Hooves and Horsepower: 2017 Lamborghini Festival
6SpeedOnline goes to Houston, Texas to take part in the three-day celebration of Lamborghini supercars and drive two of the brand’s supercars.
You can learn a lot at the Space Center Houston. The 250,000-square-foot complex houses exhibits that educate visitors about the garments that astronauts wore to make it through the dangers of space exploration decades ago, the structures in which NASA’s finest had to live and work for days and weeks on end, and the history of the manned space program.
That’s also where I learned that Lamborghini Festival founders Jorge Verdejo and Alfonso Zaza picked the perfect place to kick off the 2017 version of the three-day celebration (Oct. 13-15) of Lamborghini supercars. The well-dressed Lamborghini owners around me and I were surrounded by advanced materials, forward-thinking engineering, and machines capable of face-distorting speeds.
Verdejo and Zaza started the Lamborghini Festival back in 2011 to not only showcase Sant’Agata Bolognese’s automotive masterpieces, but benefit needy children as well. This year’s event raised money for Bennett’s Bears, which donates “Build-a-Bears to children at the hospital who are unable to be home during the holiday season.”
After watching the opening presentation about how Lamborghini is working with the medical industry to implement composite materials in treatments and devices, I watched a fashion show featuring clothing from Lucho worn by local business owners who helped those affected by Hurricane Harvey. I drove back to my hotel shortly afterward to get as much rest as possible for the second – and funnest – part of Lamborghini Festival: the track day.
The next morning, I drove out to MSR Houston, a 2.38-mile, 17-turn track. Lamborghini Houston began bringing in its fleet of demonstration cars: four Huracans and two Aventadors. Eventually, Lamborghini owners began showing up in their cars. Most of them were Huracans and Aventadors and Gallardos, but someone showed up in their stunning orange Miura. The convoy also featured the odd Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, Porsche, and McLaren. Two people even arrived in their Ferraris – both red, of course.
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Then the moment finally came for everyone to head trackside, where I learned another lesson. The people around me were used to being around, buying, and driving Lamborghinis. That did nothing to lessen their enthusiasm for getting behind the wheel of one. More than once, when I already had my head sock and helmet on, someone beat me to the punch and jumped into a car. I eventually got the chance to drive a Huracan LP610-4 wrapped in a Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Final safety car livery in the middle of the pack for a lead/follow lap.
My time behind the flat-bottomed wheel of the baby bull was an immersive, hands-on education. The Huracan was shockingly communicative. I felt everything. The tires communicated the condition of the road surface to me. The heavy steering told me that I had to commit to getting the Huracan to blow in a different direction. The Huracan delivered its power in a surprisingly civilized manner; I let the 601 horses out on the straights, but they charged forward in a straight line, not a wild flailing of haunches and hooves. If I hadn’t been wearing a sound-deadening helmet, I would’ve experienced the wail of the V10 behind me tingling my spine. In sweeping curves, I sensed the Huracan both leaning and reassuring me it could take 10 times what I was subjecting it to and keep on gripping the track.
The Huracan talked to me even when I wasn’t driving it. I rode shotgun for three laps around the track with an instructor from the Lotus Driving Academy which operates out of MSR Houston. Given that MSR is his home track, he knew its geography and physical quirks well and was able to push the Huracan hard. Although I didn’t have my hands on the wheel, I could still feel how progressively and controllably the Huracan slid. No matter which side of the Huracan’s cabin I was on, I had a smile on my face.
After lunch, I learned that the Aventador and the Huracan may be siblings by oil blood, but they have wildly different personalities. The general manager of Lamborghini Houston made sure to secure a spot for me in a yellow Aventador S, just like the one I saw revealed at his dealership back in March. Whereas the Huracan felt compact and nimble, the nearly 16-feet-long, 3,472-pound* Aventador S came across as massive and heavy. It was a 740-horsepower juggernaut that demanded respect. It would not tolerate cuteness or flippancy. In the Huracan, I smiled. In the Aventador S, I focused. Grinning would’ve taken precious brain power away from the process of keeping the V12 beast from overpowering me and my abilities. The flagship Lambo is a serious machine – in more ways than one.
As much as I wanted to go to the Lamborghini car show the next day and learn about the Lambos of yesteryear, my attendance of the Texas Truck Rodeo prohibited me from staying in town for it. I still smiled as I drove back to Austin. I had received one hell of an education already.
*Dry weight
