TEM-TENTHS

Lamborghini could not keep the Huracán's epic naturally aspirated V10. Can the new Temerario, with its 10,000-rpm e-boosted V8, fill the vacuum?

- Ben Barry

THE V10 ENGINE MIGHT BE MISSING from the new Lamborghini Temerario, but it is ever present at the customer track-day we have gatecrashed at Circuit Vallelunga, near Rome. I am seeking shelter from 35° Celsius heat in the pit garage, waiting to drive the new model, and every 30 seconds or so a Huracán, the Temerario's predecessor as Lamborghini's entry-level supercar, picks up the throttle for the flat-out run past the start-finish line. There is a flash of colour and a mellifluous, brassy, throaty sort of anger that rises to a crescendo like the bees and the honey rolled into one. What a noise.

One of the most instantly recognisable exhaust notes of modern times, the 5.2 has sound-tracked entry-level Lamborghinis since the Gallardo transformed Sant'Agata's fortunes two decades ago—and for years remained the counterpoint to downsized, turbocharged, and even hybridized rivals.

Our aural refresher is, perhaps, not helpful for Lamborghini, because the Temerario's new 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 delivers a quieter, gruffer kind of noise, and is extremely different in character. It is a technical wonder, though—an engine capable of revving to 10,000 rpm, it is new rather than a variant on the Urus SUV's V8. There are exotic materials, a flat-plane crank, deeply over-square cylinders (the bore is 90 millimetres, the stroke just 78.5 mm), and two giant turbochargers positioned “hot” in the vee.