The Bite Magazine - Spring 2016 - Issue 15

T here’s nothing better than getting into a bit of battle to fuel that adrenaline pumping in the veins on the open road… well, within reason. Last year we wit- nessed two of Italy’s supercar giants: Ferrari and Lamborghini go head to head at the Frankfurt Motor Show where they both showed off their 2016 models. While it appears that Lamborghini tend to have more than one vehicle on the go at the same time – namely the Aventador SV, Huracán LP 580-2 and Huracán LP 610-4 Spyder, the competition between the two Italian marques is nothing short of interesting. Admittedly, Lamborgh- ini has a lot more dramatic and heroic names for their models, for example ‘Huracán’ is not only Spanish for ‘hurri- cane’ and the Mayan god of storms, but it is also the name of a bull from 1879. Ferrari, on the other hand uses numbers to identify their models, with the latest being the 488 Spider, a successor to 2012’s 458 Spider. It appears that Lamborghini may have been pushed to bring out the Huracán LP 610-4 Spyder a couple of years earlier than they did with the Gallardo which took three years to receive an open- top version. With the 2015 McLaren 650S Spider already on the road and the Ferrari 488 Spider coming up close behind, Lamborghini smoothly dropped their own drop-top at the motor show in Germany. Ferrari came in with the con- vertible version of the GTB model six months after the former was introduced which is deemed the most powerful drop-top to ever come out of Maranello. It has the same two-piece retractable hard-top as the 458 Spider which can only be operated when the car is sta- tionery for safety reasons but can then be neatly and electronically stowed under the new flying buttresses in 14 seconds, compared to the Huracán LP 610-4’s 17 seconds. It may be 50kg heavier than the 488 GTB but it is still 10kg lighter than the 458 Spider. Driving Capacity Lamborghini continue their line of 5.2- litre V10 mid-mounted engines in the Huracán LP 610-4 Spyder which pro- duces an output of 449 kW/610 hp and features a new stop-start technol- ogy as well as cylinder on demand. By deactivating one cylinder bank tempo- rarily when full capacity is not required, only five of the cylinders are needed, thus reducing fuel consumption with an output of 11.9/100km and CO2 to 278.g/km. It accelerates from 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds and has a top speed of 201 mph.“The Huracán LP 610-4 Spyder is the next chapter in the success story of the naturally aspirated V10 Huracán, and continues a Lamborghini tradition of open air motoring,” President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini Stephen Winkelmann said. “The Huracán Spyder combines the innovation, performance and appeal of the Huracán coupé, with new technologies and an added emo- tional dimension. Its predecessor, the Gallardo Spyder, was the best-selling open top model in Lamborghini’s history: we expect the Huracán Spyder to exceed its predecessor in every way.” Although the Ferrari 488 Spider has a smaller engine capacity than the Lam- borghini, a 3.9-litre turbo-charged V8 with an output of 670 hp, it overtakes with a faster acceleration of 3 seconds flat and a top speed of 203 mph. The turbo-charged V8 is the highest perfor- mance engine that Ferrari has ever built and with zero turbo lag thanks to ball- bearing-mounted shafts that reduces friction, it creates a unique, exhilarating sound as well as increasing the power in response time which can be two to three times longer than in a naturally-aspirated engine. Its aerodynamics has also hit a new record with an efficiency figure of 1.53 which minimises drag and maximises downforce. This is further enhanced by the central Aero Pillar which manages the bitecars