Another one that I saw across a car park whilst out shopping and had to go and take pics of (only had my little Fujifilm F30 with me).

Lambo Gallardo Spider






The owner was pleased to let me snap away and happy to chat. He encouraged me to take pics of the interior too.



He was very happy with it and far preferred it to his Ferrari F360 Modena it replaced.

Finally had to go, as my wife was waiting (by our car) and wanted to do some more shopping before the shops closed. When asked what she thought of it as we drove off behind him, her reply was, "He's got a sun-burnt head" and "The back is massive!"

Shopping in the Exige? How much could she fit?

Heh, I'd prefer your Exige to the Lambo.

We were in our little scootabout (Peugeot 106GTI)

I know what you mean – but a lot of people would disagree.

What can you use a Gallardo Spider for except to pose in? Not really something to drive quickly open and not the best trackday tool (the owner had never been on track with it – though he had explored the handling a little and said it was far more reassuring and predictable than the twitchy F360). If you want to cruise in the sun, an MX5 is enough. If you want a trackday blast, an Exige is better.

Sure, but I just happen to have a Lotus fetish.

A Toyota-engined, Lotus or a tiny little Mazda, while both great cars, don't have the same passion or sense of occasion of the Lambo. Everything from the noise it makes, to the gorgeous styling, makes it a different animal.

Fair enough!

In that case, you might like to see this one that I discovered. A road-registered, stripped out racer – apparently Wankel powered, though the owner wasn't around to ask.

I don't have any issue with "sense of occasion" – a huge, wide, low, megabucks car is always going to look and feel very different to a average tinbox (though the feel of my supercharged Exige is quite distant from most stuff on the road too).

"Don't have the same passion" – there I have to disagree. You need to be passionate about driving to forego most of the luxuries afforded by normal cars and feed yourself into a Lotus. However, those who've done it will know that, once you're snugly fixed in place, the car becomes an extension of you – the steering reacting so perfectly to inputs that you almost get the feeling you're driving by telepathy. The lightness and perfect balance only add to this impression of being at one with the car. That sensation, makes people passionate about the car - and they gladly do without all the usual mod cons just to expereince the purity of driving that a Lotus offers. OTOH, onlookers may get more excited about a Lambo – though the Exige regularly generates screams of approval and waves from schoolkids, welcoming smiles and comments from women and studied indifference from hot hatch drivers!

I can't disagree with that. Well put.