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
Its fake! When you compare it to the Aventador SV video it gets very clear. You have to look at the Gantry to Bridge times (yes Gantry to Britch xD). The Aventador is at least 10kph faster all the time and later on the straight even 20kph, but they still have almost the exact same time of just under 22 seconds. So the Aventador video was slowed down (dont think so) or the Huracan video was sped up.
Don’t forget the track has been flattened 🙄
How about the different interior? 918 stll the king of the hill
Just wait until Sportauto magazine takes it to the track. Pretty good reference as they also did the 918 lap.
they realise that we can assume that the date for the telemetry can be fake as well?!?!?
You can clearly hear tyre squeal, especially in the middle of the video. The audio is clearly picking up more of the engine sound though. Looks perfect conditions too..
Still very, very fast though. Would be interesting to know all the exact specs of the car.
So? Doesn’t make me suddenly want that Lamborghini. The only new Lambo I’d really want is the 580-2
i love lamborghini, but i just sounds weird that porsche 918 is a hybrid with more power then the lambo, and im pretty sure it launches to 60 better then the lambo, i could be wrong, but i still think lamborghini cheated the time
I love the way they clear the tyres issue saying, hey, we are aligned with Pirelli, and that’s enough of an argument.
They had a set of tires that were designed and developed specifically for the record, which automatically means that the record is pure BS.
Yes, every automaker tweaks their cars for the record, that is well known by everyone, but i cannot stand to see “Huracan Performante, NEW King of the Nurburgring..” No… that’s just not true.
Mr. Glekenhaus in one of Shmee150’s video suggested a very good system… Which calls for all cars to drive a fixed amount of distance to the track use the same set of tyres and then set a lap time