Ice driving with Lamborghini
If there was ever any doubt that Lamborghini is the world’s coolest car maker, it has now been put to bed.
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Ah, Christmas. Snow, winter hats, reindeer and … screaming V10 and V12 Lamborghini engines?
It’s not the North Pole, but Santa came early by delivering an invite to Lamborghini’s “Esperienza Neve”, where the fortunate few get to skid Italian supercars across Inner Mongolia’s frozen lakes.
What follows included a mild case of frostbite, “Real Feel” temperatures of -40C, petting reindeer and playing at being Colin McRae in, amongst others, a $1million+ bright purple Lamborghini Revuelto V12.
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There are the everyman Lambos here too.
Lined up on the snow in popping colours are the all-wheel-drive Urus Performante SUV ($466,000); rear-drive Huracan Tecnica ($444,000) and – looking smugly in its element – the off-road rally-ready Huracan Sterrato ($504,000).
Our Arctic tundra scene in a country bordered by Russia and China isn’t short on luxury. After all, this event caters for Lamborghini’s best customers, and they demand brag-worthy experiences to dazzle their high net-worth cohort.
Cue a heated base camp building, our own Italian chef and barista, Mongolian lamb, post-driving mulled wine, and lifesaving fluffy tan suede Lamborghini-logo earmuffs.
All very lovely, but we’re itching to get skidding at our three-day holiday on ice.
LAMBORGHINI WHITE OUT
It’s a white-out as far as the eye can see.
This Yakeshi winter test centre covers a frozen lake area of 1.32 million square metres, plus a snow-covered land test area of 540,000 square metres.
Lamborghini’s shipped in its professional instructors from Europe and across Asia, who guide us through ice-packed drift circles, figure-of-eights, slaloms and pole-lined circuits.
And they love you going sideways.
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With all driver aids off and engine in full Corsa race mode, slides come easily. Finesse, control and weight transfer anticipation are needed to quickly upskill, but thankfully, even high-speed spins feel harmless with nothing to hit but soft snow.
Then there’s the sound. Like a wintry Scandinavian world rally event, screaming engines sound so much crisper, purer and louder in such dry, frozen air.
And Lamborghini’s legendary V10 – howling from the centre of the junior supercar Huracans – help you discover new hairs on the back of your neck. It’s a crime against humanity this engine’s being retired, replaced by the new Temerario’s bi-turbo V8.
I immediately form a close bond with the Huracan Tecnica.
With all its 5.2-litre V10’s 470kW/565Nm sent only through its studded rear tyres, here’s a low-slung supercar driven using just the throttle with tiny steering inputs. Its power slides deliver you to the hero zone.
I worry about the 2.2-tonne Urus on our ice lake (I’m assured it’s very thick), but even this big lump shows remarkable poise. Its 490kW/850Nm V8 delivers shove like a howling warrior, and some neat on-off accelerator application delivers sideways skating. I can’t stop grinning.
The plug-in Revuelto combines a 757kW V12 with three 110kW electric motors, plus brain-bending amounts of torque. It’s pure scissor-doored exotica, but driving it on ice is like putting Usain Bolt into ballet shoes and asking him to pirouette. It’s just not the arena for it to shine.
Considering the Revuelto’s million-dollar tag and propensity to spin just by breathing on the throttle, I instead target the Huracan Sterrato.
With raised suspension, flared wheel arches, body armour and rally fog lights, our bright yellow example looks at home on the snow as a Yeti in a bearskin jacket.
It proves to be an extrovert, howling maniac, much like its driver after a few slipply-slidey laps around the ice lake track. It’s just so easy, forgiving and holds ludicrous drift angles while the V10 punches out a 6000rpm opera to rival Pavarotti’s finest.
The required ice driving technique for each Lamborghini is dramatically different, testing our increasingly frost-coated grey matter. We tackle the ice tracks in the dark for added jeopardy (pity our poor instructors), then are told to pick a favourite car for a sideways swan song. Everyone wants the hero-making Sterrato.
One attending Australian customer who’d already ordered two Sterratos (one for each of his homes), was deservedly feeling chuffed with his life choices. I get jealous and go warm my hands by a Revuelto’s exhaust pipes – the most expensive heater in the Southern Hemisphere. I figure this rapid warming helped bring on my finger frostbite.
It’s a rich man’s playground no doubt, but all the money in the world can’t protect from a -40C wind chill. It numbs the brain and you feel your nose and cheeks shutting down.
The solution? Slide into a Lamborghini bucket seat, heaters to max, fire up a high-revving Italian orchestra and drift into those snowy corners at angles to make the ice gods cheer.
Originally published as Ice driving with Lamborghini
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