The Aventador is ready to charge! Auto Express was first to grab the bull by the horns and see whether Lamborghini’s new V12 flagship can live up to the firm’s reputation for insanity.

On paper the signs are ominous. The Aventador is first production Lamborghini to be built around a carbon-fibre monocoque, it contains a brand-new 691bhp V12 engine, F1-style push rod suspension and a robotised manual gearbox capable of swapping cogs in just 50ms.

The long, low and wide styling looks poised and ready to charge, even parked up. Some elements, like the compulsory scissor doors, Reventon-inspired front end and overall proportions will be familiar, but up close the detailing is superb - none more so than the fighter-jet style start button under a flip-up red cover.

In the cabin every button has an edge to it, continuing the sharp exterior theme. The digital LED instrument panel can be modified ad infinitum, but the two chief choices are whether to have the centre dial as a speedometer or a rev counter. The seating position is excellent, especially compared to other V12 Lambos from the past, but rear visibility is predictably limited. And don’t plan too many long getaways - total baggage space is a mere 110-litres, half that of a Smart fortwo.

Nothing can prepare you for the onslaught of acceleration on full throttle. With all four tyres digging into the Tarmac, there’s an urgency to the speed it’s hard to quantify, while the huge exhaust accompanies it with a suitably deafening shriek. Lamborghini’s engineers were stubborn from the outset that the new 6.5-litre engine had to use twelve cylinders and be naturally aspirated to make the Aventador a true Lamborghini – and it’s this that helps to make the throttle response so crisp and the soundtrack so loud.

The incredible performance in partly down to the engine, but also thanks to extensive weight saving. The LP700-4 is 90 kg lighter than the Murcielago at 1,575 kg, and a large chunk of that is due to the one-piece carbon monocoque which weighs just 147.5kg. Extensive use of aluminium elsewhere, drags the kerbweight down too and the result is sharper handling and a 20 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency compared to the Murcielago, despite power creeping up by eight per cent.

Show it a corner and the latest-generation Haldex all-wheel-drive does a fantastic job of hiding the car’s gargantuan footprint on the road. The grip is endless and the big V12 stays almost as level in tight curves as the featherweight MP4-12C. This is helped by the engine sitting 7.4cm lower in the chassis, and also the onboard F1-style pushrod suspension.

Three dynamic modes, each of which adjusts the throttle response, shift times, steering feel, and stability control, can be selected. Strada is the softest – offering the closest thing to everyday usability, while the most extreme Corsa mode is best saved for track use. the Sport setting is ideal for putting the car through its paces on fast sweeping roads.

While we were disallowed from testing the car with the ESP totally off, the Corsa mode allows a sufficiently rear-biased power delivery and wide enough electronic nets to allow the tail to slide wide. To test the Launch Control in a straight line though, we were allowed to disengage the ESP and enjoy the Aventador fully off the leash. Wind the revs up to 4,200rpm, slip your left foot off the brake and away you go. With the all-wheel traction there is definitely less drama than with something like the Ferrari 599 GTO, but the pick-up in speed is sensational.