The Lamborghini Urus Performante Delivers on the Observe or within the Dust

“So the observe is slightly bit chilly this morning, we’ll do a couple of laps to heat up earlier than we actually open up the automotive,” Matteo, my driving teacher for the day warned me earlier than he led me out for our first lapping session. That is the type of steering I’d count on to listen to at an October observe day, but it surely’s not the type of factor I’m used to listening to earlier than climbing into an SUV.

In fact, this isn’t your common SUV. It’s the brand new Lamborghini Urus Performante, a Technicolor expression of four-wheeled extra. In spite of everything, why have a 657-horsepower, $229,495 Urus S when you could possibly spend $260,676 for the tougher, edgier, 104-pound lighter Performante?

(Full Disclosure: Lamborghini needed me to drive the Urus Performante so badly they flew me to Rome, put me up in a complicated lodge, after which set me free on a closed racetrack plus a grimy rallycross course.)

On paper, 104 kilos shaved off a 4,740-pound SUV sounds ridiculous, however we don’t drive automobiles like this on paper. A number of the greatest Lamborghinis are ridiculous—it’s what makes them so nice. Why maintain any vestiges of logical thought towards this one?

The Performante’s 657-HP comes out of the identical, four-liter, turbocharged V8 that powers the usual Urus S (in addition to the Audi Q8.) The Performante, although, sings by way of a brand new, titanium exhaust that appears pretty in its unmistakable matte hue. Good because it sounds, the exhaust’s actual benefit is weight, saving 23 kilos over the usual automotive.

The remainder of the 104-pound weight financial savings comes courtesy of intensive carbon fiber on the hood, fenders and (optionally) the roof, plus lighter inside supplies and 14-pound lighter wheels. Lamborghini informed me the little wing hanging off the rear hatch, the extra aggressive entrance facia and quite a few different aerodynamic tweaks gives the Performante with 38 % extra downforce over the Urus S.

I felt like I wanted all the additional aerodynamic encouragement I might get as I hurtled by way of the primary few, tough turns at Vallelunga Circuit, simply exterior of Rome. With successive turns hidden behind a collection of crests, it’s a type of high-speed nook sequences the place I brushed the brakes, flip in, get again on the gasoline, and hope that I’ve led a real and virtuous life.

Within the first few classes, I stored lacking the necessary turn-two apex as a result of I didn’t really feel just like the Performante had sufficient grip to get me down there. However it did, and doubtless loads extra grip besides. It was my mind that wasn’t as much as the duty.

Regardless of the brand new, steel-springed suspension that lowers the automotive by 20mm, the Performante nonetheless sits a good bit greater than the typical observe toy. It rolls extra, too, and that roll was actually messing with my notion. I needed to reprogram myself to appreciate that, regardless that I used to be being pitched excessive above the roll heart, the automotive nonetheless had loads of grip left in its sticky Pirelli Trofeo R tires.

And so, lap after lap, as these near-slicks received hotter I grew extra assured. By my third session I used to be having a ridiculously good time, dashing by way of the exhilarating first nook sequence and hitting 135 mph on the quick straight earlier than diving on the carbon-ceramic brakes. The Performante’s rear-end danced round below exhausting braking however the nostril all the time sliced cleanly into the subsequent flip.

As enjoyable because it was on the observe, the most effective a part of the day was taking one other Urus Performante out on the dust. Lamborghini arrange a brief rallycross course on a little bit of spare pasture land adjoining to the race observe. Ignoring the soiled seems I received from the displaced cattle as I walked throughout the grass, I strapped myself in and was principally informed to do my worst on a good, slim gravel lane.

The Performante was wildly good on the free stuff. The brand new Rally driving mode softens the energetic dampers and instructions slightly extra rearward thrust from the Performante’s new, Torsen center-differential. It additionally permits further slip from the rear tires earlier than the traction management cuts in. Nonetheless, I rapidly discovered the system doesn’t like counter steering, because it dramatically lowered the facility output each time I attempted to appropriate a slide. Let the automotive’s stability management and torque vectoring deal with the exhausting work, nevertheless, and I used to be kicking up rooster tails like a professional.

How many individuals are actually going to take their $260,000 super-sports SUV to rallycross? Roughly as many as will take theirs to a observe day, which is to say extraordinarily few. Even pondering these questions once more means bringing too logical a line of pondering to this automotive. In an evocative product like this, it’s all about what it could actually do, and that is an SUV that may do some unimaginable issues.