LAMBORGHINI HURACÁN
PERFORMANTE
"Tight turns with unforgivable run-off areas. But I was sat in a Lamborghini high above the coastline in Los Angeles. And it was about to go fast. Really fast."
During my years in the car industry, I have had the opportunity to drive every single variation of Huracán except the LP580-2 Spyder before the Performante was launched. A close friend of mine and I had the opportunity to go to an exclusive first viewing of the Performante in Dubai in early February 2017. A month before the car was shown for the first time to the world at the Geneva Motor Show in the beginning of March the same year.
Of course, our phones cameras were covered with many layers of sticky notes. Never have my fingers itched so much to take a picture of something. Both me and my friend stayed for a long time after the other invited guests had left to admire this monster.
The Huracán Performante is by far one of the rawest V10s you can experience. The car has 30 more horsepower than the regular version and just starting it is a procedure in itself (almost). As in true jet-fighter spirit, you lift the red "lid" and press the start button. The V10 roars to life and in most cases scare everything around you who have not already paid attention to the car. The trick is to start the ignition and select Corsa or Sport mode to spice it up a little extra.
A masterpiece by Lamborghini that set a lap record on the ancient Nordschleife and crushed, among other things, the Porsche 918 and which proved that it was the new "King of the Ring". This car was now in my hands for a summer and it was about to go fast. Really fast!
Lamborghini has for the first time ever introduced “ALA” in a car, which stands for “Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva” which in short means that the car opens and closes small flaps at higher speeds both when driving straight and in turns to give you incredible stability and safety with the work of airflow. These small hatches and holes are embedded in the front bumper and at the back of the engine bay cover is an intake that leads up to the holes that extend beyond the entire underside of the hollow wing.
The base Huracán LP610-4 and especially LP610-4 Spyder are unstable and almost clumsy in high speed corners. The Performante however sticks to the asphalt like a train on rails, or like the cars on the electric slot car tracks we played with in our younger years.
The 5.2 liter V10 roars almost twice as loud as a regular Huracán and the sound echoes in the mountains as I pass them. Both the throttle response and steering is extremely sensitive and require a certain technique to drive smoothly but fast in tight turns with unforgivable run-off areas.
But the Performante is so stable that even if you drive at your limit, there is no doubt that the car has more to offer at all times.
The Interior
Unlike the base model Huracán, the interior is full of alcantara and forged carbon. Otherwise it is very similar. The seats are embroidered with Performante and the pattern on the rock-hard sports seats is called "laser etched" and also goes out on the inside of the door and on the hard floor mats. The sports seats hug you properly and why you would want comfort seats in a Performante for me is a mystery.
The steering wheel has no unnecessary buttons like controlling music, you do this with your right foot. With your thumbs you can indicate and operate the windscreen wipers and the large paddles are in the perfect distance for you to be able to shift wherever you your hands are placed on the steering wheel.
On the other hand, the visibility from the car is incredibly poor which the Huracán line-up is known for. I who am quite tall often have to bend down to see the road where a turn slopes obliquely upwards. Not to mention red lights…
The blind spot is life threatening but somehow all this adds to the charm that Performante exudes.
The Performante must be experienced on a track or winding roads. Although it is easy to maneuver in urban environments or on the motorway, that’s definitely not where it belongs. Comfort seats and the upgraded Sensonum speaker system is money down the drain.