Fresh off its 6:59 lap of the Nürburgring at the hands of the very talented Marco Mapelli, the 2015 Lamborghini Aventador SV is now beginning to make its way into the somewhat less talented hands of car journalists. First up is Auto Express’s Steve Sutcliffe, who went to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain to put the SV through its paces.

First impressions? Well, it’s a lot louder both inside and out than the normal Aventador,->ke3624 thanks to an uncorked exhaust and less sound-deadening material. As you would expect, it brakes, grips and accelerates more aggressively than the car it’s based on, especially in Corsa mode. But, perhaps the biggest compliment is how easy it is to drive quickly.

“This thing’s insane,” says Sutcliffe as he pulls in to the pits after a flying lap. “It’s not difficult to drive, though. Most people who know roughly what they’re doing can get in this thing and drive it really fast. Because although it feels insanely, outrageously fast and noisy and all the rest of it, it doesn’t feel like it wants to bite your hand off.”

That’s quite a feat, considering there’s 6.5-liter V-12 under the rear deck lid producing 740 horsepower. A strict diet of carbon fiber means the SV weighs just 3,362 pounds, 110 pounds less than the base model. It does 0-60 in 2.8 seconds and has a top speed of 217 mph. Even if you have the roughly $360,000 needed to buy one, you’re already too late. All 600 examples have been spoken for.

2015 Lamborghini Aventador SV

Read our full review here.