In the motoring world, success is perhaps more difficult to follow than failure— at least if you fail a blank sheet is the obvious choice. When you’re trying to better your past triumphs, it gets a bit sticky. Which is what Lamborghini was looking at with the Huracan, their follow up to the best-selling Lambo in the history of the marque: the mighty Gallardos. And the sales of that car were mighty too, the Sant'Agata-based carmaker sold 14,022 Gallardos over a decade of production— that’s more than 50% of Lamborghinis sold, er, ever.
So if the Gallardo was such a roaring success, why change at all? Well, technology moves at a break-neck pace and the Gallardo, at least in terms of specs, had been eclipsed by the Ferrari 458 and McLaren’s 650S— after all, at the uppermost echelons of the supercar game, it’s always an arms race. To stay abreast of the competition, Lamborghini’s V10 formula would have to bring big numbers, or simply stay home. Which option sounds more Lambo-like to you?
The Huracan rolled out with an all-new chassis structure, revised suspension with fresh controlling electronics, new steering, and a decisively updated engine. They also replaced the outgoing car’s robotised manual tranny with a modern seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, which might have had the greatest delta effect on the car’s driver experience. The interior is new, the four-wheel drive is new, the only thing that remains relatively consistent is the exterior design because, well, Lambo clearly recognized that the Gallardo design was a powerful attractor and sought to bathe in that glow with the Huracan, while blowing the occupants hair bask all the harder.
The Huracan uses RTM carbonfibre for its central tunnel, rear bulkhead, and the rear part of the sills— much like the McLaren is sought to better. Like the 458, the car relies on aliminium from the rear bulkhead backwards and, like both those aforementioned benchmarks, the frame is aluminium based. There’s more aluminium forward of the windscreen forwards, and the lightweight alloy graces the while body panels as well. All that works adds up to a chassis that is 50 per cent more rigid than it’s predecessor, while managing to winnow the weight down 10 per cent.
And while the name Huracan conjures up images of severe blowing, the car’s 5.2-litre V10 is naturally aspirated because, come to think of it, what’s more naturally aspirated than a hurricane? Even with out the Hell Cat treatment, this V10 routes 602bhp to all four wheels through the car’s zippy new transmission, handling the 0-100kph gust in 3.2sec, entering the 200kph slip stream in just 9.9secs. Oh, and the power plant sounds like mayhem’s soundtrack, thundering through the valley (or dunes) with a pure exhaust note for the ages.
What else is superlative in this supercar? The torque curve is epic, serving up about three quarters of the Huracan’s 413lb ft from 1000rpm, which speaks very well of this turbo-free design. At its 1422kg kerb weight, the car boasts a power to weight ratio of 423bhp per tonne, which bettered the 458 and nearly matched the 12C.
Outside, this is the more conservative member of the Lamborghini fleet (doesn’t that phrase call an awesome image to your mind?), and rightfully so since they expect to sell the most of them. The Veneno, Aventador and the Sesto Elemento, offer a more obvious assault on the senses, but the Huracan is well, a tad subtle for a supercar in the way that Bach is subtle compared to, er, Niki Minaj. OK, so I’ve overstated my point— it’s just that unlike some of the most cutting edge designs on offer from the likes of McLaren, Lambo, and Hennessy (to name a few) the Huracan doesn’t look like it’s actively trying to kill you.
Settle into the driver's seat and the guts will be familiar to the Gallardo initiated. You can’t see much out the back, but then, that’s more or less to be expected in a car like this. Everything inside the cabin is geometric and bold, and the overall fit and finish is eons away from the good-old-bad-old days on Lambo building. You get the same full-TFT screen seen in the Audi TT, graphically re-imagined for Lamborghini and configurable for tracking the rev counter, speedo or nav. Not too many buttons clouding the horizon here, and many daily use functions like indicators and wipers now actuate from the steering wheel.
But by far the most interesting control is the ‘Anima’ (or soul) button at the bottom of the wheel, which toggles between three settings: Strada, Sport and Corsa. Press the Anima button and the dampers, dampers, steering and traction settings, all adjust, while Strada and Sport ramp up overrun burbles to a flatulent fury.
In practice, the Huracan is an absolute track weapon, that likes nothing better than to run all the way up to 8500rpm with gusto. The suspension is limber, bot not overly so, and inspires coincidence as you build speed. The shifts are worlds-better than the Gallardo too, whipping through the gears like a hot knife to butter, and not particularly tempting this pilot to paddle at all.
The Huracan’s stability system is informed by some choice aeronautical tech, combining of three accelerometers and three gyros to help keep the car’s pitch, roll, and yaw in check. The carbon ceramic brakes do an admirable job of halting the fleet-footed beast, and that’s a bit of comfort considering how fast this thing is. Additionally, the active electric steering, which varies in rate depending upon ‘Anima’ setting, feels great and makes it that much easier to hone in your lines.
Some might have worried that sitting out the charge towards, er, turbochargers, might have put the Huracan at a disadvantage— not so. This V10 is a masterwork, not only keeping the competition on their toes in the spec wars, but delivering on that all important Lamborghini DNA— something that, last we checked, you can only get in a Lambo. Add the much improved transmission, four-wheel drive, excellent stability systems, and you can see why the Huracan can rock your world like the proverbial hurricane.
