2006 Ferrari F430 Spider F1 vs. Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder

In March we brought you a first-drive report on the new topless Gallardo, which was headlined thus: "Lamborghini tries to one-up the neighbors in Maranello. And succeeds." That's a pretty bold assertion, particularly in light of the Gallardo coupe's second place in our "Lords of Envy" supercar showdown last August — second, we should add, behind the Ferrari F430 coupe.
There was foundation for our one-up speculation. When the Lamborghini engineers subtracted the Gallardo's solid top, they added more muscle, bumping the output of the 5.0-liter V-10 from 493 horsepower at 7800 rpm to 512 at 8000. That's 29 more horses than the V-8 in the Ferrari F430 makes. Its top speed outdid the Ferrari by 9 mph (to 195). Beyond that — and probably more significant — the topless Gallardo generates even higher visual wattage than its coupe counterpart.
But even so, this is clearly a situation that calls for more than mere speculation. This calls for instrumented test data. Hands on at high speeds. Tops down. Tops up. Mountain roads. Fast sweepers. Decreasing radii. Switchbacks. Urban stop-and-go. Freeway traffic dissection. We do this in the spirit of pure research on your behalf, of course. Barely a scintilla of self-indulgence.
Since the U.S. market accounts for more than 40 percent of all its sales, and a hefty chunk of that percentage goes to California, Lamborghini chose the Los Angeles auto show for the official unveiling last January of its new convertible, where it played to rave reviews. The design, conceived by Lamborghini Centro Stile, entailed at least as much engineering work as it did styling, and the operation of the electrohydraulic (there are six hydraulic rams) power top is an event worth watching. The carbon-fiber lid covering the engine bay rises off its moorings, retreats rearward, the top folds itself up like something from a Harry Potter movie, stuffs itself out of sight, whereupon the cover settles back into place. The whole operation takes about 20 seconds.
Creating a convertible inevitably adds up at the scales, and that's certainly true for the Lambo. In addition to the top mechanism, the spyder has added structural stiffening along the sills, and the A-pillars include automatic pop-up rollover reinforcement integrated with the airbag system. Bottom line: Our "Lords of Envy" Gallardo coupe weighed 3520 pounds. This spyder scaled in at 3820.