CARS: A Day at the Track with Lamborghini Esperienza

It’s a rare breed of buyer who can afford a Lamborghini. It’s an even rarer owner amongst them who truly knows how to drive one.

Fortunately, the elite Italian automaker offers its Esperienza events around the world. Intended for current Lamborghini owners and would be buyers, the program takes drivers to racetracks and motorsports parks at convenient points around the globe. There, a fleet of Lambos wait alongside a team of experienced professional racers ready to train and test the amateurs in some of the fastest supercars on the planet.

After an initial welcome session and orientation, drivers begin their day in the driver’s seat with a Lamborghini driving instructor at their side. The experts are patient and informative, never putting on pressure or demeaning anyone for inexperience or errors. They’re on hand to educate, encourage and improve their pupils. And they’re responsible for making sure the amateur drivers are skilled enough to get 720 horsepower around in one piece.

I got on well with my coach since this job of mine affords me track training in the line of duty — making sure I had a little more experience than the rookies heading out with iron grips on the wheel and eyes wider than a Gallardo’s rims.

Still, there’s a gulf between what I can do and what a pro manages with ease. I paid attention and learned a little bit more about track racing.

Only a racetrack works for mastering the basics of the Avantador. With enough corners to experience the precision and balance, such a circuit offers up straightaways that allows me to put my toe down flat out in the car — without enough time to max out the 217 mpg maximum speed.

The sensory experience of pushing such a car down a racetrack is a freeing mixture of mental juggling, surging adrenaline and physical challenges. While loaded with enough driver’s aids to keep everything on the road, the Avantador kept me in touch with the road surface. I took in every bump and rumble, even as the brute muscled its way from lap to lap.

If there are open slots this year or next, make the investment of time. The sensation of being in razor width’s control of such power is impossible to duplicate anywhere else — and difficult to describe unless you’ve been inside a Lamborghini.