It’s been eight years since the Lamborghini Huracan came along to replace the Gallardo, and believe it or not, there are still more special editions to come. The latest is this, the rear-wheel-drive 2023 Lamborghini Huracan Tecnica, which takes a best-of-both-worlds approach to combining two greats, the Evo and STO. In short, it places heavy emphasis on improved aerodynamics by way of a lengthened body making generous use of carbon fiber, and it could very well be the best-looking Huracan to date.
Its new face has the Y-motif’d Chelsea smile of many recent Lamborghini concepts and limited-production models, like the FKP 37 Sián, while its rear looks somewhat reminiscent of a snake. Even if it is a bit of a copy-paste, it’s not like they took the worst parts of previous cars and put them together—quite the opposite, actually. It’s also the most aerodynamically advanced Huracan, generating 35 percent more rear downforce, but 20 percent less drag than the Evo.
Lamborghini’s Chief Technical Officer Rouven Mohr explained to The Drive, “In our case we have a very strong design DNA, and we have some iconic design patterns that we always try to highlight. The headlight shape, the hexagon. But for sure, everything we do on the car has to have a purpose. At the end of the day, on this car, the improvement in the aerodynamics is one of the most important challenges that we faced. We’ve increased the downforce 35 percent, and at the same time reduced the drag. Downforce you can increase easily, drag also, but to do both is very hard.”
Mohr and the rest of Lamborghini put a big emphasis on ensuring this could be done without making it look completely clownish. “I’m very proud of the aerodynamic efficiency. Because the base car is not a bad car regarding that. And nevertheless, the rear wing is still kind of elegant. Sometimes, you see now they put a big rear wing on it, and you say ‘Ugh, ok.’ From an elegance point of view, it’s not. I wouldn’t call this understated, but from my point of view, I like that this is not so, ‘Bang! Now I have a wing!’ And it still really works. “
This naturally benefits the Tecnica both in corners, where rear-wheel steering and torque vectoring have their say in what goes on, and in the straight line, where its 5.2-liter, naturally aspirated V10 does most of the talking. Identical to that in the STO save for a new exhaust, the V10 generates 631 horsepower and 417 pound-feet of torque, which it sends to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. They push its 3,100 pounds or so (it’s 3,040 dry) from zero to 60 mph in under 3.2 seconds, to 120 less than six seconds later, and on to a top speed of 202 (the STO’s only rated for 193).
The main goal in developing the Tecnica’s handling was to blend the feedback of the STO with the accessibility of the base Evo car. One of the key points was to hone in on the moment of stability control intervention and make the transition feel as natural as possible to keep the driver comfortable and feeling like they’re in control.
“We really wanted to provide a car to drivers that’s consistent in its behavior, that is generating trust while driving, and makes the driver comfortable even if he’s playing with the car,” Mohr continued. “The dynamic brain of the car, we call it LDVI (Lamborghini Dinamica Veicolo Integrata), the electronic control unit that controls all the dynamically relevant parameters of the car, we decided that we’ll give the customer a little bit more possibility of slip in the rear, and little bit more slip angle, and we’ve worked hard on when the [stability control] intervention is coming.”
“With some cars, it gives you a little bit of freedom and then it’s boom, you feel like it’s completely interrupting,” he continued. “We worked hard on this transition, to really give the driver a comfortable situation where they can feel the car, and based on this feeling the driver is really able to enjoy it. Nevertheless it’s a rear mid engine car with over 600 horsepower. In this topic, how predictable is the car, how the driver can react to or act with the car, this was one of the development targets.”
Slam on the Huracan Tecnica’s carbon-ceramic brakes with enhanced cooling, and it can skid to a halt from 62 in just 103 feet. That’s important, for sure, but it goes beyond stopping in a hurry; it’s about how predictable a braking event is.
“We got feedback from our customers that in the standard car, if you take it out on track, you see some potential for improvements with the brake consistency,” Mohr told us. “The performance is not the issue, it’s the consistency. Therefore we’ve completely revised the brake cooling front and rear. On the front, you have these deflectors on the underbody that push more air to the brake calipers, and in the rear, it’s hard to see, but there’s a duct on the caliper that really pushes the air directly onto the brake. Based on this, we’ve reduced the temperature of the disc and brake fluid after a track day by 10 percent approximately. Sounds like not so much, but at the end of the day you can measure the improvement on the pedal elongation, and especially on the feeling of how consistent it is. Often, this is not an overall brake performance issue, but a comfort issue, how comfortable the driver feels when driving on track.”
As is natural of any super special Lamborghini, the Huracán Tecnica will be offered with extensive personalization, not to mention a list of performance enhancements. They consist of lightweight doors, a rear fender and wheel bolts made of titanium, and full racing harnesses for frequent track-dayers. There’s also that big back glass that shows the 5.2-liter V10 in all its glory, offset just a bit.
“I would say the main focus was to optimize the airflow for the engine, but also as kind of differentiation from an aesthetic point of view,” Mohr said of the see-through rear deck. “We wanted to also… this is an iconic engine, and we wanted to point it out. Today it’s not a given that a car is going to have an engine like this. These are getting quite rare. We wanted to celebrate and highlight it a bit more.
Lamborghini hasn’t indicated what the Tecnica’s production run will look like, or what one costs, but let’s be honest: You either know you can afford it, or you can’t. Such is the way with supercars.
Got a tip or question for the author? You can reach them here: james@thedrive.com