That bit more forceful
Lambo turns up the wick up with Huracán Performante
AS PART OF its business model, Lamborghini likes ‘specials’. If anything, it’s rival and neighbour Ferrari that has to keep up, and in more ways than one if the new Huracán Performante’s record-smashing 6:52.01 lap of the Nürburgring is anything to go by. Maranello would no doubt argue ‘not’. But, for a little perspective, it’s a time that puts this ‘track focused’ version of the Huracán LP610-4 way out ahead of Porsche’s 918 Spyder, the only hybrid hypercar so far to have posted a Green Hell-for-leather time. Back in 2013, 6:57.00 was considered as hot as it gets and a resounding vindication of petrol/electric tech. Now less so. Unsurprisingly, eyebrows have been raised.
But then the Huracán Performante goes somewhat further than previous Lambo specials that have worn a Super Veloce, Superleggera or, indeed, Performante badge. Not in the sense that it’s a stripped-out, mildly domesticated racer for the road. Far from it. Rather, it seems to be the Sant’Agata factory’s best ‘have your cake and eat it’ meal deal yet.
Consider. Taking the 5.2-litre V10 LP610-4 as our datum point, the Huracán Performante is more powerful (plus 29bhp equals 631bhp) and lighter (by 40kg). Part of the weight-paring is tied in with the Performante’s most radical feature, an active aero system Lamborghini calls Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva or ALA for short. The front spoiler, rear wing, engine cover and rear diffuser are all made of forged composites – chopped carbonfibre in a mouldable resin mix – and it’s pretty light stuff. But it’s what ALA does that’s clever and apparently the reason driver Marcos Mapelli was able to lap the Nordschleife so rapidly.
Basically, it’s a linked system of active flaps and ducts front-to-rear that can deliver both substantial vertical downforce and significant drag reduction to allow maximum acceleration. More cunning still, the ducts also operate independently, allowing ‘aero vectoring’ to make fast cornering even faster by delivering bespoke downforce on either side when and where it’s needed.
The terrific Imola race circuit in northern Italy is laid on to provide some exploratory room for manoeuvre, and a morning of many laps following – and frequently hustling – a wrung-out LP610-4 pace car is every bit the eye-opener those of us slightly disappointed with the Huracán thus far might have hoped for. Bottom line, the Performante’s performance is little short of astonishing. Yes, it’s quick in a straight line – 0-62mph in 2.9 seconds, 0-124mph in 8.9 – but it’s the cornering speed, precision, stability and braking that seem almost to defy reason. Stiffer suspension and sticky Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres help, but ALA really does seem to take things to another level.
The Performante feels – finally – like the finished article, a complete realisation of the Huracán’s seemingly forever-elusive potential. Gone is the standard car’s feel-less helm and edge-of-understeer balance, replaced with precision, physicality and turn-in acuity that can nail an apex with true aggression or brush it with finely wrought finesse.
It’s a game-changer for the Huracán and a worry for Ferrari, Porsche and McLaren.