The alarm was set for 5:30am but I was wide awake at 1am itself. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out why. Amidst the stressful weekdays, spending whatever time is left around cars has pretty much been what has kept me sane over the last half decade or so. The car in the question today was a stealthy black Lamborghini Huracan Performante. For the uninitiated, the Huracan Performante was the tighter version of the already ballistic Huracan. Same V10 but weight savings, recalibrated suspension, reworked gearbox and trick aero made the Performante a scalpel for the racetrack.

Talking about scalpels, the gent who drives the car in the question is a surgeon. Dr Sai Krishna spends his weekdays fixing spines and the weekends breaking his own on the Performante’s infamous single piece carbon sports seats. Not a bad way to live, in my opinion. But despite the hard edged nature of the car, Doc tells us that the car is surprisingly usable provided you learn to embrace its flaws. He has done Bangalore - Chennai runs in the car with luggage and a passenger. “One suitcase in the frunk, one wedged behind the seats and one backpack on the passenger’s lap and we were good to go!” he quips. As they say, where there is a will, there is a way and where there is a road there is a possibility of a road trip. Perhaps, not the most comfortable car to do a road trip in, but the viscerality of the car makes up for the discomfort by triggering some giggles and scares. The car has been in Doc’s custody now for a little over a year and with just Sundays available to drive on, the man has raked up respectable numbers on the odometer. A thoroughbred enthusiast, the man spends his Sundays mostly involving three activities, driving the car, washing the car and wolfing down some Biryani between the both!

The car here is finished in a shade that Lamborghini calls Nero Noctis, essentially a deep metallic black that could double up as a vanity mirror under the sun. Shod on the centre lock wheels, which too are finished in black, this example was specified in a single statement – “I’ll take it in black and tick all the available options.” The deep black is only cut through by the Italian flag that runs down the door of the car, a nod to the mad passionate boffins in Sant’Agata Bolognese who have basically built Aphrodite on wheels. I laid eyes on the car on a very cold winter morning in Bangalore, at 6am while it was still very dark, the car looked almost invisible on a dimly lit Church Street. However, once the engine fires up, there is no missing this thing! We worked our way up as the sun rose with the master, 5anket, doing his thing with the lens, the car visually comes alive with light. As the morning rays hit the derrière, one could very clearly see the carbon sculpture which had been masquerading all this while in the dark. Black paint, black carbon fiber is a combination that is hard to convey without the right light and will never translate into photos, but in person, it is plain breathtaking. And on a chilly morning like this one, the rear deck makes for a great hand warmer too! 

Now, long time readers will remember me as someone who isn’t the biggest fan of Lamborghini, which is partially true because I quite haven’t understood their methods of milking the same platform with thirty thousand different variations of the same car. But among those variants, once in a while comes a car which is an absolute gem. For me, the Huracan peaked at the Performante. Signature Lamborghini character, razor sharp looks and a raucous engine note. For starters, the Huracan LP 610-4, which the Huracan Performante is based on, is quite a bit of kit. Naturally aspirated V10 motor, a crisp dual clutch transmission and a fantastic chassis make for a car that handles like a Cayman but with the power dialed up to a 110. With pace of the Huracan, the Performante benefits from more power and a sharper handling from Lamborghini’s Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attiva. ALA, as it is abbreviated, uses electrical flaps in the front splitter and the engine lid to switch between increasing downforce and reducing drag, essentially propelling the car to go faster on straights and handle sharper on the bends. The fixed wing on the rear deck is made from a hollow piece of carbon with vents underneath to vector the airflow. Add to that a reworked rear diffuser which is virtually ‘hanging’ with cutaways around wheels to relieve pressure formed in the wheel well. For the average Joe, the ALA is not only a sculptural treat for the visual senses, it also makes the Performante a whole different wild animal.

Planar surfaces, cuts, creases, a big wing, massive exhaust exits, it is everything that a supercar should be. Why is that important, you ask? It's simple, the Huracan is a dying breed in this day and age where cars are bought by crypto bros based on their power figures. As the buyer base has seen a shift, manufacturers have managed to put enthusiasts and purists in the backseat and shift their focus to dudes with some $4million on a thumbdrive who inherently need something that looks whacky so as to enable them to get some mileage on the ‘gram. The Urus Performante went that way, and so did the more recent Huracan Tecnica and the Sterrato. There was always a fine line between in-your-face design and plain crass. A line which Lamborghini managed to tread finely until very recently before tipping off to the wrong end. Somewhere above I said that the Performante is where the Huracan peaked, this is the reason why. It is balls-out bonkers enough to dislocate jaws and yet is visually not jarring to emanate a wince. The driving dynamics of these cars have never been a point to ponder over. The V10 is a gem and it only got better from variant to variant. There is a reason I steered clear from geeky numbers on this piece. It is information that you can Google. And the driving dynamics, well, these cars are usually only as good as the driver is and to me, it is a very subjective nuance to try and put into words. Simply put, if you are fortunate enough to buy yourself one of these, dump the online reviews, go after what your heartstrings tug because what appeals to a journo may not to you. Case in point, Doc had a choice to put his cash down on a new Porsche 911 GT3 or pick up a practically unused Performante. Ask any armchair expert and pat will come the reply - “GT3, because it is more of a driver’s car” – and they are not entirely wrong. The GT3 is a great driver’s car, but ask the driver what exactly s/he wants? Doc asked himself the same, and thus, this car, the photos and the piece that you are finishing up reading just about now. I can confirm that Doc couldn’t have been any happier with his splurge.