IRON FIST, VELVET GLOVE

Lamborghini's successor to the hardcore Huracán may be tech-heavy, but it's got Raging Bull DNA coursing through its veins

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Topping 300 km/h at the twisty, undulating Circuito do Estoril is something I'd never imagined would be possible in a road car. The last time I was at this track was for the launch of the ultra-rapid McLaren 750S, which briefly squeaked past “only” 280 km/h down the main straight before having to stamp on the anchors hard for the tight, second-gear turn 1.

Yet here we are in the all-new 677 kW Lamborghini Temerario, comfortably exceeding the triple-tonne for lap after lap. It’s a mind-boggling feat, and so is the car's ability to rev past 10 000 r/min, especially given that it’s a twin-turbo V8 running up to 2.5 bar of boost pressure.

The Temerario has big wheel arches to fill as it’s been conceived to replace the much-loved Huracán, which served as Lamborghini's backbone over its decade-long lifecycle, accumulating 29 000 sales globally from 2014 to 2024 - more than double the tally of its Gallardo predecessor.

To future-proof the Temerario, from both performance and emissions standpoints, Lamborghini had to ditch the Huracán's charismatic V10, supplanting it with a hybrid powertrain comprising a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 and three electric motors.

The whole lot is packaged within a brand-new aluminium spaceframe chassis, clothed by aluminium body panels that have been sculpted according to a fresh styling philosophy by design director Mitja Borkert and his team.

The Temerario is a technological tour de force, but all its cutting-edge trickery comes at a significant cost, as the newcomer will command a hefty premium over the discontinued Huracán Tecnica when South African deliveries commence.