When emotion meets per

HURACAN PERFORMANTE: LAMBORGHINI’S LATEST RAGING BULL OFFERS A PERFECT BLEND ENA

Growl of 5.2-litre V10 engine music to any car enthusiast’s ears. Mark Jones

Ihaven’t had a spirited drive in a Lamborghini on the road in a very long time. In fact it was so long ago, the cars I got to blast around Germany in were the then new Gallardo and the somewhat older Murcielago.

Since then, thanks to the new custodians of the Lamborghini brand in South Africa, which are the same people behind the successful Porsche and Bentley operations locally, I got to sample the Huracan and the Aventador on a

race track last year.

And now I can finally say that I have once again been given a proper drive on the road, this time in and around the Western Cape, in the hugely impressive Huracan Performnate Coupe, and what a drive it was!

Over 100 years ago, on April 28, 1916 to be exact, Ferruccio Lamborghini was born in Italy. After World War II, Lamborghini founded a business making tractors from reconfigured surplus military machines, near Bologna, Italy. He later expanded into other ventures, including manufacturing air-conditioning and heating systems and grew rich.

Lamborghini’s success enabled him to purchase a variety of luxury sports cars, including a Ferrari, considered one of the top cars of the time. After experiencing mechanical difficulties with his Ferrari, Lamborghini decided to start his own rival sports car company, even hiring a former top Ferrari engineer. Automobili Lamborghini was officially established in 1963 in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy and the same year debuted its first car, the Lamborghini 350 GTV, a two-seater coupe with a V12 engine.

The company’s logo featured a bull, a reference to Ferruccio Lamborghini’s zodiac sign, Taurus the bull. It is almost impossible to believe that a little car company that started out building tractors evolved into the same company that today builds such sought-after high-tech machines that are as home on the track as they are on the road.

So, what sets the Peformante apart from its standard Huracan sibling? First up, the Performante makes use of forged composites, which is chopped carbon fibres embedded in a resin matrix that allows the creation of complex design parts all within a light weight structure. The weight reduction of doing things this way comes in at 21%, compared with traditional carbon fibre construction of the same part while maintaining the same stiffness.

This technology is unique in the automotive industry and in 2016 Lamborghini received an award for automotive innovation thanks to this patented new material. The front and rear spoiler, the engine cover and the rear bumper, including the aerodynamic diffuser, make extensive use of this material and it’s not just for looks, but mostly for function and a 40kg drop in weight.

Anybody who knows anything about making a car fast and nimble knows that you need less weight, proper aerodynamics, useable power and a way to get that to the ground. And this has been achieved by the Lamborghini Huracan Performante in no uncertain terms. This car has lapped the Nurburgring in a time of 6:52.01, a time that has only been improved on by Porsche’s GT2 RS and the Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, making it the third quickest production car around this benchmark setting track.

Aerodynamics like you see in F1 racing is one of the most important keys to getting around a track fast and also from A to B should you be in that kind of hurry. Lamborghini have used another patent in their active aerodynamic system to allow you to be as fast as possible and as stable as possible no matter where you are using the car.

This very clever system that does its job without you being able to notice its transition from off to on and back again is known as Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva (ALA). I could spend a page or two giving you the details of exactly how this works, but I think it best for me to just say that the air flow is controlled by electro-actuated flaps and channeled in and around the front and rear spoilers. And this in turn creates down force or reduces the down force as required on the front and back of the car.

The numbers read as follows: there is an increase of 750% of