Today is penciled in for me as the highlight of this trip. Each trip we do we try and fit something in that just breaks the mold as is just so crazily exciting we don’t even tell people about it beforehand. Last time in Vegas I flew a plane (and I mean I flew it!) over and through the grand canyon, In New York last month we flew a Doors-Off helicopter tour over Manhattan. We have seen blue whales, dived with sharks and eaten in some really plush restaurants. And this trip, along with a whole host of other fantastic activities we are going a step further, and renting a Lamborghini for a whole day.
This for me really is the realization of a dream. I have been into fast cars my whole life and have driven, experienced, and even owned some seriously fast cars. But they have always been in the affordable performance bracket, within the realms of normal people. A Lamborghini is far more than just a fast car, it is a hyper-car. A true money no object expression of luxury performance and basically awesomeness. The Purchase price is more than our house. Basically, I was pretty excited to be getting one for an entire day!
Kate is less enthusiastic about cars. To her, the Lambo is just noisy, low, and expensive. But the whole living like a rock-star thing was pretty appealing. Also to offset the ridiculous indulgence of my fantasy’s I had agreed to one of her wish-list activities. So, all in all, we were set for a pretty epic day that we were both REALLY excited about.
We started the day off with a free Starbucks. Planet Hollywood offers an included breakfast, which is basically just a free coffee each at Starbucks, not really a breakfast but still a nice bonus. Then we jumped into an Uber to meet up with Paul from LVCExotics.com. They were really our savior as we looked into the realities of hiring an expensive exotic Car in Vegas seemed to prove it was not really a possibility for us.
LVCExotics.com
Las Vegas is one of the cheapest places in the world to rent an exotic. It is still not a cheap experience but compared to your home town or any other big tourist destination it is still cheaper. There is a lot of competition and quite a few companies all offering the “best” service and “cheapest prices”.
Being from the UK ruled out a large number of these cheaper companies. As we didn’t have our own USA insurance and could not find any suitable short-term or hire car insurance policies we were limited to the Rental Car Company’s own insurance policies. This was fine, but most of the cheaper companies simply refused to cater to us at all or provide any type of insurance policy. This is a bit worrying as insurance companies are clearly not willing to deal with these types of companies. We had no choice, but feel others should steer clear as well.
The other end was the very expensive companies that offered insurance but at a fairly hefty rate on top of eyewatering Rental Rates. At this point, we were a bit stumped. That was until we found LVCExotics.com. They had really competitive prices and offered separate insurance policies. After chatting with Paul it was clear the Lambo dream was about to become a reality.
Picking up the Car
We headed over to meet Paul at his sales office for opening at 9 am. We had a lot planned and were eager to get cracking. Even more eager were a couple of young Australian girls who were renting a Mustang GT Convertable. They explained they had no maps and no Cellphone Data so we’re hoping on finding signs to help them get to the Grand Canyon…As they pulled out of the parking lot in their shiny 435BHP rental we really did wonder if they would ever be seen again…
Anyway back to our car. Everything was super quick and we were set up with our temporary insurance policy, in around 15-20 mins and then before we knew it we had the keys to our very own convertible Lamborghini for the day!
The Strip
First things first we headed down the strip. Still pretty early in the morning but past the rush hour and the strip was pretty quiet. While Cars like this are not Rare on the strip, they are still rare enough that you get a lot of attention. People stop and stare, drivers and passengers wave and give you thumbs-ups, and people hopelessly rev their engines next to you at lights hoping for a show.
It is pretty hard not to play up to this and get off the lights a bit spritely or give the V10 a bit of a blip, which produces the most incredible noise followed by a series of pops and bangs. I was like a kid in a sweet shop.
However fun this is, it’s not what the Lambo was designed for and we quickly headed away from Vegas to see what the car is really about. Some companies offer really short rentals, such as 1-2 Hours. These are a mistake in a car like this as you really have no time to enjoy it. By the time you are away from the strip, it’s time to head back. Really a 4 Hour is the minimum you need to enjoy a 600hp+ Supercar in its more natural habitat. As we wanted to really get to know it we plumped for the full 24hr Rental, but an 8 hour would be nearly as awesome and quite a bit cheaper, and after all the car sat in the valet for a good 8 hours of our rental…damn sleep!
Hoover Dam
The first stop away from the Strip was Hoover Dam. The drive here is a bit dull and mainly freeway. You get to open the car up a bit on the fast three-lane interstate but really apart from the incredible noise, it feels a bit wasted still. After all huge wide three-lane highways are not the most exciting places to drive.
Once at the dam the real downsides to the car become apparent. Simply driving a car like this subjects you to a sort of celebrity status. Everywhere you stop you are mobbed with people wanting a photo of you…well the car anyway. As a novelty, it’s really fun as everyone is interested and excited to see a car like this up close. But you will get the same three questions.
- Wow, Nice Car, can I have a photo with it?
- It is rented?
- How Much does it cost to rent?
We tried to give a different answer to each question every time, apart from the photo which was always “of course”.
It is also really hard to maneuver and park, not because it is particularly difficult to drive, but it is very high pressure. Not only is it a $300,000 car but EVERYONE is watching you all the time! With the top down you can hear all the comments and quips as you try and reverse it into a spot. Then there is the paranoia. We wanted to head out on the walkway opposite the dam to get a great view and some nice photo’s but this meant leaving the car unattended in the car park…It was impossible to enjoy the dam and we just wanted to get back and make sure the car was ok…
Soon enough we had had enough of the attention and the worry and it was time to hit the real roads. We had only really come down to Hoover Dam as it was right near the actual place we wanted to drive.
Lakeshore/North shore Road to the Valley of Fire
This really is the sort of road the Lamborghini was Born to Drive. Open, curved, undulating, exciting, and most importantly empty highways. This was over 60 miles of nearly deserted tarmac winding off into the desert. It would be bliss in almost any car. In the Lambo, it was utter heaven.
Letting go in the car takes some building up to, the first time you press the pedal the whole way the sudden noise and violence of the acceleration fool you into thinking there is a problem…it’s that savage. Once you realize what is happening is supposed to happen you really can let rip. Honestly, even on these kinds of roads, the car is too fast. Despite Vegas seeming to be quite lawless, and despite being a long way from anything remotely resembling civilization. You are still subject to speed limits and these are exceeded in seconds in the Lambo, and we mean that cruising at 40mph and pressing the throttle will see 65/70 passed in less than a second. even from 0, 60mph is demolished in 2.9 Seconds.
Get caught speeding over 85 mph and you start getting into real trouble and holding the throttle down for over 6 seconds from standing will break 100 mph. So even on the open road 99% of the time you are cruising. I am not saying we didn’t have a play at times, but even so, this is a 200mph+ car and that would see a long period of jail time. So most of the time you are just cruising along, but that is still very enjoyable.
The Huracan like most modern-day Lamborghini’s is developed in conjunction with Audi and this means the drive is incredible. If it were not for the plush interior and the obvious visual clues such as the wing mirror of the gas it’s easy to forget you are in a Lambo, it is just a car! Until you step in the gas…
With 4 wheel drive and big wide tires, the grip is phenomenal, far greater than my courage, so the car just sticks to the road like glue. Like this is ate up the road in no time at all. While the actual drive time was approaching 3+hours this included endless stops for photos’ videos and even some sneaky drone footage. However, even out here people still found us to request a photo with the car!
By the time we reached the Valley of Fire we only really had time to grab a few photos and head back into town, this time down the I-15. By the time we got back into Vegas our fuel tank was around a quarter full, which really isn’t bad considering we had done nearly 200 miles a lot of which had been quite spirited!
As we pulled into the parking lot at Planet Hollywood we simply had to make use of the Valet Parking. Parking a car is not usually an event but pulling up to the Valet in a Lambo really does make you feel pretty special.
With my part of the Day nearly over it was time to get ready for Kate’s treat. One I was really not looking forward to, but life is about compromise right, and my side of the bargain gave her a lot of room to work with!
Magic Mike Live!
Yep, I had agreed to take her to see male strippers! While this is might be huge “no-way!” for some guys. I was not really bothered by the concept, but certainly not interested in watching scantily clad men dance, so it would be an hour and a half of pretty much boredom. What’s worse, I couldn’t drink!
Why? Well if we were going to a strip show I was going in the Lambo! So there was a bit more pretending we were rich and important as we rolled up at the Hard Rock Valet in our Lamborghini!
As for the Show, honestly, it wasn’t too bad for me. Magic Mike is anything but a sleazy strip show, these guys are professional dancers and their performance is pretty incredible, the show has a story of sorts and I even found myself enjoying parts. It is incredibly Crowd focused and the performers interact with the crowd throughout the show (safeword provided if it’s not your thing) and that it is always great to see peoples reactions. In no way did I feel too out of place or uncomfortable, I was also not alone, although there was only 3/4 of us. Our presence is even used as a joke a few times in the performance. It is certainly not out of the ordinary! Of Course, My Opinion doesn’t really matter, this wasn’t for me. However, I am struggling to prize much constructive from kate other than “OMG That was AMAZING!”
This probably tells you all you need to know, however. Our Full review, From a Mans Perspective, is on the way and I will try and get a bit more out of her by then!
After the show, we checked out the Hard Rock for a bit but really, I was just waiting to get back in the Lambo. We stopped for petrol on the way back, even the most mundane things are pretty special in a Lamborghini, and then we headed for a nighttime drive up the strip Via the Tunnel. With the top down, the car sounds indecent as it roars through the Tunnel. At night the Car attracts even more attention as people are now also drunk. Making you a real target for catcalls waves and people egging you to put on a show. It does take some restraint not to do anything silly. The best advice being from Paul, treat it like you own it!
Finally, the epic day was catching up with us and we headed back to PH to leave it in the capable hands of the Valet. Tomorrow would be an early start as I wanted to hit Red Rock Canyon at Sunrise.
Update:
As you can see we were a bit bowled over by the highlights of the day, I didn’t actually even mention what we had to eat all day. Thinking back now I can’t even remember, we may have just run on adrenaline all day!
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