Miura, Countach, Diablo, Murcielago,
Aventador – beautiful, extrovert, outrageous V12s have defined Lamborghini, and
the supercar itself, for the last 50 years. Yet it’s the V10-powered Gallardo,
the ‘baby Lambo’, that has transformed Lamborghini during the past decade, from
an upstart that lurched between bankruptcy and liquidation crises, to a rival
Ferrari take seriously.
Enter the new Gallardo: Huracàn. An angular
shape, 5.2-litre V10 and aluminium platform may be familiar, but there’s now
over 600 PS, part-carbonfibre construction, and a trick four-wheel-drive system
working with innovative chassis electronics, magneto-rheological dampers and
the company’s first twin-clutch gearbox. It’ll howl to 100 km/h in around three
seconds, top 322 km/h, and, perhaps most significantly, secure Lambo’s future for
the next decade.
The
Huracàn is the successor to the Lamborghini Gallardo
Which is good, as the Gallardo it replaces
nearly didn’t happen. Production of its oft-forgotten predecessor, the Jalpa,
ended in 1988, and the Marcello Gandini-conceived P140 came to nothing under
Chrysler Group ownership. Ditto Giorgetto Giugiaro’s 2+2 Cala concept in 1995.
Thankfully, Lamborghini wouldn’t be deterred: in 1996 it approached Audi for an
engine and gearbox, one thing led to another, and two years later the Volkswagen
Group added the Italian supercar manufacturer to its burgeoning portfolio.
It took another five years before the
Gallardo was launched, but its impact was immense. ‘In 10 years we sold twice
as many cars as we did in our first 40 years,’ reveals Stephan Winkelmann,
President and CEO of Lamborghini. ‘The Gallardo was a game-changer – it’s
responsible for about half of all the super-sportscars we have ever sold. But
the new Huracàn will outperform the Gallardo, in every sense. We already have
orders for over 1,000 cars, and we trust it will at least equal the success of
our previous V10, because with our technological innovations it has the best
requisites to do even better. It is easy on the road, and absolutely able to
perform on the racetrack – it will re-define the super-sportscar driving
experience.’
Ceramic
brakes now standard. Front discs measure 380 mm
Of course, he’d say that, so what’s beneath
the aluminium skin of the Huracàn that can take the fight to long-time nemesis
Ferrari, and match the innovation of McLaren’s hydraulic suspension and unique
carbonfibre construction?
‘We always start with the architecture,’
declares Ulrich Hackenberg, Head of R&D across the VW Group, and a man with
a soft spot because he was in charge of Audi’s advanced development team when
Lamborghini made their approach for a drivetrain in 1996. ‘Audi and Lamborghini
share synergies in lightweight construction that benefit dynamic performance:
Audi have built over 8,000,000 aluminium space frame vehicles during the past
20 years, and Lamborghini are a pioneer in carbon-fibre technology.’
Ten
cylinders, over five litres, and not a turbo in sight
The result is a new aluminium and
carbon-fibre platform, which is 10 per cent lighter than the Gallardo’s
aluminium chassis, despite torsional stiffness increasing by 50 per cent. ‘It
will empower us to build several high-end sports cars from the same
architecture,’ reveals Hackenberg. ‘All of them will have a different character
– the Huracàn is the first, and it is a milestone for Lamborghini.’
