Lamborghini Huracán Performante is Better Than You Think
Thanks to science, the power of a raging bull is now melded with the poise of a ballet dancer.
The 2017 Lamborghini Huracán Performante is impossibly fast. It destroyed the Nurburgring production car record and set the world alight with cries of “foul.” It was simply impossible that a car with so much less power and technology than a Porsche 918 could be so much faster. Well, it’s true, and if you take a minute to watch this new episode of Motor Trend’s Ignition, you can learn how and why.
To start with, the Lamborghini Huracán Performante is impossibly fast. That’s because it’s using brand new technology that has never graced a road car before. The secret is not the lighter weight, and it’s certainly not the modest horsepower boost. The secret sauce of the Performante is air. A bold new approach to aerodynamics has been used in the creation of this car. A creation that will forever change the dynamics of performance cars.
Active aero is an old idea that has been in use for decades. The problem has always been how active aero systems are employed. The most common form is an adjustable rear wing that uses pistons to move and adjust the flow of air. The problem here is that they are slow and heavy. Lamborghini has found a way around that by using the air itself to adjust the effectiveness of the rear wing. Since the wing doesn’t have to move, the system is incredibly light and fast.
The secret sauce of the Performante is air. A bold new approach to aerodynamics has been used and will forever change the dynamics of performance cars.
Like all groundbreaking ideas, this one is so simple, it seems obvious. The wing and the uprights that hold it are hollow, and the wing itself has an open channel cut into the underside. When the car needs to adjust downforce, a small motor opens a flap in the rear decklid that allows air to flow into that wing. When the air escapes the cut channel, it disrupts the air flow around the wing and alters the aerodynamics. If you are an F1 fan familiar with “dirty” air, Lamborghini found a way to use that to its advantage. There is a similar system in the front of the car that can alter drag forces on the nose of the Performante.
Together these two systems allow for lighting fast and subtle adjustments of aerodynamics on a near constant basis. Watch the effect it has on driving dynamics, and get a better visual look at the systems operation in the video. Jonny does a better job explaining it than we can hope.
Lamborghini did set that record, and road cars are going to get immensely more capable on track because of this advancement. We can’t wait.
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