First Drive: 2021 Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Omologata

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WILLOW SPRINGS RACEWAY, California—This was, I think, a first. Most certainly, it was a first for me. At Willow Springs, no less, one of the biggest tracks — and by “biggest,” I mean any mistake at Willow will cause a seriously large contretemps — this side of our own Mosport. Actually I suspect the outcome would be the same at any track. Whatever the case, I just drove a Lamborghini that—

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Ran out of motor before I ran out of balls.

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Now, the normal course of events in situations like this — and I can assure you that I am not along in this regard — is to push whatever over-engined super-thingie I’m driving until I eventually scare myself totally s#!tless. Then, having found my limits — not, rest assured, the car’s — I back off the throttle until I’m merely scared out of my wits.

This decision-making process is designed to both calm the car’s handlers so they don’t start speed-dialing their insurance adjusters; and save me the embarrassment of having to throw out yet another pair otherwise brand-new silk undershorts. Everyone — especially the poor schmo who might otherwise have to clean out the car — wins. It’s a time-honoured process, typically falling under what is commonly known as the “rubber side down” protocol.

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Not with Lamborghini’s latest Huracán, the Super Trofeo Omologata. For the record, said STO boasts 640 CV — 631 in good ole ‘Merican horsepower — and only has to motivate 1,339 kilograms. Officially, the STO hits 100 kilometres an hour in just three seconds, 200 km/h in just six more, and eventually will top out at more than 310 km/h. Those are big numbers. And yet, as I said, for the first time on a racetrack behind the wheel of a Lamborghini, I was left wanting more.

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Now, there may be some reading this admission — mostly, I suspect, those who’ve never actually mashed a throttle in anger around a big track — who might be parsing a negative connotation into this perceived paucity of power. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Any time a Walter Mitty-type such as yours truly — and unless you currently hold a GT3 racing license, we’re all pretty much Walter Mittys when it comes to flogging 631-hp supercars as fast as they can go — it is not so much a condemnation of the motor as praise for the chassis.

Alls I know is that no matter how hard I tossed the new Super Trofeo into Willow’s treacherous turns — the downhill, late-apex, off-camber Turn 5 and monstrously fast Turn 9 proving especially diabolical — I kept wanting more. More revs. More torque. More power. More everything.

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According to Maurizio Reggiani, there are many reasons — and none of them are lack of power — that the new STO is so easy to beat on. Most notable, says Lamborghini’s chief technical officer, is the most advanced aerodynamic package ever seen on something wearing the raging bull badge. There’s 420 kilograms of downforce at the rear alone — a quarter of the car’s entire curb weight — and yet the new STO is 37 per cent more efficient aerodynamically than any Lamborghini before it. My third-year aerodynamics class may now be some 45 years old, but even I know that more downforce with less drag is the aerodynamicist’s Holy Grail.

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Better yet, the whole shooting match is adjustable. By altering the rear wing’s angle of attack, the big Lambo can vary the amount of downforce generated. That, of course, adjusts grip, but more importantly, says Reggiani, it alters the STO’s centre of pressure, which in turns dramatically alters the handling. Move the downforce towards the rear and you’ve just dialed in some understeer. Less downforce out back and said pressure point moves forward, creating tail-wagging oversteer.

For the STO, the Huracán’s rear-wheel steering is, like the rear wing, adjustable. Reggiani equates it to being able to adjust front toe and camber — on the fly, no less — for its dramatic effect in turn-in. Then there’s the adjustable torque vectoring that can also be tailored to the situation — by selectively braking one wheel at a time — able to add stability at speed and agility through corners. Throw in adjustable magnetorheological suspension and the fact that it’s all automatically adjusted by three new ANIMA driving modes — STO (for the street), Trofeo (for the track), and Pioggia (a new rain mode designed specifically for the track) — and you have a supercar that allows fools to rush in where even racers might fear to tread.

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And if enthusiasm does eventually threaten underoos, there’s always some of the best — maybe the best — brakes in the business to get you out of trouble. Lamborghini says the Super Trofeo Omologata’s CCM-R carbon ceramic brakes are F1-derived. I say not only are they powerful — 25 per cent more claims Lamborghini — but they are virtually immune to fade. Better yet, unlike some supercars so equipped, they don’t require the quadriceps of the Incredible Hulk — the Lou Ferrigno version, not Mark Ruffalo’s whimpy portrayal — to get serious retardation. More Go! I might have appreciated, but the Super Trofeo needs no more Whoa!

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It’s all backed up by the latest in Bridgestone Potenzas — 245/30 R20 in the front, and 305/30 R20 in the rear — in two guises, standard Sport versions and a semi-slick Race variant with less tread and stiffer sidewalls. These latter are amazing, sticking like glue and never wilting under the abuse of 631 horsepower and a driver who suddenly thinks he knows what he’s doing.

As for the motor, Lamborghini’s naturally-aspirated 5.2-litre V10 could, as I said, probably use a few more ponies. And, while they’re at it, I’d probably also appreciate about 500 ­— Hell, 1,000 — more revs so I didn’t have to row — okay, paddle — the seven-speed dual clutch transmission quite so much. But, it makes noises that would give even Elon Musk goosebumps and seems as happy as any supercar engine I’ve driven with being completely rung out till the ignition cut-out kicks in. Until Lamborghini’s anticipated hybrid powertrain shows up in 2024 — I’m betting it’s some kind of V6 twin-turbo married to a lithium-ion battery and a supercapacitor — it’ll do nicely.

In the meantime, the new Huracán Super Trofeo Omologata is as easy a supercar to drive way past your talent level as the boys from Santa’Agata Bolognese have ever produced. It’s track-ready, but street-legal, and is so competent that it’s only about two seconds slower — on road-legal tires! — than the slick-shod GT3 EVO that’s won the 24 Hours of Daytona three years running. If you’ve got $394,217 burning a hole in your pocket, this is the most track-focused Lamborghini ever.

Even if it could use a few more horses.