Even supercars get midlife refreshes. This is the $261,000 Lamborghini Huracán Evo. Jonathan Gitlin The car is packed with new and upgraded technology that predicts your next move rather than reacting to your last one. Lamborghini The Huracán Evo sticks with a naturally aspirated V10, this one bringing 630hp and 443lb-ft to the party. Lamborghini This pearlescent orange definitely looked the best under the bright skies of California's Antelope Valley. Lamborghini I think top-down is one of the car's better angles. Lamborghini Turn 3 at Willow Springs is a good test for any car. The brake zone is a bit off-camber and you really don't want to understeer off the edge of the track. Lamborghini Straight line performance is good, giving up only a tenth of a second on the run to 60mph to more powerful cars like the McLaren 720S and Tesla P100D. Jonathan Gitlin This Lamborghini Huracán GT3 won its class at the 2018 and 2019 Rolex 24s at Daytona, as well as the 2019 12 Hours of Sebring. (A different Huracán GT3 won the 2018 12 Hours of Sebring.) Jonathan Gitlin The interior has been tweaked a little from the version we drove in 2015. Most noticeable is a new infotainment screen on the center console. Lamborghini is part of the Volkswagen Group, but this isn't based on the latest and greatest MIB2 infotainment platform. I barely got a chance to poke around with it unfortunately. Jonathan Gitlin One of the infotainment system's features is this screen, which shows you how power is being distributed as well as front and rear steering angles. It's best read by a passenger if you have one—on track your eyes should be looking for the next corner. Jonathan Gitlin My one top Huracán Evo tip is to get yours with the Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel. It raises the sense of occasion even higher. Jonathan Gitlin The center console below the infotainment screen. Lamborghini To start, lift the red cover then push the button. Lamborghini The main instrument display looks different in each of the three drive modes. This is Corsa. Lamborghini In case you need to know the firing order for each of the 10 cylinders. Jonathan Gitlin At the rear there are more vents to improve airflow, plus a new rear diffuser and a revised rear spoiler. Lamborghini The glass rear deck provides a good view of the engine. The view out the back from the driver's seat is less impressive. Wheels are 20" all around. The carbon ceramic brakes measure 15 inches (380mm) in diameter at the front. Jonathan Gitlin The new splitter design increases downforce at the front axle as well as helping channel air around the car to greatest effect. Jonathan Gitlin
Lamborghini provided air travel from Washington, DC, to Los Angeles and two nights in a hotel for this test track opportunity.
SANTA MONICA, Calif.—It's not a hard-and-fast rule, but automakers usually reserve the "evo" badge for cars that are a little bit special. Already-fast race cars like the Peugeot 905 and Porsche 919 Hybrid turned into Evos that went even faster. The BMW M3 and Mercedes-Benz 190E Evos brought some of the German touring car paddock to parking lots at law firms and trading desks at the end of the 1980s. Mitsubishi had an entire series of Evos, more famous now from starring in Gran Turismo than for years of rallying success. And this sentiment more than likely holds true of the Huracán Evo, the latest iteration of Lamborghini's V10 supercar.
I'll need more time behind the wheel to be more definitive, for this analysis is based on just a few laps at Willow Springs, a high-speed, old school race track not too far from Edwards Air Force Base. But if my first impression is correct, the Huracán Evo is one of those cars that flatters the person behind the wheel regardless of their talent. It is, however, completely misnamed.
Evo is short for evolution, obviously. But this supercar didn't evolve; it's proof of intelligent design. For one thing, a naturally aspirated V10 engine is becoming less and less fit for surviving CO2 per mile regulations, at least without some kind of hybridization. For another, there was intent behind the changes it sports over previous Huracáns. This is not the product of a random and uncaring universe, it's a tool for those with means to use it for a specific end. In this case, a machine you step out of with a bigger grin and more effervescence than you had when you got in.
Even supercars get a facelift
You'll need quite a keen eye to tell a Huracán Evo from one of the earlier cars. At the front there's a new splitter with an integrated wing that does more with the air it channels around the car. The revised front also generates an air curtain that helps control turbulent wind from the front wheels and feeds cool air into the radiators behind the doors. At the rear, the Evo looks much more technical, with more vents and grills to help hot air escape the engine bay. Lamborghini says this is a nod to the Huracán GT3 race car and its recent run of success at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. (After many years of avoiding competition, the factory at Sant'Agata has embraced the GT3 category of customer racing.) In total, the company says the new car has six times the aerodynamic efficiency of the old car and seven times as much downforce at speed.
Underneath the glass rear deck lives the Huracán Evo's V10. It's borrowed from the stripped-out Performante model that debuted in 2017, which means 630hp (470kW) at 8,000rpm and peak torque of 442lb-ft (600Nm) at 6,500rpm. "Being naturally aspirated is one of the key things that differentiates Lamborghini in this segment," said Alessandro Farmeschi, president and CEO of Lamborghini America. It certainly sounds all the better for it, particularly in comparison to the turbocharged V8s that power mid-engined competitors from McLaren and Ferrari.
Ars Technica
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