Yahoo Autos 2018 Lamborghini Huracan Performante at Lightning Lap 2018
Lap Time: 2:44.0
Class: LL5 | Base Price: $291,385 | As-Tested Price: $339,685
Power and Weight: 631 hp • 3479 lb • 5.5 lb/hp
Tires: Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R, F: 245/30ZR-20 (90Y) R: 305/30ZR-20 (103Y)
The perfect lap at any track is a puzzle. Every turn of the steering wheel, stab of the brakes, and throttle application is a piece to fit together.
While you’re busy keeping the 631-hp V-10 from scattering the pieces, the Huracán Performante bangs into its rev limiter because you didn’t pull the paddle at the exact right moment. Son of a puttana! Most other cars with automatics will still perform their own redline upshifts in their most aggressive modes, but the Lamborghini in its Corsa setting requires a perfectly timed tug of the right paddle. Pulling a paddle with the steering wheel pointed straight is easy. Pulling it when your workload and hands are maxed out-not so much. Having more than 10 fast laps of practice would’ve helped, as would a better indicator that you’re approaching the rev cut, since there’s no drop in thrust until the 8700-rpm limiter steps in rudely.
Turn 1 demands an upshift just as you’re turning to clip the apex, managing the throttle, and getting pummeled by 1.18 g’s. Go late on the tug and in comes the limiter. There’s another shift required at the exit of the tight Oak Tree corner, when you’re trying to power onto the back straight without going into a lurid drift. And finally, there’s a tug at 92 mph in Hog Pen that coincides with a brutal 1.31-g spike. Just touched the rev limiter on that one, too.
There’s another major comfort issue in the Performante. We doubt anyone over five feet eight will fit with a helmet on. The one-piece seats lack height adjustment, and most of our drivers had to lean forward or slouch to fit.
The rest of the Performante would like to solve the puzzle, Pat. Its chassis balance inspires huge confidence. Its nimbleness delights. Light steering reduces fatigue and shrinks the car. Active aero pushes the Huracán into the pavement, exorcising the spookiness from Turn 10, an 88.9-mph off-camber left. If it were a freeway off-ramp, the recommended speed would probably be 30 mph.
Even with a couple of rev-limiter kisses, the Lambo put the pieces together for a 2:44.0, a remarkable feat for a naturally aspirated car competing in a forced-induction world. On the last day, we were puzzling through a ripper that may have put the Performante into 2:42 territory, but an off-track excursion that hurt nothing but ego left us picking up the pieces and starting again.
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