Van-:
Still would like to hear your reports after driving both. As I have heard that Lamborgini is downplaying somewhat the capability of the Evo so as to not disappoint new Performante buyers like yourself, even as regards to reported Ring times.
Like I said before, I had contact with people who have driven the car in Bahrain and also talked to Lamborghini test drivers and engineers there. The Evo is the successor of the Huracan, not the Performante. ALA is far more superior than many people would believe and the Evo is heavier (almost everything is standard) than the Performante. The gearbox is less aggressive (programming) in Corsa mode for comfort reasons (the Performante gearbox is making a thousand noises, hissing, etc., not pretty if you don't like this stuff), also the exhaust system is different (and a couple of kg heavier). The rumored Ring time (with a factory driver) for the Evo is "slightly" over 7 minutes (which could mean 7:01 or 7:02), in Nardo however, the Evo is a tiny bit faster than the Performante (according to a test driver) because ALA keeps the car slightly in downforce mode.
I don't understand if Nardo doesn't have straights, thus has mostly curves, and the Evo beats the Performante on the Nardo, Why isn't then the Evo better in the curves ? The ALA I think would work best in fast sweeping curves where the speed is high enough ( like the Ring ) so that the 'torque' biased downforce can actually come into play. Guessing here, that speeds around 60-70 mph the ALA has little effect.
Again, the Evo is not really better in curves, the curves in Nardo are very very wide, so you can drive very fast. The Evo doesn't produce the downforce the Performante is producing in curves. You also seem to forget that the Performante doesn't only have ALA but also a completely different track optimized chassis and steering. The Evo is mainly a road car, again...the successor of the normal Huracan, not the Performante. The successor of the Performante is going to be available in around two years (again, according to a Lamborghini employee in Bahrain) and (thank god) it won't be called Performante. German AutoBILD Sportscars claims it will be named Huracan Evo SV but I find it strange that Lamborghini would bring the SV over from the Aventador. You never know though... Last name I heard was Super Trofeo (derived from the current Huracan Super Trofeo Evo race car) but...
I really looked very closely into the Evo because at some point, I wasn't sure if I should stick with my Performante order or not but everyone who has driven the Evo or has had contact to Lamborghini test-drivers/engineers and talked to them about the Evo, clearly told me: Stick to the Performante. It may not be much faster than the Evo but it is a special edition Lamborghini and no other new Lamborghini will have the same sound and race car feel in the future. Those noises produced in Corsa mode are just sensational and I'm not talking about the exhaust sound only.
Of course I cannot exclude that an Evo could do a narrow slalom 1 or 2 km faster than the Performante, due to the rear axle steering but in general, the Performante will be faster on any track.
Maybe your spirited mountain driving with your buddies in Germany are in big sweeping mountain areas where speeds are approaching 100 mph? Mine here in northern Ca. are with speed limits really never above 55 mph. And thus you play with the risk of an approaching log truck, deer, and bicyclist, and sometimes all at once.
The speed limit on most pass roads is 100 kph, sometimes a bit lower. It is not uncommon to pass the speed limit by 10-20 kph without any major repercussions (Germany/Austria/Italy...Switzerland is a different story). It can happen on some straights that you are faster than 100 kph but in those curves...well...100 kph can be a lot and more than enough to have fun.
Italy is most fun because people are a bit more open minded when they see a group of fast cars, same goes to the police/authorities. However, if you drive like an ass, putting others in danger, you're done, Italian police is tolerant up to some point but there are still rules out there and they can confiscate the car on the spot if you seriously piss them off.
Or let me give you a different example: Sometimes, when this is an organized event of some sort, we have two motorcycles (once even Italian police!) or a car driving ahead of the "convoy" and "clearing" the road. Every car has a radio, so we know what is happening on the road, ahead of us. These organized events are often on specific roads, the risk is minimal and local authorities actually know about it, as weird as this may sound. As long as you don't harm third parties, they don't care if you kill yourself (which of course never happens because the fastest and at the same time the most prudent driver, usually a pro, is driving first and knows when to keep his tail at a slower pace). The secret to these events is to choose drivers you know well. Mostly friends or a bunch of people I know for years and I know how they drive. Most of them are over 40, lots of experience, two pro drivers among them (one even a former formula 1 driver ), very prudent people, no-one drives with a knife between the teeth. We once had a new guy who was sent home after only two hours of driving, he put everyone at risk, didn't keep the distance, behaved like an ass. He had a beautiful young girlfriend with him, probably the reason for this behavior but idiotic. No need for people like that, we are friends doing some spirited fun driving, not competing against each other.
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RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Audi R8 V10 Plus (2016), Mercedes E63 S AMG Edition 1 (2018), Mercedes C63 S AMG Cab (2019), Range Rover Evoque Si4 Black Edition (2019)