsport tyre that is, however, homologated for road use as well.

The latest version of the V12-powered Lamborghini will be delivered to all customers with Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres as standard, whereas the record-breaking P Zero Trofeo R tyres will be available as optional equipment. Both tyres have been developed in new versions specific to the Aventador SVJ, as a result of the close collaboration between Lamborghini engineers and those of Pirelli, who have been able to maximise performance by specifically adapting the characteristics of the tyres to those of the car.

One particular reference during the development process was the lap time at the Nardo handling circuit in Italy, where the Aventador SVJ and its new P Zero Corsa tyres was able to make a gain of two seconds per lap compared to the P Zero Corsa fitted to the previous Aventador SV. For this new Lamborghini, the main challenge was to marry the four-wheel drive system with four-wheel steering. The tyres also had to optimally distribute the immense torque so that the Lamborghini’s Haldex clutch system was not too stressed.

The Nurburgring Nordschleife is used by nearly all of the world’s leading car manufacturers to develop their most performance-focussed models. Pirelli also uses the epic 20.6 kilometres of track to fine-tune all the different versions of P Zero, created according to the requests of manufacturers such as Lamborghini. Every car ends up with its very own Pirelli P Zero tyre, which can be distinguished by a specific marking on the sidewall. Look for ‘L’ for Lamborghini.

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