As my dear old grandma used to say,
Dust is gold,
dirt’s for the bold.
And Lamborghini, it seems, agrees.
Because if you've ever driven a supercar on anything other than a pebble smooth
road or racetrack, you'll know they can be a bit of a pain.
But what if there was a supercar with none of the hassle
that was actually designed for bumpy and loose surfaces?
Well, that's the pitch with this.
The new Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato
and today we're going to find out just what it’s capable of.
The plan is this.
To drive the Sterrato on three surfaces, the public road,
a traditional tarmac circuit and on a dirt track.
Because in theory at least.
That should be the Sterrato’s natural environment.
Okay, so we're here
at the Chuck Walla race-track.
And Lamborghini have got something a little bit special for us today.
They set up a rallycross course, so half tarmac, half dirt.
And let me just point out the obvious.
This car is not going to be as fast as the standard Huracan on a track.
Higher suspension, softer dampers.
You've got the all terrain tires.
It'll still do 0-60 in 3.4 seconds and 160 miles an hour.
But you're not going to buy this car for driving it around, for it wobbling around,
at your local track day.
You want to take it places where Lamborghini’s
have never been before.
Yeah, the thing about launching an off road supercar at a track
in the middle of the desert.
Is your surroundings become part of the playground too.
Now if I thought the track was fun,
this is just on another level.
So what Lamborghini's done is turn the Huracan into a rally car,
which is a decision I very much approve of.
Now, we need to talk about modes, we've got a new one down here.
It's called Rally Mode.
Yes, it loosens off the ESC and sends more power to the back axle
and makes big, heroic drifts
like this one that I'm
hopefully going to demonstrate there, into low hanging fruit.
Why is this so much fun?
I have to ask myself because
it's just controlled hooliganism basically
I've got all those supercar touch points.
The sound of the 5.2 liter V10,
I've got the snap of the gearbox, I've got the low slung
seating position and yet I'm hoofing about off-road.
The margins are fatter, the limits are lower.
Oh, that's so satisfying.
The technique here is to turn in tight, keeping the nose on the inside of the corner
like that,
and it'll make its way around.
So the car actually knows how much steering angle you’re putting into the car,
and if it senses you adding more lock, then it will break that inside
rear wheel just to help you get around the corner.
But honestly, you don't need loads of lock at all, if you get it right
you’ve just got that perfect four wheel drift
and this is a car that's all about having fun.
So if you look at the other end of the Huracan spectrum,
you've got the STO, that's more about noise and about drama.
This is pure fun.
And I'll tell you what, you could be Colin McRae
or my mum and have fun in this.
So what exactly has Lamborghini done to morph the Huracan
into a rally car?
So we have quite a lot going on.
We have re-profiled front bumper, rear bumper,
side skirts to improve the approach and departure angles.
Although to be fair, the front overhang is still fairly large,
which is why you've got a front skid plate and underbody armor under there.
You've also got these front mounted spotlights
because rally, they're rather crudely bolted on here
but don't tell anyone, I quite like them.
Speaking of crudely bolted on, you've got these big wheel
arch extensions here, which are really the kind of signature look of the car.
But there's a reason for them.
The track is wider, 30mm wider at the front,
34 millimeters wider at the back.
And of course, the ride height is increased, a 44 millimeter
increase in ride height and there's more wheel travel to go with it.
So 25% more wheel travel at the front,
35% more wheel travel at the rear.
And we haven't even got to the wheels yet.
So these are bespoke Bridgestone Dueler tires, all terrain tires,
plenty of tread there for off road work, 19 inch wheels, carbon ceramic brakes.
What's interesting about these tires is they're actually run flats.
You don't have a spare tire anywhere on the car.
So if you get into trouble out there somewhere in the desert,
you've got about 30, 40 kilometers before you in real trouble.
Okay, moving down the side of the car, more specifically to the roof,
because up here you'll see this roof scoop.
I'm a big fan of a roof scoop, especially when it's functional,
because normally the intake for a Huracan’s engine is in here,
but you're going to be kicking up all sorts of dirt and sand and crap
and you don't want that going in your 5.2 liter V10.
Hence the roof scoop hoovering up a much cleaner stream of air.
You've also got these roof rails so you can in theory add
accessories, add a bike rack, add a roof box, whatever you fancy.
Not entirely sure what that's going to do to the air trying to go into your engine.
But hey, coming to a hipster insta page near you.
A Huracan Sterrato with multiple bikes and outdoor equipment on the roof.
Coming round the back.
A couple of things to show you.
The first is a slightly more upswept rear to give you
that slightly improved departure angle.
And the second is this full slatted cover
for the engine, which looks fantastic from here.
From the inside, it means you've got pretty much zero
rear visibility, but apart from that, it's pretty much familiar Huracan.
Speaking of which, let's have a look inside.
Inside, beside some Sterrato badging
a new pitch and roll indicator and a compass function on the central screen,
in case you get really lost,
it's identical to the Huracan as we know it.
Back into sport mode for the track and straight away
you can feel that it likes to lean and move around a little bit more
and you can get the oversteer if you push it hard.
It reminds me of the Ariel Nomad.
I think you’re going to be hearing this comparison quite a lot because you'd think
having softer suspension and more movement
that it wouldn't belong on a track.
But this thing does.
And I'll tell you, that might be the big difference
between this and the 911 Dakar actually
is the Dakar can smash around in the sand dunes.
Lamborghini don't really want you hooning around in the sand dunes in this thing.
But they have said it is designed to go on a race track.
You can have fun, you can slide about.
Now I'm in the fortunate position
that I have actually driven the 911 Dakar as well as this car.
And, I mean it’s a comparison we've got to make
It’s a direct comparisson test we'll do one day.
But this thing,
it feels faster, it feels more agile.
There's a chance the 911 Dakar might go a little bit further in little deeper sand.
Honestly, we don't know until we get them together.
But I love that Lamborghini has stuck to its guns
and it's built a car that still feels.
Like a supercar.
We wouldn't accept this if it wasn't still loud
and noisy and flamboyant and a bit of a showoff.
And the Sterrato is certainly that on track and on the dirt.
Personally, I'll take the dirt track all day.
That was hilarious.
After our track session, we got the chance to drive it on the public road
and as you'd expect,
all that extra ride height and all the extra wheel travel
makes the Sterrato a comfier more usable place to be.
The tire noise is no worse than a standard huracan on winters either.
Yes, there's extra pitch and roll.
But mostly it feels just as noisy
fast and responsive.
In fact, I'd wager this is the fastest Huracan of the lot.
When the road surface deteriorates,
which is basically the entire UK network.
Let's start with the downsides, shall we?
Before I start getting too gushy, they're only going to build 1499
of these cars, costing £232,820 each, which is about 30 grand more
than a Huracan Tecnica,
and it weighs around 90 kilograms more than a Tecnica as well.
Oh, and they're all sold out.
And now for the positives.
Well, you probably live nearer a patch of dirt than you do a racetrack.
And because this car's limits are lower and the speeds are slower,
it's just more fun for mere mortals more of the time.
Lamborghini talks about the fact that they can't
just keep adding more power, more speed,
to create more fun, they have to find new avenues to enjoyment.
And this car, that's exactly what it's all about.
It is comfier on the road.
It's hilarious on track.
It's absolute magic on a loose surface.
And if a supercar’s job in this world is to not take itself too
seriously and to make the driver and all the people around it smile.
Well, I reckon this car can make a strong case for itself
to be the best supercar in the world.