Lambo’s Huracán tamer ride
ASCARI MOTORSPORT PARK, Spain — I really didn’t know what to expect. Truth is, like the vast majority of you reading this, I had never driven a Lamborghini. McLarens, yes. Ferraris? By the bucket load. Porsches so often they’re starting to feel as exotic as Volkswagens. But, a Lamborghini? Don’t think I ever even sat in one.
So my impressions of the famed fighting bulls were probably the same as yours: Marvellous to look at, scintillating as only howling multi-cylinder Italian engines can be, but, if the reports from my fellow auto journalists had any veracity, more than a little headstrong.
And not in a good way. Lambo could be downright unruly went the refrain.
Somewhere along the line, Lamborghini obviously tamed its truculent ways. The new Huracán proved just as co-operative as the McLaren 650S I flogged here just a few weeks a go. The Huracán is rendered far more sophisticated via a healthy infusion of Audi electronics. Oh, to be sure, the all-wheel-drive system (standard torque split, 30:70 front-to-rear, but able to transmit all its torque rearward) is the technology that lets the new baby Lambo put all of the 5.2-litre V10’s 610 horsepower to the ground. But it’s the invisible hand of the new ANIMA (Italian for “soul,” a much more romantic handle than the official Adaptive Network Intelligent Management moniker) control system that makes it all manageable.
In its raciest CORSA mode — which basically leaves the driver to his own devices — my, er, devices were not always up to the task. Exuberance often overcame talent in a series of lurid slides which, had me desperately trying to keep up with the driving instructor in the Aventador.
Toggling back to Sport mode, a seemingly counterintuitive move considering my need for more speed, rendered things much more manageable behind the wheel of the pastel yellow Lambo, less bronking buck, more streaking thoroughbred. Indeed, the most surprising thing, at least to me, is that it was the ANIMA’s lesser Sport mode, with its slightly more intrusive stability and traction control, that made racing around Ascari more fun.
Having the electronic stability control system on board to save your bacon leaves you to enjoy what is truly the attraction of driving a Lamborghini, namely wringing every last little bit of torque out of what, despite an implied taming of Lamborghini’s ways, is still one very high-performance engine.
The 5.2-litre V10, sourced from parent company Audi, pumps out a very competitive 610 horsepower while screaming to an incredible 8,500 rpm redline. This last is made truly incredible since, unlike other high-revving engines, the big V10 has a very long 92.8 millimetre stroke.
Without a doubt, however, the most obvious of Audi’s influences lies inside the cabin. Oh, there will be complaints that the Huracán is a little too Ingolstadt in this regard — the on-board infotainment system is strikingly similar to Audi’s MMI and the 12.3 inch TFT-screened gauge set looks to be lifted directly from the upcoming TT — but no matter where the credit be attributed, the execution is lovely. Add to this Lamborghini’s traditional flair — seats colour-matched to the exterior and Alcantara leather so soft you want to sleep in it — and the Huracán cabin may be the most attractive in the mid-priced (Canadian MSRP: $260,990) supercar segment.
My favourite part is the centre console — complete with a row of toggle switches and a race car-like protective gate preventing inadvertent depressing of the start/ stop button — that looks like it was liberated from a full-fledged GT competition car. Very cool!
Indeed, this union of Italian passion and German quality is the marriage supercar fans have long desired. Lamborghinis used to be blindingly fast, overwrought beasts with cranky engines and wonky interiors. Now, they’re just blindingly fast.
The Huracán’s signature technology, which it will, unsurprisingly, share with Audi’s upcoming remake of the R8, is a chassis made of aluminum and carbon fibre. Unlike previous such combinations — McLaren’s MP4-12C/650S/P1 and Alfa Romeo’s 4C — which keep the carbon fibre and metal portions separate, the Lambo’s chassis has equal parts carbon weave and aluminum interspersed in one giant spaceframe.
Essentially, the centre tunnel and rear bulkhead — large pieces made heavy in aluminum by their need to be very stiff — are made of carbon fibre, while less stressed pieces — sills, platform floor, etc. — remain made of lighter-than-steel metal, the two materials glued and riveted together. According to Maurizio Reggiani, director of Lamborghini’s research and development department, it was the only way for Lamborghini to reach the Huracán’s ambitious targets for light weight (1,422 kilograms) and stiffness — 30,000 Newton-metres are required to twist the body shell but one degree.