2016 Lamborghini Huracan LP580-2 India track drive

Earlier this year, I got an exclusive opportunity to slip down into the cockpit of Lamborghini’s ‘base’ Huracán – the LP580-2 – to hammer it around a race track and find out what almost 600 naturally aspirated Bolognese horses feel like squeezed through just the rear wheels. Well, it must be my lucky day (lucky week, lucky month, lucky year?) because now I’ve got another opportunity to slip down into the cockpit of Lamborghini’s ‘base’ Huracán – the LP580-2 – to hammer it around a race track and find out what almost 600 naturally aspirated Bolognese horses feel like squeezed through just the rear wheels. There are a few differences, of course. This car is yellow rather than green (a crucial improvement, as anyone who’s ever had a Lambo poster on their bedroom wall will tell you), the steering wheel is on the correct side and the sat-nav says Tamil Nadu, not Taiwan. But best of all, where last time I only had a few quick laps of the entirely unknown Penbay International Circuit to satiate my thirst for, um, answers, this time I have all 3.74km of the much-more-familiar Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT) for an entire day! Best get moving, the Lambo and I have a lot of catching up to do.

REUNION WITH TERROR

It doesn’t take long for me to be reminded of my last tryst with this car. And in true Lamborghini fashion, that reminder is quick, loud and violent. I step into the driver’s seat and a few seat adjustments later, I’m barrelling towards the first right-hander. Egged on by a few light barks from the engine over my left shoulder and fuelled by that heroic feeling only a supercar can elicit, I slam the steering wheel firmly towards the apex.

Then comes the bite. The tail snaps out wildly and even as I ease off and counter-steer back into line, the excuses start flooding my head. Surely someone has left the car in ‘assassin’ mode with the ESC turned off; that’s what happened there. It wasn’t. The ‘Anima’ selector toggle is still in its tamest ‘Strada’ mode with all the safety nets in place. I feel like I need to go back into the pits and write on a chalkboard 1,000 times, ‘Never underestimate a rear-drive Lamborghini.’