GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Lamborghini Aventador J

Lamborghini has thrown in a Ferrari spoiler at the Geneva motor show with a radical open-topped version of its new Aventador.

Dubbed the Aventador J, the one-off concept car will give the world’s fastest blow dry with a 700 horsepower, naturally aspirated V12 pushing it beyond 340km/h.

The all-carbon supercar concept is a pure speedster, unadorned by even a roof or a windscreen and can only be driven with the driver’s head protected by a full-faced helmet.

Christened the Aventador J in homage to the Appendix J racing homologation rules of the FIA, the super speedster is the purest form of Lamborghini’s DNA, according to President Stefan Winkelmann.

“This car is as extreme and uncompromising as only a Lamborghini can be,” he said. “The Aventador J is proof that, in spite of the rules, Lamborghini will always make people dream, even in the future.”

The car took its cue from the Jota, a one-off Miura race car from the 1970s whose styling features were replicated by ownes around the world. It’s based around the Aventador LP700-4, with its V12, 6.5-litre engine, seven-speed ISR gearbox, all-wheel-drive system and carbonfibre chassis.

The Aventador J is a precursor to the upcoming Aventador Roadster, but differs significantly by not having a windscreen or roof support structure. Besides the windscreen, it loses the air-conditioning system and the navigation system to cut the weight back from the Aventador coupe’s 1575kg to less than 1500kg.

But its biggest technical innovation isn’t the removal of the windscreen and roof, but the debut of a unique, flexible carbonfibre system as the lining for the composite-shelled seats.

The new carbon weave, which Lamborghini actually tested with a toe-in-the-water piece of merchandising in a soft-shelled piece of luggage six months ago, is called Carbonskin and has its carbon fibres soaked in epoxy resin to keep them flexible and soft.

The entire cockpit is made from Carbonskin, but at 4890mm long, more than two metres wide and just 1.1 metres high, the interior won’t be the first thing that catches your eye.

It has its own air intake, unique from the Aventador, along with its own 20-inch front wheels and 21-inch rears and its own aero-derived bumpers.

The car has already been sold and is road registered, but Lamborghini has no intention of making more of them. For that, you’ll have to wait for the Roadster towards the end of the year.

But the main reason the Aventador J was built for the Geneva show had nothing to do with its sole customer or Ferrari’s new supercar, but because Lamborghini didn’t want its upcoming SUV concept to clash with Bentley’s SUV. Both cars will be built off the same architecture and will use the same gearbox.

More news from the Geneva Motor Show at motoring.com.au

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