It’s no use pretending, that I undertsand why Lamborghini Australia asked journos not to report on a flaming Aventador at a recent event held at Phillip Island.
According to Drive.com.au the LP700-4 had completed many laps of the picturesque circuit as part of a media demonstration, which was not attended by Drive. Late in the day smoke bellowed from the engine bay and flames soon emerged as people scrambled out on track with fire extinguishers to try and minimise the damage.
Fairfax Media alleges Lamborghini Australia “forced” at least one media organisation to delete footage of the flaming Aventador.
In a prepared statement, Sebastien Henry, Lamborghini’s head of south-east Asia and Pacific, explained: “We certainly did not ‘force’ any of our guests to delete any imagery obtained on the day.
“We did however, kindly request that our guests refrain from making any assumptions through the media—particularly when, at the time, the cause of the incident had not yet been adequately investigated.”
Henry’s statement went on to add: “Automobili Lamborghini has confirmed that the issue was accidental due to the vehicle’s extended track use in a high-temperature environment. The investigation has also confirmed that the issue was not due to any fault in the design or construction of the vehicle.”
Unofficial eyewitness reports suggest the fire was caused by a small oil leak which ignited after it made contact with the exhaust system. A theory which was later confirmed by Lamborghini.
This story is embarrassing for Lamborghini, yes, but we wonder if trying to suppress the facts is cause for more embarrassment?
Despite Lamborghini playing coy, this isn’t the first time an Aventador has said light me and I’ll burn for you.
[Source: Drive.com.au]
4 replies on “The hide and seek we play with facts”
Lamborghini perhaps tried to suppress this to avoid potential “changes in demand” 🙂
Very good. 😉
A proper cameraman for any real media organisation would never *actually* delete the footage but merely make it appear like they had for the PR rep. Not to run the story/clip would have been an editorial decision – probably made after making Lambo sweat on it and give up a future favour.
This is up there on what you don’t want to happen on a press drive day. My favourite is the Merc tech who forgot to engage the anti-crash prevention and watched the Merc plough into a parked truck with all the motoring journos in Europe gathered around with their cameras. While no one was hurt in the accident, I’m sure the tech was feeling a bit sore on the backside on his way out.