Lamborghini Has Defended Its Performante Nurburgring Lap Time With Data
Mere hours after Lamborghini bagged the production car lap record at the Nurburgring via a stunning run in its new Huracan Performante, claims of foul play arose.
You can see why: manufacturers have been known to lay claim to records and amazing lap times through dubious means. Some have added up sector times to get an overall figure. Nissan infamously used a host of modifications to help the Nismo GT-R on to its 7min 8sec lap, belatedly overing them as a kit for existing owners. And Lamborghini? It found various bloggers and vloggers pointing out that the speedometer figures at many points of the lap were not just slower than the Porsche 918 Spyder, but also slower than the Aventador SV during its 6min 59sec run a couple of years ago.
Lamborghini has now responded. At the Geneva Motor Show this week Roadshow were shown the full Vbox GPS log of the lap, displaying its legitimacy and ruling out any theories of adding up sector times. Maurizio Reggiani - Lamborghini’s Director of Research and Development - said that the Huracan’s speedometer is fed from GPS information rather than wheel speed, giving inconsistent results. Furthermore, he explained that the Performante makes up for its lower top speed relative to the Aventador SV through better acceleration and an ability to carry more speed out of corners.
Another claim was that the Performante was running slicks, arising from the lack of tyre squeal in the lap video. Reggiani re-iterated what Pirelli has already said - the Performante ran a set of Trofeo Rs bespoke to the hot Huracan, which will be available to buyers as an option.
Rumours of fakery will die down but no doubt rumble away in the background whatever Lamborghini says. More to the point, this whole saga demonstrates the issue with car manufacturers and Nurburgring lap times. Without an independent body to oversee the process and verify times, the concept is flawed. And anyway, despite all the attention we give ‘Ring times, do they really matter? Do they ever make you want a car more than you already do?
Discuss…
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
That is both strange and interasting
meanwhile at lamborghini hq
eh? what is this? our lap times are ‘fake’? no, they’re real! NO BULL!
“Probably Ferrari’s fault! It’s fake news!”
Add this infamous Italian hand gesture in that statement and it looks more Italian now. LOL
Must be porsche who is protesting..
Bostedboris did a whole vid on this. Not Porsche
It’s not just the speedometer which looked suspicious, there are other things too… For starters, Huracan was always slower on track than 488GTB and 570S. Lots of journalists said it handled worse as well. Now they added 30hp, some wings with a fancy name and a bit of weight saving, after which it suddenly became faster than not only those two, but even the 918 and the P1?
There were also other things, like shadows that moved too quickly, as pointed out by Boris.
Thus, I am waiting for any reputable automotive magazine to take the Perfomante and make a head to head track comparison with a 918 (or any other Nurburgring hero, for instance, the SV) and prove (or not) that it is indeed faster.
hey man i agree :)
Lamborghini: We modified our car and now it’s faster!
Car fans: “WHAT IS THIS BLACK MAGIC?!”
“Do they think we’re stupid?”
“That’s not possible at all!”
I always thought this, Lamborghini sand bagged with the Huracan they basically made a understeering safe bull like typical Lamborghini but, I always thought their was more potential in the Huracan platform but they would just holding back for the right moment and here you can see they set a blistering time around the time of Geneva with more power, aero and weight reduction. It’s not all that tho theirs obviously suspension tuning and software tweaks to the AWD system to further improve performance. So personally I think the lap time is legit and before y’all make claims that I’m a Lambo fanboy 😂 well I’m not.
Plus, manufacturers never make inside rivalry. Example of this is the Alfa 8C which is clearly de-tuned so it won’t be as fast as a Maserati Gran Turismo or a Ferrari 430.
I can’t see why Lamborghini made a car that’s almost 6 seconds faster than its FLAGSHIP model. 6 seconds! That’s more than the gap of Mercedes’ and Manor Marussia’s lap times!
You forgot one important thing,active aerodinamics…maybe it’s fake but add aerodinamics can change the grip of the car
Boosted Boris
Those guys that are saying the Huracan’s lap time is fake should be Porsche fanboys
Just watch the lap
Have you watched comparison videos?
If I should choose between Lambo Performante and the AventaSlower SV, I would definitely choose bigger Lamborghini duento much more exclusivity and V12!!!
Huum …. The Aventador SV is supposed to be faster isn’t it ? This video is as if a 458 speciale was faster on the ‘ring than a LaFerrari … Why not, but it makes no sense
The SV is an old platform, the SV…erm S or whatever they’ll call the facelifted SV will probably try to match this.
There’s a phrase for this…
“Alternate facts”