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All Lamborghini Gallardo models are built on an aluminum space frame, with aluminum extruded parts welded to cast aluminum joint sections, and an aluminum body structure with thermoplastic hang-on parts such as fenders and door skins. The Gallardo is plenty light, but the Superleggera goes even further.

From the outside, the Superleggera is nearly identical to the standard Gallardo coupe, with the exception of the Superleggera logo on the lower portion of the doors.

But the shape hides a whole menu of lightweight parts including a carbonfiber diffuser under the rear end of the Superleggera, a pair of carbonfiber mirror housings, a carbonfiber driveshaft to the rear wheels, a polymer rear window and engine cover instead of glass, carbonfiber intake manifold, lightweight exhaust manifolds, forged aluminum wheels, and titanium wheel nuts, to make the car as light as possible.

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Inside the cockpit, the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera has shiny gray carbonfiber door panels, a carbonfiber dashboard panel and carbonfiber console in order to save weight and look sexy. The headliner and carpet also have special graphics.

The standard Superleggera seats for the rest of the world's customers are carbonfiber sports seats that are closer to racing seats than street seats, with fore-aft adjustment only; since they are one piece, the backrest portion can't be adjusted separately, and some drivers simply won't be comfortable in the scantly upholstered seats.

The seats, in turn, are equipped with racing-style four-point seatbelts, which means donning and adjusting two separate shoulder belts that come through openings in the seatbacks. Once adjusted to the body and cinched tight, the belts allow very little movement, so it's a good idea to close the doors first, because you won't be able to reach them once belted.

Fortunately, U.S. models will have the standard Gallardo coupe seats and seat-mounted side airbags as well as conventional three-point seat belts. The good news is that, once belted in, driver and passenger can reach all the audio, climate, window, and other controls in the center of the dash quite easily and comfortably.

Enthusiasts will recognize the audio and climate controls from various Audi models.

The sharply angled windshield and the deep dashboard give the feeling that you're sitting quite far back in the car, and you are, just ahead of the rear window and firewall that separate you physically but not aurally from that fire-breathing, V10 engine.