After a teaser or two and spy shots that preceded those, Lamborghini has finally taken the wraps off the Huracan Performante, what is essentially a lightened, hardened, more powerful - and consequently much faster - version of their V10 supercar.
Lamborghini revealed the car in the series of photographs seen here just prior to the start to the 2017 Geneva Motor Show, and days after it announced that the car had broken the street car lap record around the Nurburgring which was previously held by the Porsche 918 Spyder hypercar, beating it by a whopping 5 seconds.
Starting with the Performante’s thumping heart, it uses the same naturally aspirated 5.2-litre V10 engine as the standard car, though here it’s been tuned to deliver 470kW and 600Nm, which is an extra 22kW and 40Nm over the Huracan LP610-4. To achieve this, Lamborghini have fitted it with a new air intake, titanium valves, and a new exhaust system.
The significantly lighter car does, however, retain its all-wheel drive system and, coupled with the extra power, can dispatch 100km/h in a very impressive 2.9 seconds and fly past 200km/h in a hair under 9 seconds. Top speed, like the standard Huracan, is 325km/h.
This car’s story isn’t about outright speed, though, but how the car handles itself overall around a track. It’s constructed from a lighter proprietary carbon fibre composite and utilises various passive and active aerodynamic components that makes use of the material.
The most obvious of this being the fixed rear wing, but the Performante also has a more pronounced front lip and larger rear diffuser. In addition, there are variable flaps and ducts that alter the car’s aerodynamic profile to provide more downforce during corners or reduce drag at high speed.
Extra calibration work also went into optimising the behaviour of the 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and the electromechanical power steering system to make the car feel more connected with the driver, paramount in a track car like this.
Inside, well, you had better like Alcantara. The Huracan Performante may have had some creature comforts omitted, but Lamborghini has countered this with new, albeit lightweight, niceties such as air conditioning vents made from forged composites, as are the door trim, door handles, and paddle shifters. Buyers can also choose to have the Comfort Seat replace the standard fixed buckets.
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