This weekend will mark the American debut of the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo series, to be held in conjunction with the ALMS event at Lime Rock Park. The Gallardo LP570-4 spec racers are already running a couple of seconds faster than ALMS GTC. That’s fast.
To encourage gentleman drivers to participate in the new-to-the-States series, Lamborghini has a screaming deal available. But potential emptors should definitely caveat, because there’s some risk involved.
Full details of the Super Trofeo package can be found here, but the basics are:
- $17,500 buy-in for half a car, or $35,000 for the full weekend
- 120 minutes of practice
- 40 minute qualifying
- two 50 minute races
I cannot lie: I’m looking at my already-smoking Amex and wondering if I should try it. This is what we call “cheap” in the world of pay-driving. $17,500 will just about put you in a competitive Grand-Am Continental ST car, which will have half the horsepower and two-thirds the tire and also is not RACING A $300,000 LAMBORGHINI IN FRONT OF ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND EVERY WOMAN WHO EVER SAID SHE HAD TOO MUCH SELF-RESPECT TO KEEP BEING YOUR MISTRESS. It’s a no-brainer.
But.
Some bad things could happen. Let’s talk about damage deposit. I’ve had jokers send me contracts for their LeMons car that had $7500 damage clauses written into them. I’ve seen situations where the “pro” crashed a Conti ST car and the “spank” had to pay the full cost of the car… and it’s amazing how much a race-prepped BMW Z4 or Civic can cost. I can only imagine how much the damage waiver might be in Super Trofeo.
It’s also not quite as safe as playing World of Warcraft at home. The driver you see in the rather chilling photo above survived with minor burns, but last weekend a driver lost his life at the Circuit Paul Ricard race. Make no mistake. These are very big, very heavy, very fast cars that can hit things very hard and there are no guarantees whatsoever that you’ll live to tell the story at your country club the following weekend.
Still, what could possibly be better than racing a Lamborghini? I can’t think of anything, and as Han Solo once famously said, “I can imagine quite a bit”.
JACK BARUTH
#1 I actually appreciate the cohones you have to post pictures like this. This reminds me of the aftermath of Bullit’s car chase.
Thank you for this picture Jack.
Porsche in Elizabeth New Jersey put a $10,000 hold on my credit card just to let me drive a Veyron (Roger Penske collection) 2 miles.
We have exotic rentals that you can rent a Murcielago for $3000 a weekend ($5000 hold on credit card). Thing is, you’d be crazy to race one of these things. They are best when you are driving through Manhattan traffic at 10 mph past busstops.
A few weeks ago I rented a new Aston Martin DB9 from Sixt, the giant German rental company that usually hands me the keys to Ford Fiestas or Skoda Octavias. Instead of the usual damage deposit of 150 Euros I saw the hold on my credit card was 2500 Euros. It did feel quite different on the Autobahn, admittedly. I had some extra kilometers to use up at the end and stupidly missed the chance to drive up and down the Königsallee, the Düsseldorf equivalent of Rodeo Drive, and catch the eyes of the Heidi Klums/Claudia Schiffers usually found there. A little crowd did assemble when I brought the car back though.
You can race a P-51 or Bearcat at Reno, imagine that.
Mother of God…. the right lens, place & time.
Wonder how much that photo has earned.
Or maybe it’s not that remarkable in the racing world?
VIDEO RECORD EVERYTHING.
you can scan through footage later for stills!
Guess I’m showing my age, Big Truck.
Still can’t wrap my head around the reality of hi-rez video stills.
The actual video is scary.
“…contracts for their LeMons car that had $7500 damage clauses written into them.”
Contracts? Damage clauses? I guess I’m doing LeMons all wrong.
Seriously!
My LeMons teams “contract” is that if you wad it up, you owe me a case of beer.
Hey, racing is expensive! Pay up or get out.
BTW, why are there no more LeMons updates? It was always fun to read them.
C&D is now a sponsor of the series and Judge Phil posts his updates there.
The Super Trofeo cars are just a BAD idea. Too many bad accidents with these cars lead one to conclude these cars are not up to snuff (pun intended) in terms of build quality. What’s the comparable bill for Porsche Cup or Ferrari Challenge?