If your heart rate doesn’t increase while standing next to a 2018 Lamborghini Huracán Performante, it’s time to call your cardiologist. The Italian’s low-slung framework, covered in aircraft-like angular panels with sharp corners, is about as visually sinister and emotional as exotic sports cars get. I challenge anyone to come up with a passenger vehicle that projects power, speed, and wickedness as adeptly.
Yet more impressive than its visual punch is the Performante’s driving dynamics. That’s right, the Lamborghini’s performance exceeds its appearance!
The Huracán Performante is an upgraded variant of the standard Huracán. While that sounds comparable to an insurmountable attempt to improve the formula for original M&M candies, Lamborghini’s engineers have taken an all-encompassing approach to upgrading performance by reducing weight, adding power, refining aerodynamics, and enhancing the chassis. Overall, their efforts paid off extremely well – shortly after its introduction, the Performante set a new production car record at the famed Nürburgring circuit of just 6:52.01 (that’s faster than Lamborghini’s own Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce, which did 6:59.73).
Fitted mid-chassis within the Performante is a 5.2-liter V10, rated at 630 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque – that’s 28 horsepower and 38 pound-feet more than the standard Huracán, thanks to new titanium intake valves, a less restrictive air filter and a freer-breathing exhaust system (redline is a turbine-like 8,500 rpm). That exhaust system has also been redesigned and plumbed with a central outlet to shed 22 pounds of mass.
The suspension was recalibrated with 10 percent stiffer springs and thicker anti-sway bars, which yields a 15 percent increase in roll stiffness. The suspension bushings were made 50 percent stiffer, and the team reconfigured the settings on the magnetorheological dampers to match the new firmness. Wheel and tire sizes were untouched, but the Huracán’s standard high-performance Pirelli P Zero tires were swapped for stickier P Zero Corsa tires (competition-ready P Zero Trofeo R tires are also available).
Lamborghini engineers say the Performante weighs nearly 90 pounds less than the standard Huracán. In addition to the weight saved with the exhaust, the automaker swapped metals for composites on many components by using Lamborghini’s patented Forged Composite technology, which replaces expensive hand-layered carbon-fiber crafting.
The engineering team is justifiably proud of ALA – Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva. In a nutshell, it’s an active aerodynamic system that uses motorized flaps, air pressure, and a system of carefully crafted tunnels within the bodywork to create downforce. Instead of angling the rear wing in the slipstream, which dramatically increases drag, mechanical air scoops open to force air through the Performante’s hollow supports and into the hollow wing. The air is dumped beneath the wing (on its low-pressure side) to effectively removing lift without creating unnecessary drag. Working in conjunction with a pair of mechanical flaps in the front fascia, and a deep front splitter, ALA is able to generate as much as 770 pounds of downforce at the vehicle’s top speed – a jaw-dropping 202 mph.
What makes ALA even more innovative is that the system is able to selectively channel air through the rear wing on either side – they work independent of each other – to increase or decrease downforce on the rear wheels during cornering. While some other premium automakers, such as Pagani, are doing similar aerodynamic magic, Lamborghini’s solution is lightweight, effective, and seemingly without a penalty in aerodynamic drag.
Dropping into the Huracán Performante’s cabin is an exercise in contortionism, but my six-foot two-inch frame fits reasonably well once I move the seat and steering wheel into the proper position. The view from the driver’s seat is akin to being strapped within an F-22 Raptor, a tactical fighter jet – I face several flat panel displays, each projecting brilliant graphics. Switchgear is protected from inadvertent high-G actions by fencing, and a bright red cover shields the start/stop button. While merely sitting in the cockpit is worth the price of admission – my heartbeat is already racing – pressing the ignition button takes things to a higher level.
The V10 fires up with ferocity, a boisterous audible bark coming from the twin pipes high on its rear fascia (after a few sessions on the track, they glow red-hot internally – an illumination visible from anyone standing behind). A mode switch, or ANIMA (Adaptive Network Intelligence MAnagement), is located on the middle of the bottom spoke to adjust the vehicle’s three driving dynamic modes: Strada, Sport, and Corsa. I click it to Corsa (aka “track mode”) and point the Lamborghini’s nose towards the racing circuit.
As expected, Corsa sends a shot of mechanical adrenaline to all of the Performante’s systems. The steering ratio becomes quicker (optional Lamborghini Dynamic Steering actually changes throttle response is lightning-quick the steering ratio – not just the steering effort), the dampers firm up, and the gearbox shifts nearly instantaneously based on the driver’s actuation of the large column-mounted paddles (the gearbox is in full manual mode in Corsa – not automatic shifting).
The 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox is uncompromising in this operating mode, but it allows the Lamborghini Huracán Performante to blast from a standstill to 60 mph in fewer than three seconds – it feels every bit that quick from behind the wheel. Standard all-wheel drive (a Haldex Gen V system) ensures that the power goes to the ground at all times. Wheelspin is completely absent as the two-seater rockets out of the hot pits onto the main track.
I’m genuinely stunned with rate of acceleration, which is much stronger than I had expected. Most of today’s fastest vehicles are turbocharged, with a very distinctive torque-laden punch on the low side of the tachometer. The naturally aspirated Performante’s V10 does an impressive job mimicking its rivals, delivering plenty of low-end power without feeling lethargic. And, at higher speeds, the engine is positively explosive – stabbing the throttle slams my head back against the seatback.
Lamborghini fits the Performante with carbon-ceramic brakes and multi-piston calipers at all four corners. The premium material is lightweight, and nearly impervious to heat-related fade. I take full advantage of the brakes at the end of the short straight, mashing them without observing any skittishness, swaying, or drama.
Turn-in is immediate (the wheelbase feels really short from the driver’s seat), and it’s easy to place the wheels with precision on the racing line and set up the vehicle for a rapid exit out of the corner. Yet, unlike most all-wheel drive vehicles, the Performante will gleefully oversteer (kick its hind quarters out) if too much power is applied while under heavy lateral loads. There’s a short learning curve as I adapt to its power delivery and torque transfer, with a bit of sideways action tossed in for good measure, but I quickly have its reigns under control. It’s blisteringly fast – I hit more than 150 mph on the back straight – and notably stable at those high speeds.
In contrast to many of today’s high-performance exotics, which are marvelously quick yet very tame in character, the Lamborghini comes across as anxious and high-strung – consider those personality traits compliments, as the word “boring” will never be in vocabulary describing the Performante. Back in the pits, I climb out of its cabin with sweaty palms and slightly winded by the exhilarating experience. My smile is broad.
The Italians set out to comprehensively improve performance of the already wondrous Huracán. After a day with its newest family member, I’m convinced that the new Lamborghini Huracán Performante doesn’t just raise the bar – it mesmerizingly raises your pulse.
