How Lamborghini Makes 907 HP Feel Ultra Accessible In The Temerario
Earlier in the year, I was with the HotCars team at FuelFest in Orange County, California, helping to staff the Media Stage, talking to car builders and show-goers, eating tacos, and frequently glancing with loving appreciation at the Lamborghini Temerario just in front of our stage.
The Italian automaker had been kind enough to loan us a Lamborghini Temerario to help “decorate” the HotCars stage, along with our friends at Lotus and Ineos, and we’d arrived with just enough time to take the monster for a drive up Angeles Crest Highway.
Despite an early start, stress about the show, and lots of logistical headaches, the drive was exactly the thing I needed to remind me why any of us get into the car media game. In the canyons, the Lamborghini proved impossibly quick, of course, but also sharp of steering, full of feel, and generally life-affirming.
But a public road, even a great one, isn’t truly the venue to feel out a 907-horsepower supercar with an engine that likes to rev to 10,000 rpm. So, when I got a call to fly from Detroit to Toronto to get in a few licks with the Temerario at the legendary Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, aka Mosport, the answer was an easy “yes.”
Numbers Game
Before we get into the track drive, it’s useful to revisit the Temerario’s jaw-dropping specifications.
The supercar pairs a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 with three electric motors to produce a combined 907 horsepower, with an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission sending power to all four wheels. A 3.8-kilowatt-hour battery feeds the electric motors, while Lamborghini claims 0-62 miles per hour in 2.7 seconds and a top speed of 213 mph. With a curb weight of roughly 4,000 pounds (wet), it’s a substantial car on paper, even if it doesn’t always feel that way from behind the wheel.
Fit And Finish (But Mostly Fit)
The last thing you want, when you’re charging down a back straight and approaching 170 miles per hour, is to feel like you don’t have a great grip on the wheel. And while my arms are long and my hands are large, at 6’5” tall I’m not always sitting up on the steering wheel the way I’d like for maximum control. Especially in sleek supercars, I’ve often had to choose between moving the seat slightly forward and cocking my head slightly to the side, or sitting straight with the seatback somewhat reclined and my arms more extended to the wheel than is ideal.
Even the standard seats gave me just enough room to sit comfortably and confidently behind the wheel, but the optional carbon-fiber racing buckets dropped me to the floor by a couple of millimeters and allowed for a really perfect seating position. Tall drivers take note.
Designers also seemed to have large humans in mind when designing the steering wheel. The carbon-fiber tiller has recesses that just perfectly fit my thumb pads, and cutouts for my thumbs themselves that let me get a perfect grip. Ideally, really, for a car that almost demands to be driven with maximum aggression.
You’ll Never Run Out Of Power
Mosport turned out to be a perfect place to explore the parts of the Temerario’s performance that I left on the table, so to speak, in my road drive. Specifically, the full-throttle acceleration out of Turn 5A/5B and onto the beautifully arching back section. Technically, corners 6 and 7 live in this “back straight,” but the reality is that you’re flat out all the way from 5 to the braking zone before 8. That translates to nearly a mile to see all 10,000 rpm in fourth gear before changing up to fifth and hitting, in my case, right around 170 mph.
The power delivery is utterly seamless, and the Temerario pulls as hard at middle revs as it does near the power max around 9,750 rpm, thanks to the brilliant electric drive filling in the gaps for the high-strung V8. There’s none of the waiting or sudden rush that can come with a high-strung turbocharged engine. Instead, the car just keeps pulling, harder and harder, all the way toward its 10,000-rpm redline.
Making Heavy Feel Light
Perhaps my biggest surprise of the day, however, was how light the Lamborghini felt despite that big battery pack. Some of that’s down to raw power, of course, but the fact that the battery is positioned at the center of the car also helps keep the mass concentrated around the car’s center, contributing to responsive turn-in and making the car feel light on its feet despite its near-two-ton curb weight.
The car has three e-motors, one at the back mounted between the V8 and the transmission, and two up front, one for each wheel. Those front motors can distribute torque side to side, giving the car a level of control over the front axle that would be difficult to achieve with a conventional mechanical system. More importantly, they smooth out cornering behavior in a way that complements the driver without making you feel like the electronics are driving the car for you.
A Few Laps To Learn, A Lifetime To Master
I had perhaps ten laps of the track at speed all day, and this was my first time at Mosport, so I don’t want to overstate my impressions. But the Temerario really flattered my style as I ramped up from raw beginner pace to having some understanding of the corners, and never once did I feel out of control.
Sure, I overcooked Turn 5 a few times, but it was remarkably easy to reset, find the line, and rip the car back up to speed. That, more than the headline horsepower figure, might be the Temerario’s most impressive trick. It gives you access to an enormous amount of performance without making you feel like you need to spend 100 laps learning how to use it.
I’ve had a lot of good hours driving Lamborghinis on the track, and each of them had a steeper learning curve than was evident in Temerario. Impressive performance that should help to lure in new track drivers to the brand.
The Most Approachable Lambo Yet
A car like this, which starts well over $300,000 in the real world and whose prices can double that with a long options list, has got to solve a number of problems for the prospective owner. It has to look incredible, work well enough in daily-driver settings, feel impressive on a curvy road, and offer extreme performance on the track.
Not only does the Temerario succeed at that brief, after a day out at the circuit in Canada, I’d say it might offer the most accessible performance of any Lamborghini to date. The remarkable thing isn’t simply how much performance it has, but how readily it lets you access it. As much as I loved Angeles Crest, and the tacos, I’d happily trade both for a few more laps of Mosport.
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