Tail Sliders

Recent Lamborghinis have majored on four-wheel drive. But there’s a hardcore enthusiast market for rear-wheel drive cars – a great excuse for us to compare three generations of mid-engined rear-drive Lambos: Huracán, Gallardo Balboni and Urraco.

- Chris Rees

Countach, Diablo, Murciélago, Aventador. Big names for big cars – the pinnacle of what Lamborghini is about. But in the shadow of these mighty V12 supercars there has always lived another breed of mid-engined Lamborghini: Urraco, Gallardo, Huracán. These models have fewer cylinders, less weight and a more accessible price.

Arguably they’re more fun to drive, too, which is what we’re about to find out. Since buyers now have the option of another Huracán model to choose from, in the form of the Rear-Wheel Drive Spyder, we think it’s time to bring together three generations of subV12 two-wheel drive mid-engined Lamborghini.

The new RWD Huracán very much follows in the footsteps of the Gallardo, for which Lamborghini’s legendary factory test driver, Valentino Balboni, created his own ideal spec of two-wheel drive in a 2009 special edition that bore his name. And before the era of all-wheel drive Lambos, there was the Urraco – the very first V8 mid-engined raging bull. There are some pretty big generational divides, as we shall see.

HURACÁN RWD SPYDER

The Huracán LP 580-2 arrived 12 months ago as the rear-wheel drive version of the fourwheel drive coupe. Now there’s a Spyder model too – now referred to as ‘Rear-Wheel Drive’ rather than using the LP moniker.

Compared to the 4x4 model, power drops 30hp from 610hp to 580hp. Not that you really notice any difference. The V10 naturally aspirated engine – which gets my vote as one of the greatest engines of all time – still sings in the same shamanically shocking manner. And since ditching the front diff and driveshafts saves 30kg, performance is hardly dented compared to the 4x4 version: it’ll still do 0-62mph on 3.6 seconds and knock on the door of 200mph.