(ambient music)
(birds chirping)
- [Henry] Air,
(bubbling) (hissing)
unseen, all around us.
That magical mixture,
(crackling)
just chilling
seeing where the wind takes it,
oblivious, that it's about to happen,
(loud humming sound)
(engine revving)
(revs engine)
(car roars by)
The rollercoaster ride of its life.
(gentle music)
(engine roaring at a distance)
(car roaring past)
The way that we breathe is pretty fundamental,
and in the automotive landscape,
the turbocharger is now king.
(car roaring)
But I want to sing the praises
of the naturally aspirated engine.
I don't want this to be
a case of hating on the turbocharged engine,
which fundamentally is better.
There's no getting around it.
Particularly in this automotive landscape,
it is more efficient.
It's an easy way of producing power.
However, because of the increasing ubiquity
of the turbocharger,
there's a danger that the overall narrative
becomes well, somewhat negative
towards naturally aspirated engines.
And I don't think that's fair.
(engine roaring)
(dramatic music)
So with the help of the new 212,000 pound
or $239,000 Lamborghini Huracan Tecnica
and its 5.2 liter V 10, I think it's time,
we had a bit of a reminder
of just why a good NA is still the OG.
(engine roaring)
I think it all starts with the names,
because natural aspiration, naturally aspirated,
natural, pure, aspiration.
Speaking of higher things, it sounds heavenly, doesn't it?
By contrast, well,
"forced induction",
that sounds like the sort of automotive equivalent
of feeding for foie gras, doesn't it?
Perhaps that's just me and my predilection
for reading too much into words.
What isn't just me though is sound.
(engine revving)
Sound is good or at least can be good.
It's why we listen to music and you can think of an engine
as a musical instrument or rather three musical instruments.
The first one, induction,
air being forced through small pipes.
It's a wind instrument.
(engine humming)
Then after that, well you've got the percussion section
the valve drain.
(engine revving)
And finally we have our second wind instrument,
which is the exhaust.
Again, air being forced through tubes.
(engine revving)
It can all add up to something wonderful.
Tell me, that's not music.
(engine roaring)
The trouble is that turbocharging,
well, it muffles two of those instruments.
The two wind instruments are kind of,
they're just taken away from you
because of the barriers that are put in the way
of the air going through those tubes
and that's a shame.
(car roaring)
It is worth pointing out that this is particularly true
of modern turbocharged engines
that have even more to contend with in terms of restriction.
You still obviously get notes,
but they tend to be more sinusoidal,
more singular in their tones
because instead of getting all the pulses from each cylinder
through the exhaust, for example,
you get, well really just one
because that's being fed out of the turbocharger,
the fluttering of wastegates or the blow-off valve.
(whistles)
I rather like it, but it's no match for
(revs engine)
a proper naturally aspirated voice.
(car roars by)
Those two wind instruments of induction and exhaust
are just,
they're magical.
And there's something else
that naturally aspirated engines have,
the real spine tingling top end.
(engine revving)
(car sputters)
You see, to get more power,
NA engines need more displacement, or more revs, or both.
By contrast, in modern turbocharged engines
we tend to see downsizing of both cylinders
and displacement and they don't really need high revs.
And that can have an exponential effect
on the soundtrack.
We can understand the fundamentals
of an exhaust though by converting rpm into hertz.
So let's take this V 10 engine
and let's say just to make the maths nice and easy,
it registers 9,000 rpm,
which is perfectly sort of understandable
for a naturally aspirated engine.
Divide 9,000 by 60 and you get to 150.
Now we need to divide that by 2,
because obviously the exhaust pulse only comes
sort of once every two revolutions of the crank
but then we can multiply that by 10, giving us 750 hertz.
Now let's take perhaps a replacement
for this might be a turbocharged V6 revving to,
again, let's make the maths nice and easy, 7,200 rpm.
So that gives us divide by 60, 120.
Again, divide by 2. We get to 60.
This time though we can only multiply that by 6.
So we get to 360 or less than half the hertz
of our 9,000 rpm V 10 naturally aspirated engine.
So seemingly relatively little drop in rpm,
gives us quite a big difference
in terms of exhaust tone.
(car roars by)
Of course,
it's not just that top end that well is so spine tingling,
so interesting in a naturally aspirated engine.
Almost wherever you are in the rev range,
you get different tones, you get things to listen to,
different notes to enjoy, and that variation is key
to the second real benefit that I see
to naturally aspirated engines
in terms of performance cars and that's drivability.
Because the soundscape of the naturally aspirated engine
is so distinctive, you instinctively know
where you are in the revs.
And once you know that engine you know exactly, therefore,
how it's going to behave, when you open the throttle.
Car roars by
It just becomes intuitive.
You feel that much more hardwired between your right foot
and what's coming out of the engine behind you.
Then there's the delivery of the performance
(revs engine)
that lovely linear progression
that makes it easy to balance the car through a corner.
(bright music)
And what the naturally aspirated engine
might lack in outright thump,
it makes up for in response.
It's the sharpness of the throttle response
that beautiful knife edge of precision
that allows you to really walk a tightrope
with a naturally aspirated car.
You ask for more, it gives liftoff
you get less instant request reaction.
It's electric.
But with more modulation and soul.
You can actually tell how important
response and progression of power are
because of the way that,
well the press releases for turbo-charged cars
talk about them.
They're always aspiring to be
like naturally aspirated engines in those regards
and yet they can never quite match them.
Of course, having all these naturally aspirated benefits
is all well and good,
but it's as frustrating
as a bayonet bulb in a world of screw and sockets
if the rest of the car
doesn't let you make the most of them.
But the Tecnica definitely lets you make the most of them.
It's why I think it's still an important car
because I bet quite a few of you look at it just as,
well, another Huracan, another evolution of a car
that well fundamentally came out 20 years ago, this year
in the form of the Gallardo.
It's like Lamborghini is clinging on.
It might be seen as old fashioned or another rehash
but actually in the Tecnica,
this magical 5.2 liter V 10
has the package to live up to it.
I've driven pretty much
all of the Gallardos, and Huracans over the years,
and this is simply the best.
The direct steering ratio combined
with the rear steering means it feels small and wieldly,
and absurdly drivable and above all, fun.
But with this yowling heart of a monster,
everything comes together.
Yes, arguably the STO is even more pure
as the one I'd love to try and live with,
if I could only have one Huracan.
But then I am the sort of person
that thinks a camping trip is actually a holiday.
I was worried it might not work on UK roads
but actually it does.
And you have the breadth of ability in this.
You can't put it into strata mode.
It becomes quieter.
You don't have to have the noise all the time
and the ride is perfectly supple.
(car roars by)
The changes might seem relatively minor
but the Tecnica is the all round package.
It's still a little rawer than some of its competitors,
but to me that just ensures
it retains the drama and fierceness
that a supercar should have, particularly an Italian one.
Arguably the option of that other piece
of almost extinct engineering, a manual gearbox,
would make it even better
but it's dual clutch is so good
that I can even forego a third pedal.
It might be coming to the end of its life,
but it's one of the very best driver's cars
in the world right now.
It would be easy to think
that the naturally aspirated engine
is coming to the end of its life too.
It's been predicted for years,
but I definitely don't want you to think of this film
as an obituary.
Manufacturers like Lamborghini, and Porsche
are keeping the faith
and with the advent of synthetic fuels, who knows?
So, let's stay positive.
Naturally aspirated engines, long may they continue.
(car roars by)
(ambient music fades)
(pulsing)