2021 Lamborghini Huracán STO Review

Other than Lamborghini cognoscenti, it would probably surprise most people that Lamborghini has never won any racing victories until recently. Company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini didn’t believe in racing. But that’s changed, with the 2021 Lamborghini Huracán STO being offered as Exhibit A.

Overview: A Week With: 2021 Lamborghini Huracán STO

This is not the car for shopping on Worth Avenue or Rodeo Drive with your fluffy pet, Snookums. 

The STO in this Huracán’s name stands for Super Trofeo Omologata, meaning it’s a homologated car version of the Huracán Super Trofeo Evo and GT3 Evo race cars, and is the first Lamborghini designed for regular track use. Maurizio Reggiani, chief technical officer for Lamborghini, says the Huracán STO is, “perfectly set up for the world’s most demanding tracks, but created for the road.” 

It competes against Porsche RS cars, long-tail McLarens, Black Series AMGs and Ferrari Scuderia models. 

Exterior

This is clearly a Lamborghini, with the extreme style that becomes the car, albeit with a few too many stickers for its own good. But some of it is functional.

Lamborghini went to great efforts to make the car as light as possible, with most of the body being made of carbon fiber. The result is a car that weighs less than a Lotus Evora.

Rather than use the Huracán’s active aerodynamics, a massive, and manually adjustable rear wing can be set to one of three positions. Then there’s the roof-mounted air intake, alog with a myriad of details with a visual vocabulary turned up to 11. It makes an already outrageous car even more so. Clearly this is not a car for those in the Federal Witness Protection program, especially given our test car’s orange and blue livery. Yet the result is almost frightening, daring you to partake of the excitement it generates.

Interior

Open the door of the STO and you’ll immediately see what was sacrificed to save weight. There’s no carpet. The door panels are simple carbon fiber shells with nylon straps to open the doors. The dashboard is covered in Alcantara punctuated by carbon fiber air vents. 

The instrument cluster is dominated by large arched tachometer and gear readout alongside any number of gauges and information readouts that prove useful at a track. Yes, there is a speedometer, but it’s secondary to more pressing concerns. 

Not surprisingly, the control layout doesn’t follow convention. A row of switches for items like the power windows reside atop the vertical touchscreen for infotainment and climate control. The turn signals and windshield wipers are controlled by steering-wheel-mounted toggle switches, and prove far easier to use the stalks typically used. 

And the starter button resides under a small red flap. Lifting it and pressing the button underneath resembles buttons used to launch a missile. Oh wait — you are. 

Powertrain

Mounted behind the cabin is a naturally-aspirated 5.2-liter V-10, the last one still being produced. It generates 631 horsepower and 417 pound-feet of torque through a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission to the rear wheels, which help steer the car along with the front wheels.

In addition, it’s fitted with a mechanical limited-slip differential and brake-based torque vectoring. The driveline includes three drive modes: STO, Trofeo and Pioggia for street driving, track driving and wet weather in that order. Reaching 60 mph takes 2.6 seconds. In the 9 seconds that it takes some sleepy crossover to reach 60 mph, the STO hits 124 mph. Top speed is 193 mph. 

Safety and Technology

Neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration nor the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have rated the Lamborghini Huracán STO. As for driver-assistance safety features, why would you worry about them on this car?

As for technology, there a vertically oriented infotainment screen that blessedly doesn’t overwhelm the interior. This car is for driving, not distracting yourself with video games, which is necessary in a Tesla to keep yourself amused.

Needless to say, it’s not needed here. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard. And while it does have an audio system, you’ll never use it. There’s another symphony beckoning.

Driving Impressions

Many car companies have claimed to produce a race car for street use, but the Lamborghini Huracán STO is truly that. Step on the throttle for some acceleration, and triple-digit speeds come up faster than you can say, “hello officer.”

Nothing quite prepares you for this car’s extreme responsiveness. Want more speed? You got it. A quick lane change? Oh heck yeah. Incredible stability and traction in turns? Yup. And the gear change? Among the fastest dual clutch gearboxes you’ll experience, especially in manual mode. Its unearthly responsiveness to the tiniest of inputs telegraphs its breeding. 

So does its astonishing vocal presence.

Few cars are this loud, not just visually, but mechanically. To place it in Trofeo mode and go to work is to experience a volume of noise known only to professional racecar drivers. Its malevolent wail is extraordinarily loud — so much so that fellow motorists hear it and get out of your way. Push the powertrain towards the top end of the tachometer, and the mechanically symphony is joined by a chorus that is intoxicating, even as it’s sure to make your ears bleed.

Nonetheless, this car makes for one this world’s most adept dance partners. Yet seeing out of it is another matter. Horizontal louvres mask much of the view through the rear window, and there’s no over-the-shoulder visibility. So you’ll have to depend on the small side mirrors, which tend to vibrate most of the time. And while the STO’s carbon fiber keeps its weight down, it makes for slow going over speed bumps or while exiting the parking lot. Thankfully, a $4,000 Lifting System is available to help avoid an expensive trip to the body shop.

2021 Lamborghini Huracán STO specifications:

Wrap Up

Lamborghini says that the launch of the Lamborghini Huracán STO has been “an intercontinental success.” That may be true, but its launch is more like an intercontinental ballistic missile, albeit one with four wheels and 10 cylinders burning dinosaur remnants. While you find an EV that’s nearly as fast, they won’t provide the visceral thrill this truly savage supercar possesses. It’s remarkable — and insanely fun.

2021 Lamborghini Huracán STO ­— Frequently Asked Questions