TRACK DRIVE
WORDS ANGUS MACKENZIEV
allelunga, Italy, just north of Rome.
The Autodromo Vallelunga is a
2.5-mile wriggle of a racetrack.
There’s the snarl of a race-tuned
V-10 as a winged, wedge-shaped
blur flashes past pit lane. Brap, brap,
braaaaap. That’s fourth, fifth, sixth gear,
just before the daunting Curva Grande, a
fast right-hander with a big compression
on the apex and a left-hand kink on the
exit. The quick guys barely lift, threading
the needle at 145 mph.
The garage buzzes with activity, a racing
hive-mind in black and gray, trimmed
with acid green. The chatter of rattle guns
announces a set of freshly warmed slicks
for the 620-hp Lamborghini Super Trofeo
Evo race car in front of me.
Super Trofeo is a Pro-Am series aimed
at enthusiasts with the money to consider
the hobby of racing Lamborghinis on
iconic tracks. The Evo, a 2018 upgrade of
the Super Trofeo introduced in 2015, isTRACK DRIVE:
LAMBORGHINI
HURACÁN
heavily based on the road-going Huracán,
sharing about 70 percent of its parts,
including engine and suspension. The rest
is race car hardware, including a six-speed
Xtrac transmission, downforce-inducing
aerodynamic bodywork, center-lock
wheels, and safety equipment.
Clutch in, left thumb on the neutral
button on the steering wheel boss, click
back the right paddle. Thunk! First gear.
The low-slung Lambo stutters down pit
lane on the speed limiter. Pit exit, cancel
the limiter, and it leaps forward. Second
gear slams home like an anvil dropped in
a dumpster. Third, fourth, and fifth arrive
with only marginally more subtlety.
I’ve driven the Super Trofeo Evo before,
and it feels familiar as I take it out on
a warm-up lap: the booming surge of
acceleration, the weapons-grade braking,
the mild understeer on corner entry, and
oversteer on corner exit if you’re too ambi-
tious on the throttle all seem benign and
predictable despite the ferocious bellow of
the 5.2-liter naturally aspirated V-10. I’mcautious through the sixth-gear rush of
Curva Grande, but I feel confident I could
soon work on a respectable lap time.
Level, set. Now for the GT3.
With about 500 hp—the V-10’s output
can be tweaked depending on the regula-
tions under which the car is racing—the
GT3 has less power than the Super Trofeo.
But it has 50 percent more downforce,
bigger and stickier tires, proper race car
suspension, a different transmission, and
Bosch Motorsport MS6.4 electronics that
allow much more fine-tuning of every-
thing from engine mapping to traction
control and ABS. The $309,000 Super
Trofeo is the ultimate track day special.
The $525,000 GT3 is a real racing car.
As part of the Evo upgrade, the GT3
has new suspension parts made from
machined aluminum; they’re 40 percent
less expensive than the previous welded
steel tube items. A new aero package
increases downforce 20 percent with a
minimal increase in drag and shifts the
car’s aero balance toward the front axle,GT3 EVO
76 MOTORTREND.COM FEBRUARY 2020