Lamborghini Aventador SVJ- A Beefy Monster from Italy

automotivedatabase
Feb 26, 2019
5 min read

The Aventador, came back in 2011 with a high end specifications and an over the top looks. It came out to be a great replacement to already successful Murcielago which covers up most of the wall of a child's rooms. It also brought newfound obsession with racetracks.

The 2016 Aventador SV —SV stands for Superveloce—had its mid-mounted V-12 boosted to 740 horsepower and had 110 pounds trimmed from its mass, enough to allow it to circle the Nürburgring Nordschleife in less than seven minutes. And now, as the Aventador approaches retirement, Lambo is launched a replacement, which recently became the fasting road-legal car to lap the Nordschleife, with a time of 6:44.97.

What is SVJ?

The 'SV' stands for 'Super Veloce' , which in english, means Super Speed. You might already know that but the do you know what is 'J'? If no then, it stands for Jota.

What is Jota?

Let me explain it.

It comes back from 1970 when Lamborghini wanted to get Miura into racing, so chief test driver/engineer Bob Wallace got hold of the FIA rulebook and turned to Appendix J- the section that dealt with homologation specials and one-offs.

Although the Miura never raced, the name (the letter J in Italian is pronounced Jota) stuck. It’s a name that has only ever been applied to the most extreme versions of Lamborghinis, starting with the original 1970 Miura P400 Jota.

It’s been used very sparingly since: neither the Countach nor the Murcielago ever wore it, but in 1993 Lamborghini created the Diablo SE30 Jota and two years later a one-off Diablo Jota to homologate two race cars for the Japanese GT championship.

Essentially cartoons masquerading cars, SV cars are a lighter, harder and faster version of already hard, fast V12 Lamborghinis. And the SVJ, which follows the SV Roadster which follows the SV coupe, followed in the footsteps of, well, quite a few rather excellent Super Veloce models, actually.

What makes SVJ different?

As the name suggests, it builds on the SV with incremental improvements pretty much across the board. Power for the naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V-12 rises from 740 horsepower to 759. The engine gains titanium intake valves, which allow more aggressive cam profiles, while friction for the crankshaft and pistons has been reduced. The torque peak has increased slightly, with 531 lb-ft available at 6750 rpm, but chief technical officer Maurizio Reggiani is more proud of the relatively flat torque output across the engine's midrange—"and without any turbos!" He remains defiant in the face of forced-induction spreading to nearly all supercars.

The claimed weight is the same as the SV (3362 lb) for the SVJ even with more technologies and active aerodynamics. Speaking of Active, the SVJ got the new version of Aerodynamica Lamborghini Attiva (ALA) system that debuted in the Huracan Performante. It includes movable elements on the front splitter as well as a pair just ahead of vast rear wing , which is capable of directing airflow to stall the rear element, reducing drag. It can stall either side selectively, allowing for aero vectoring, that help the car in turning at high speeds. With all the elements working, peak downforce is claimed to be 1100 pounds at 217 mph, 40 percent more than the SV generates.

The SVJ is going to run on the Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires that the car will wear as standard, rather than the track-biased Trofeo R option on which it set its Nordschleife time. But when Lambo's technicians returned to set up for the launch with a truck filled with fresh P Zeros, they found the entire track resurfaced, with the slippery fresh asphalt returning about 80 percent as much grip as before.

How's it on the track ?

If you ask to explain in one word would say 'Astonishing'!

Thirty seconds later, pretty much none of that matters. The mid-mounted V-12 fills the cabin with noise and vibration as soon as it fires to life, and then just gets better. Exiting pit lane at 4000 rpm, the SVJ already sounds superior to many of its turbocharged competitors at full chat. When the 8700-rpm redline approaches for the first time—a couple of seconds later—it has secured its place in the Parthenon with a noise that combines pain and pleasure, the sort of high note with which the fat lady closes the opera. Our afterlife will be soundtracked by 12-cylinder Lamborghinis rather than heavenly choirs.

The SVJ is brutally fast as well, delivering huge acceleration even on Estoril's shorter straights, with the Lambo's digital speedometer showing over 173 mph at the end of the not especially long main straight. The single-clutch automated gearbox shifts with a brutal quickness when in its punchiest Corsa setting, although at anything other than full attack there is still a notable pause as the old-fashioned transmission changes gears.

Shedding speed is more of a challenge. The Aventador's brake pedal could be felt softening over a four-lap stint of the circuit, this despite the huge carbon-ceramic rotors. We also discovered a surprising and initially alarming amount of lateral movement under hard deceleration, which required countersteering to keep the Aventador heading straight.

Yet much rarer SVJ 63!

If the 900 units, limited run of SVJ is not enough rare for you then you can get the SVJ 63 which is limited to 63 units only. Which implies that for every 14 SVJ there is only one SVJ 63. The name 63 comes from the fact that Lamborghini's founder Feruccio Lamborghini founded the company on 1963. The limited premium super car would cost you more than the already hefty price of SVJ that starts at around $517,000 which is insane amount even with supercar standards.

But you many cool things with that money, as stated here.

It’s getting the aerodynamic orgasm that helped propel the SVJ to the top of the Nurburgring production car lap record. That includes the updated Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva 2.0 (ALA), an enhanced version of Lamborghini’s patented active aerodynamics technologies that we first saw on the Huracan Performante.

The ALA 2.0 system manipulates the aero load of the Aventador SVJ 63 to achieve high downforce or low drag depending on specific conditions. The system works through electronically actuated motors that can open or close active flaps in the front splitter and engine hood, channeling air flow in the front and rear sections of the car.

Just as important as the ALA 2.0 system is the car’s engine. The Lamborghini Aventador SVJ 63 is powered by the same 6.5-liter V-12 engine that the Aventador SVJ has. The powertrain produces a whopping 770 horsepower and 531 pound-feet of torque, which is good enough to help the supercar accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in 2.8 seconds and 0 to 124 mph in 8.6 seconds.