Autoblog

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The Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 is a pretty incredible piece of machinery. A road car capable of speeds one would normally associate with an open-wheel racer will always be impressive, especially when you consider it's laden with government-mandated safety equipment, plus niceties like a stereo and air conditioning. Only a fool would explore the car's outer performance limits on public roadways, however. That's best saved for a closed course, and if you can afford an LP640, you should be able to buy yourself some track time to see what it can really do.

The driver (and owner?) of the car in the video above was apparently too foolish to do that, and embarked on a quest to set the "world speed record" for an LP640 on Arizona public highways. Sure, the sound the car makes as it flies past static camera points at some 200 mph is nothing short of incredible, but the act itself is disturbing, because no matter how late at night this film was taken, there are other drivers out, and at 200 miles per hour, the margin for error is exactly zero. Make a mistake, and people are going to die.

[Source: YouTube]

The driver in this case pushes his luck three separate times. On his first run, he makes it to 211 mph according to his trip computer, and he ultimately lays off after overtaking a car that was braking in another lane. You can hear him say in the video, "I didn't even know that he was there. I didn't see him." No, and chances are that he didn't see you either. 211 wasn't enough, so on the next attempt, the driver hits 214. Once again, he is forced to back off because he comes up on another car traveling in his direction. He then intones, "214. We could have got even more if it wasn't for this car in front of us." Yes, how inconsiderate of that other car. The third time's the charm, and we see him take a sweeping curve at 170 on his way to an indicated top speed of 219. The video closes with the driver telling the camera, "I'm the driver and this was the world speed record for the LP640. 219 miles per hour. Try to beat it."

We don't know what the sanctioning body for this particular "world speed record" is -- the National Council of Imbeciles, perhaps? In any case, we recommend you don't try to beat it. At least not like these clowns, who put unwitting drivers on a public road at risk just so they could stroke their own egos.