RE: Mega-mile Murcielago: PH Heroes

[simonspider]

Mannasaurus Rex said:

My all time favourite car. Although personally I'd have mine in Giallo Orion and on its original wheels... Not that I need to worry about such things.
And I'm sure I've sat in this very car at the NEC about 10 years ago, did it have black stripes at one point?

You did indeed. That was the launch of 6th Gear at MPH'06. Long time ago.
Original wheels don't fit anymore thanks to the larger brakes. But you are right, they are very Countachish.

[gkw90]

SuperchargedVR6 said:

havoc said:

SuperchargedVR6 said:

Supercar parts prices always amuse me. You can buy a decent hot hatch for the price of one headlight!

I reckon the accountants just pick exorbitant prices out of a hat when pricing up spares.

It's largely down to the cost of tooling, divided by the number of parts produced.

A Ford Focus headlamp tool is split over ~3-4 million (!) units at least, so even though they'll probably chew through 4 or 5 tools, the amortisation cost per headlamp is <£1.
A Murcielago headlamp tool is split over 4-5,000 units, so that amortisation element of the cost is over 200x as much.

Add in using a low-volume manufacturer not a big plant, plus more stringent QC, and the production cost could be 3-5x as much also.

...and then you have the supercar tax on top, as you point out...

Yeah that is true. I forgot we are talking 1000s of stamped off hatchbacks vs 100s of hand made cars.

Still, they must have giggled amongst themselves when they decided on £6000 for a headlight Then again, Audi had taken the reigns at that point, and they are also rather fond of pricey spares.

It's not enough that customers have to find £100+K to buy the car in the first place, they are then faced with £6K lights, £10K clutches (which are probably made a volume maker like Sachs or LUK), £1000 coilpacks etc etc.
Hand crafted body panels in CF, I totally get it. But mechanical parts, not so much.

I guess it's all part of the ownership 'experience' :-)

I think the point is still reasonably valid. Items like clutches and drivelines in such cars will be made in more limited numbers, granted they can be applied in various models throughout the industry, but still in less numbers than say a set-up from a Focus. These items will also potentially need to meet tighter criteria, and will have to go through OEM testing all the same.

With a gearbox example from a high end luxury car; the base unit might be used in several marques, but there may need to be different lines set-up for different models due to different fixings, brackets, part number notation, barcode scanning. There's also different logistics routes, quality inspection, approval processes etc etc. That's just purely to deliver the type approved system. The cost to get such a gearbox developed to that point is still substantial whilst facing the same economies of scale.

Suppliers will also sometimes be forced to work with a Marque's low volume brand in order to get the series work, which makes the majority of profit for them. So they charge high amounts to the low volume brand to cover the hassle of having to provide a product.

I work for an OEM doing this kind of stuff, so have a reasonable knowledge. I do wince when some replacement parts cost as much as a deposit for a house!

[The Wookie]

simonspider said:

That made me smile. A few weeks ago I trailered SG54 behind a nearly new Range Rover Sport up to Sheffield. I did this since the gearbox had needed some adjustment and had only just gone back in the car a few days before Mike came over. So I figured just to be safe I'll trailer the Lambo up the M1 - bearing in mind if it played up there is now no hard shoulder on most of it.

Just after Tibshelf services I met stationary traffic and put the Sport into 'Park'. When the traffic started to move the Range simply refused to go into 'Drive' just showing a message on the dash saying 'HDC Gearbox fault'.
I kid you not my heart was racing as for the next 7 minutes it steadfastly refused to move all the while the traffic now gaining speed veering around me in lane 2. I half expected to be rammed forward by an HGV and another rebuild.
Eventually having switched the RR V8 off multiple times it eventually agreed to engage drive and I moved off sweating.

However it did occur to me that had the Murcielago a towbar and I could have at least shifted the Sport a few feet, I could have hooked up the trailer behind the Lambo and used it to drag the Range Rover. Made a great picture.

I think you'd be on clutch number 9 by now

[Andy665]

I have followed cars life for years, sadly never driven it but to me this is the epitome of supercar ownership

Designers, engineers etc toil away at building supercars and sadly far too few ever get used for fear of hurting residuals - its like having Scarlett Johansson as a girlfriend and not wanting to sleep with her - buy a supercar and use the damn thing

Total respect to Simon for not only using this awesome piece of automotive art but also for allowing us mere mortals an insight into long term ownership

[PunterCam]

I thought this car had 250k on it 5 years ago the last time I read about it... And I thought the repairs were reported ages ago... Would've thought it'd have 300+ on it by now if I'd been asked!

Great it got used so much - hope it continues to get used properly.

[Davey S2]

I feel really old now.

I remember reading Simon's thread on Ferrarichat.com the day he picked the car up.

Wonder what the £ per mile cost is? I suspect Simon wouldn't want to know.

[GTCSL]

Love articles like these. The fact it's somewhat scruffy around the edges, really makes this car for me. Like those vintage ferraris with cracked leather and blistered paint; there's no substitute for "age/use related patina". Compared to all those low miler Murcis wasting away in heated garages, this car has proper charm and a great story behind it's impressive miles. Bravo SG54!

[Neill_Watson]

SG54 was one of the first cars I ever instructed in way back in 2006 when 6th Gear started. I've done many, many miles talking very fast from the passenger seat of her on various tracks.
I was gutted when I got the phone call from Simon on the day she went into that tree. I could hear in his voice how upset he was.
It's great to see her back up and running once again, it's been a labour of love for him.
Looking forward to being re-acquainted with the old lady some time soon, well done, Simon.

[Kawasicki]

Great looking car

[annodomini2]

gkw90 said:

SuperchargedVR6 said:

havoc said:

SuperchargedVR6 said:

Supercar parts prices always amuse me. You can buy a decent hot hatch for the price of one headlight!

I reckon the accountants just pick exorbitant prices out of a hat when pricing up spares.

It's largely down to the cost of tooling, divided by the number of parts produced.

A Ford Focus headlamp tool is split over ~3-4 million (!) units at least, so even though they'll probably chew through 4 or 5 tools, the amortisation cost per headlamp is <£1.
A Murcielago headlamp tool is split over 4-5,000 units, so that amortisation element of the cost is over 200x as much.

Add in using a low-volume manufacturer not a big plant, plus more stringent QC, and the production cost could be 3-5x as much also.

...and then you have the supercar tax on top, as you point out...

Yeah that is true. I forgot we are talking 1000s of stamped off hatchbacks vs 100s of hand made cars.

Still, they must have giggled amongst themselves when they decided on £6000 for a headlight Then again, Audi had taken the reigns at that point, and they are also rather fond of pricey spares.

It's not enough that customers have to find £100+K to buy the car in the first place, they are then faced with £6K lights, £10K clutches (which are probably made a volume maker like Sachs or LUK), £1000 coilpacks etc etc.
Hand crafted body panels in CF, I totally get it. But mechanical parts, not so much.

I guess it's all part of the ownership 'experience' :-)

I think the point is still reasonably valid. Items like clutches and drivelines in such cars will be made in more limited numbers, granted they can be applied in various models throughout the industry, but still in less numbers than say a set-up from a Focus. These items will also potentially need to meet tighter criteria, and will have to go through OEM testing all the same.

With a gearbox example from a high end luxury car; the base unit might be used in several marques, but there may need to be different lines set-up for different models due to different fixings, brackets, part number notation, barcode scanning. There's also different logistics routes, quality inspection, approval processes etc etc. That's just purely to deliver the type approved system. The cost to get such a gearbox developed to that point is still substantial whilst facing the same economies of scale.

Suppliers will also sometimes be forced to work with a Marque's low volume brand in order to get the series work, which makes the majority of profit for them. So they charge high amounts to the low volume brand to cover the hassle of having to provide a product.

I work for an OEM doing this kind of stuff, so have a reasonable knowledge. I do wince when some replacement parts cost as much as a deposit for a house!

It's not just the tooling, it's the engineering cost as well, if it's not an off the shelf part then those creation and/or adaption costs (mainly testing and qualification)

[Gandahar]

Owner did the normal pain, cost and heartache but just ratcheted it up 10 fold of course. Very admirable.

You need to give it a name. Perhaps Buzz as it has gone to the moon....

[kambites]

annodomini2 said:

It's not just the tooling, it's the engineering cost as well, if it's not an off the shelf part then those creation and/or adaption costs (mainly testing and qualification)

Light units are surprisingly expensive things to design and get all the relevant approvals for.

[Motorsport3]

Another way to look at it -
500gr/klm on CO2 equates to 200 tons for 250k mileage

[snorkel sucker]

I still have vivid memories of driving this car round Bruntingthorpe on an experience day.

Absolute savage acceleration and the most awesome awesome noise.

[mattf93]

Motorsport3 said:

Another way to look at it -
500gr/klm on CO2 equates to 200 tons for 250k mileage

No eco warriors here thank you

I think its fantastic seeing Simon continue to use the old girl, Ive enjoyed reading his exploits with the tangerine over the years!

[Leggy]

Here is the orange beast back in 2006....

[mikEsprit]

Is there a ballpark guess as to how much it's cost to run this per mile, not including fuel?

[Sa Calobra]

Wow great story and car. I'll look out for this in Manchester

[XJSJohn]

would love to know what the guys at the Lambo Factory think of this car, must be a lot of pride and admiration there too .....

Cars are supposed to be used properly ... ran my old 911 2.7 30'000 km a year for 4 years, then stuck 80'000 km on my 370Z in under 3 years, including a trip to Burma, but nothing as epic as this Millennium Falcon Special!

[rtz62]

mattf93 said:

Motorsport3 said:

Another way to look at it -
500gr/klm on CO2 equates to 200 tons for 250k mileage

No eco warriors here thank you

I think its fantastic seeing Simon continue to use the old girl, Ive enjoyed reading his exploits with the tangerine over the years!

I'd hazard a bet that the Greenpeace / Save The (insert appropriate noun here) types will be pulling their hair out if they read those headline figures.
But my view is that this is a car that, ok, used some consumables to build it but instead of being scrapped (perhaps not applicable for a supercar) or sold for parts, it's still soldiering on. To me that mitigates it's costs.
Bravo sir, bravo.