Cars with Jan Coomans. A trip with Lamborghini to the land of the raging bull (with race cars)

We could see the massive engines getting assembled, the various body parts being attached to the chassis, and the interior upholstery being stitched just the way the customer ordered. When you see just how long and how many people it takes to build a supercar like this with the care it needs and deserves, you do start to understand the price tag. Each of these magnificent cars also gets road tested for 60 kilometresto make sure that any small issues would be caught before the car is released and it goes to its very happy new owner.

From this small town near Bologna, a batch of (very) brightly coloured Urus were available for us to drive ourselves to the hotel near to the Misano racetrack, which made the 2-hour trip a lot more interesting than if we’d been in the back of a taxi! At the racetrack itself, there was a pretty packed schedule of activities, not all of which I shall go into. But the first surprise came in the form of the recently unveiled Essenza SCV12 track-only hypercar which we were not only shown in detail but we also got to sit in the passenger seat for a quick lap by one of Lamborghini’s own pro racing drivers.

The Essenza SCV12 is the kind of car that almost makes your head explode when you look at the numbers. It’s got the naturally aspirated 6.5 litre V12 from the Aventador, uncorked to deliver 830 horsepower and 9000 RPMsworth of incredible sound. It’s built with a carbon tub for lightness, but it’s also been built with enough rigidity that it does not require an additional safety cage. It looks and feels like a purebred race car, but this won’t be a car that sees any competition. It’s been developed purely as a very very cool and expensive track toy for the fortunate few. As such, the emphasis was very much put on driving pleasure and emotions over outright lap times. Given that it will mostly be driven by non-professionals, the handling characteristics aren’t too extreme to handle for mere mortals either.

Even so, this is a seriously quick car which will match of beat the GT3 spec race cars on most race tracks. When we got a little taste of its performance on a hot lap with a pro driver, it definitely felt quicker on the straights than a GT3 race car, but doesn’t quite match the sheer cornering speeds of the actual race cars. Still, the car sits on specially developed 20 inch Pirelli slicks and together with the downforce that the car produces at speed you will be subjected to some serious G forces. You also need an actual Lamborghini engineer with you at the track just to be able to run the thing. But a fun fact: this was by far the most comfortable “race” car I had ever sat in. It has such enormous outside dimensions that there’s also plenty of space inside and given that the car is aimed at wealthy enthusiasts for simply having a good time, Lamborghini has built in plenty of creature comfort. It sounds absolutely magnificent as well, from the inside of it. On the outside, at close quarters, it’s so ungodly loud that you’ll be putting your fingers in your ears to keep your ear drums from exploding. What a machine.

Back on planet earth, we finally got to the bit I had been waiting for the most: a first taste of the new Huracan STO. The new acronym stands for Super Trofeo Omologata. Let’s just stick to the Italian, no translation will do it justice anyway. It’s the most hardcore track-focused Huracan to date. There’s bigger wings, lightweight body panels and (yay!) it’s rear-wheel-drive only. And of course it’s still powered by one of the best engines left in production today — the 640 horsepower 5.2 V10.

On the inside, it’s not really any different from the regular Huracan Evo, except that the drive modes that you get to select on the steering wheel are now STO, Trofeo and Pioggia. The first is the most restrained mode, with the gearbox shifting automatically and the exhaust staying in quiet mode. Trofeo dials things up, with manual gear selection only and the exhaust valves opening to fully unleash that amazing V10 sound. I did notice that they’ve had to change the programming on these exhaust valves somewhat compared to the older Evo model, supposedly to comply with the new stricter EU noise regs. With the exhaust in loud mode, the valves aren’t fully open until nearly 5000 RPM which means that the older car was actually louder a lot of the time. But that won’t bother you in the slightest because the STO is simply a brilliant driving machine. Pioggia mode, meanwhile, tightens up the electronic control over the stability management and ABS in case you’re driving on wet roads.

Having ditched the all-wheel-drive system, the steering in the STO is a lot lighter. The front of the car is also even more eager to change direction and there seems to be almost no point where the lateral grip runs out. Which is a nice way of saying that this car is simply too much to push anywhere near its limits on public roads. It’s an epic driving experience, but to truly understand the STO we’ll have to wait until next year for the snow to melt on Russia’s race tracks. But from the limited time and opportunity I had on Italy’s roads — this may be the best sports car I’ve ever driven. I’m still not sure that the rear wheel steering is something that helps the car perform better in a track environment, but it does do wonders for the turning circle.

After swapping back into a “regular” Huracan EVO, I would say that this is still the more sensible road car. For starters, the view through the rear window isn’t nearly entirely blocked by the STO’s rather cool looking window cover. The all-wheel-drive system also offers superior traction at lower speeds and in terms of straight line performance it feels every bit as quick as the STO — and makes the same fantastic noise while it’s at it. But the steering is heavier and number, though it must be said that neither Huracan has particularly communicative steering to begin with. As we drove these cars up a twisty mountain road towards a medieval town on a Sunday, there were lots of people around and their reactions were just unanimously positive. In fact, when we parked our half dozen Lamborghini supercars near the town it caused quite a crowd to gather. It must have been a couple hundred people by the time we left, most of them recording us on their smartphone cameras waiting for us to rev our massive engines and fill the crisp Italian air with lots of naturally aspirated decibels.

Back at the race track, the last bit of Lamborghini driving was at the controls of a simulated Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2, the race car which will be used next year. It’s much the same chassis as the old car, but with some reprogramming of computers, an upgraded brake system and new body panels for improved aerodynamics. We got 10 minutes to set our best possible lap time in the Assetto Corsa Competizione racing simulator. I know the Misano track’s layout well enough, so I managed to set a virtual lap time I was happy with, but since I started racing in real life I must admit that I struggle to get much pleasure from simulations. They remain a great tool to learn tracks and even do set-up work, but it’s difficult to drive properly when you’re so disconnected from the real forces that you experience in the real world.

Out on the actual asphalt in Misano, races were being won and lost by people you probably wouldn’t have heard about. There was some awesome racing though, with my favourite time of day to watch being when dusk falls and the glow of brake discs became clearly visible. As a racer, you know that this is when the car starts to feel better and get faster, as the air temperature drops the engines become even happier and the tires stand up better to the abuse they’re going though. Being there, surrounded by this huge Lamborghini family and like-minded souls, I had to imagine that everyone was pretty happy regardless of their fortunes competing. The positivity that runs through a weekend like this is always palpable, and all you really want to do is experience it over and over again. Which, as far as plans go, is one I’ll be happy to stick to.