Lamborghini Temerario track test review: Italian flare, German engineering

Times

5 days ago

How much power is enough? When the Lamborghini Huracán was launched in 2014 it boasted 610bhp, which at the time seemed like rather a lot. Enough to launch it from standstill to 62mph in 3.1 seconds. Adequate, one might say.
But then hypercars came along with ridiculous horsepower and torque figures, well north of 1,000bhp. Some electric ones have more than twice that. Even hot hatches these days comes with 400+bhp. And so, in the macho world of super sports cars (supercars to you and me), the Huracán's replacement had to have more power and go faster. To make this happen Lamborghini has ditched arguably the best thing about the Huracán — its beloved naturally aspirated V10 engine. Instead the Temerario you see here has a new twin-turbocharged 4-litre V8 with hybrid assistance.
• Read more expert reviews, news and insights on cars and motoring
A Prius this is not, though: three electric motors provide additional thrust, with one attached to the engine itself and two more for the front wheels. But the front e-motors, borrowed from the Revuelto, do more than just propel the car: they capture electrical energy during braking and provide 'torque vectoring' — a fancy name for helping the car change direction quickly by slowing the rotation of the nearside wheels through corners.
The electric motors also offer immediate torque delivery for instant acceleration, while removing any turbo lag whatsoever. And they 'torque fill' during the dip in revs while paddle-shifting up through the eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Plus they provide linear power delivery through the mid-range of revs — making the characteristics of the powertrain more like a naturally aspirated engine than a turbocharged one. In short, they have a lot to do.
But the headline is the petrol-powered engine itself. To make it interesting, and outdo the competition, Lamborghini designed it to be revved all the way up to 10,000rpm, which is unheard of in a V8 road car and makes it an absolute screamer. A truck engine this is not.
• The Clarkson review: Lamborghini Huracán Tecnica — they've created a monster. I love it
What's more, peak power comes between 9,000rpm and 10,000rpm, meaning that — on track, at least — you're egged on to keep the revs right up at the top of the band.
All elements combined, the Temerario pumps out 907bhp. Which is — and do check my maths here — almost 50 per cent more than that original Huracán 610-4 coupé of 2014. It can also accelerate from 0-62mph in 2.7 seconds, reaches 124mph after 7.1 seconds and goes on to a top speed of 214mph.
To look at the Temerario is very much of the bloodline that includes the Huracán and Gallardo before that. Inspiration came from the Countach and Miura too. All of which are cars that send little boys and girls into paroxysms of excitement. Some never grow out of it.
You get similar shrink-wrapped dimensions and short overhangs, the wedge shape with a continuous line from nose to tail. Temerario also gets the characteristic shark nose and a cut off back end that shows off its rear tyres, which is apparently inspired by the rear end of sports motorcycles but is also reminiscent of a flirty female tennis player lifting her skirt.
Lamborghini has made a great deal of the Temerario's roomier interior, and to that end there's 37mm more headroom than in the Huracán. That's most welcome when you're over 6ft 4in tall but, put on a helmet for 'track work' and it all becomes familiarly tight inside. Giants like me will do themselves a huge favour by ditching the standard 'comfort seats' and having the optional sports seats fitted, as their carbon shell design has less padding and so you sit just that little bit lower in the cockpit — which is an accurate description given the interior is modelled on a fighter jet.
Sports seats come as standard in 'Allegeritta' versions of the Temerario, which are 25kg lighter overall and feature subtle but effective bodywork upgrades for 67 per cent more downforce than the standard car. The version I tried out was bright yellow (giallo) on the outside, and black and yellow inside, which was appropriately reminiscent of another dangerous flying thing: a wasp.
The cabin is also mostly excellent in layout, with a clever touchscreen that allows you to move widgets around and even flick them across to the main digital instrument binnacle or the passenger. The digital displays are nice and clear, with an interface that's simple to understand.
The steering wheel can't be described as simple, though, as most of the cabin's switches have been collected from elsewhere and dropped here. Ferrari also has control-festooned wheels while McLaren has gone the other way, decluttering its offerings completely. I tend to prefer the latter for practical reasons, but the schoolboy in me thinks it's cool having a steering wheel adorned with more buttons, dials and switches than Lewis Hamilton gets in his Ferrari F1 car.
And for the most part it is fine in the Temerario — the red drive mode dial on the left side and the hybrid mode dial on the right are simple and quick to use, for example. The various toggle switches and now-trademark engine start button housed under a red flap are designed not only to make you feel like a Eurofighter pilot but also as another nod to motorcycle design.
Having the indicators as buttons, like on the bike, rather than a stalk behind the wheel is maddening, though. Equally so is having the windscreen wiper controls as buttons on the other side of the wheel, which I inadvertently activated twice while attempting to keep up with the racing driver leading me around Estoril circuit.
Which is an experience I'd better describe, I suppose. The simplest thing to say is that you can tell this is a car with Italian roots designed and engineered by Germans (Lamborghini is owned by Volkswagen Group, with a CEO called Stephan Winkelmann, a technical director called Rouven Mohr and a rather stern design director called Mitja Borkert). It is undoubtedly still dramatic to look at but you could say the edges have been smoothed off. It's not quite as outrageous in look as the Huracán.
And while the V8 does spin outrageously quickly, it doesn't make as outrageous a noise as the Huracán's V10. It uses less fuel and spews out less carbon too.
What's more, the Temerario is more comfortable and more usable. It even has space for two flight cases under the bonnet, with storage space behind the seats.
And to drive it's remarkably easy. Any apprehension about piloting a 907bhp Lamborghini around a racing circuit evaporated at Estoril's first corner. It was extremely fast, yes, and surprisingly loose underneath me on Bridgestone's bespoke-for-Temerario Potenza Sport rubber … as per Lamborghini's brief to design a tyre to make the car playful. (Side note for track enthusiasts: the optional Potenza Race tyres proved far grippier in the dry, and are designed not to fade even after 30 flat-out laps. They're also road legal, so you can keep them on for the drive home.)
Even so, the Temerario is a supercar for people who don't know what they're doing, because you can feel the front e-motors and a clever electronic control unit getting you out of trouble every time you run out of talent. Carrying too much speed into a corner? No problem, it'll keep things stable and pivot the car. Accelerate too hard on the exit? OK, I've got this, the car says, and the front wheels drag you out of trouble.
That's not to say you can't have fun. In fact, I really enjoyed throwing the Temerario around a circuit, and lap after lap I was growing in confidence and deriving more pleasure. This is a car that can still reward good drivers while flattering average ones. Technically it's a masterpiece and subjectively a whole lot of fun, and it would be unfair to suggest it can't tickle your erogenous zones in ways that only a Lamborghini can.
But it does feel like a few of the edges have been smoothed off, and there will always be people out there who want a supercar to be raw, dangerous, scary. The Temerario, which is named after a fighting bull but the word itself translates as 'reckless', isn't like that at all. It's polished, high-tech and accessible. But one thing's for certain: it has enough power.
Our driving was limited to the track — look out for one of our other writers on what the Temerario is like on the road later in the year.