The long and storied reign of Lamborghini's naturally aspirated V10 and V12 engines may be coming to an end, but the Italian supercar manufacturer seems committed to producing a fitting sendoff for the venerable powerplants. True, the Urus and its twin-turbocharged V8 have a ton of low-end grunt thanks to forced induction, but there's still something pure about the V10 and V12 offerings that power the Huracan and Aventador, respectively. The Aventador has recently been reworked into the track-only Essenza SCV12, with Lamborghini's most powerful V12 ever mounted amidships, while the Huracan has now been unveiled in Evo RWD trim for those drivers who love to get a little analog track time in. And now, Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire's "One Take" series has gotten a chance to take the Lamborghini Huracan Evo RWD out for a day at Willow Springs to put the rear-wheel-drive variant through its paces.
Born To Burn Rubber
From the factory, the Huracan is originally built upon the Gallardo's all-wheel-drive layout (shared with its cousin, the Audi R8). With the R8 receiving a rear-drive-only variant, the Huracan's installment should have been easy to predict.
Strange Decisions
In truth, the all-wheel-drive traction of the Huracan and the R8 are what help make the two models' relatively low torque figures somewhat irrelevant. Perhaps the strangest detail about the Huracan Evo RWD, however, is that Lambo decided to actually detune the V10, so that it now produces "only" 602 horsepower and 413 lb-ft of torque (as opposed to the all-wheel-drive version's 631 ponies).
An Aggressive Interior, Too
Farah doesn't quite fit well into the Huracan's cramped interior, though its style immediately pops off the screen—as do those two huge paddle shifters flanking the steering wheel. The Evo RWD shaves 72 pounds of weight off the chassis and that dual-clutch automatic helps Farah get some shifts in while pushing the edge of traction.
Matt's Take
The look of pure joy and anticipation might be the most gleeful Farah has ever looked in advance of one of his many test drives. He praises the car's rear downforce, which helps with stability under braking (and the V10's wail, of course). Perhaps his favorite detail about the Huracan Evo RWD, however, seems to be that the rear-wheel-drive version actually costs less than the all-wheel-drive Huracan.
Sources: youtube.com and lamborghini.com.