Driving A Lamborghini Temerario On Track At Sonoma During A Rainstorm Was A Tasty Antipasto

Driving any racetrack for the first time can be a daunting prospect even for an experienced driver, magnified by the difficulty of the track is and the quickness of the car. I'm very much an on-track newbie, so I was already planning on taking it easy when I got the invite to drive the new Lamborghini Temerario at Sonoma Raceway back in November. I'd never driven the track before, and friends who have told me all about its lack of runoff, blind off-camber corners and elevation changes. Perfect for a supercar with 907 horsepower.

I needn't have worried, because a record-breaking atmospheric river storm hit California the week of Lamborghini's event. The automaker had been hosting its Esperienza Corsa driving program for customers, adding on just one day of drive time for our singular group of lowly journalists. It was only gonna keep raining, so there was no chance of staying an extra day. The huge dryer truck wasn't able to clear off the tarmac well enough (someone even said it slid off the track), and the rain barely let up all day. It was a dire situation.

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We ended up getting to do five lead-follow laps of the track at a very slow pace, and about the same number of goes around a similarly slippery autocross course, which at least allowed me to test out the plug-in hybrid's different drive modes. Most frustratingly, the Temerario's V8 will rev to 10,000 rpm, and I barely cracked the halfway point on the Temerario's tachometer. Still, while I don't have too many exciting dynamic impressions to give you, this wet day was a wonderful antipasto for what I think I'll find to be a fantastic main course of a car — one I'll be getting a full taste of as you're reading this, because Lamborghini quickly put the Temerarios into the press fleet, and today I'm taking delivery of one for the long weekend.

Full disclosure: Lamborghini flew me up to Napa and put me up in a bungalow at a winery hotel so I could spend a day driving the Temerario at Sonoma.

After a few hours of milling around Sonoma's wonderful new hospitality suite and checking out the various Temerario specs we had at our disposal, the rain actually let up a little bit, and the team said it was safe enough for us to do a handful of very cautious laps before lunch. I hopped into a bright yellow Temerario equipped with the lightweight Alleggerita package, which Lamborghini said it has received very positive customer feedback on. There are more noticeable changes than most lightweight packs — as there should be, given how in its most basic form it costs about as much as a BMW 3 Series. It adds a new front splitter, side skirt and rear spoiler designs that increase aero efficiency and downforce by 62% and 67%, respectively. Those components and other body parts are made from carbon-fiber reinforced polymer, the door panels and passenger foot rest also become carbon-fiber units, and it gets a lightweight rear window and polycarbonate side windows. The Alleggerita pack throws in a titanium exhaust, too. Total weight loss is 55 pounds if you go for carbon-fiber wheels, which none of the cars at this event had.

The yellow Temerario I took on track had the optional manually adjustable sport seats; my 5-foot-9 self fit snugly in them, and it's easy to quickly notch them into my ideal driving position. Lamborghini keeps leaning hard into its fighter-jet-inspired design language, but at least its new models are also making things more livable for both drivers and passengers in terms of comfort and convenience features — although cupholders are still only an option.

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For each lap I had the car in the most basic Strada drive mode, set to Recharge so it keeps the engine running the whole time. There are also Città, Sport, Corsa and Corsa ESC Off drive modes, plus Hybrid and Performance modes for the hybrid system specifically (along with Recharge), and a multi-level Drift mode thrown in for good measure. In Strada/Hybrid there is 789 horsepower at your disposal, but putting it into Recharge reduces that to a mere 715 horses. It's not until going into Sport mode that you unlock the full output of 907 hp and 538 pound-feet of torque, achieved thanks to the combination of a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 with a flat-plane crank and a 3.8-kWh battery pack feeding a trio of electric motors, two of which are attached to the axle with the third located within the engine's housing between it and the 8-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Look, there's not much I can really say here. It was actively raining hard as I pulled out onto the track, following behind an instructor who talked to us through mics in our helmets. There was tons of standing water and mud pooled up in multiple corners, so we had to take alternate apexes on about half the track. I don't think I ever surpassed 60 mph or revved the engine past 5,000 rpm.

Still, even at that pace and high level of cautiousness, the Temerario positively bristled with energy. There's no hiding the monster of an engine behind your head, and the throttle was extraordinarily responsive to even light inputs. There was never a moment where the car didn't feel stable and sure-footed in the rain, and even at slow speeds it was an enjoyable drive — at least, more so than a more normal car would've been in the stormy conditions. And I can confirm that both the windshield wipers and defroster work very well.

Earlier in the morning, when the Lamborghini team thought we wouldn't be able to tackle Sonoma at all, they rushed out into a parking lot to set up a short autocross course using a bunch of orange cones. It was here that I got to better experience the Temerario, though still only briefly and not to its fullest extent. In the passenger seat for my runs was Courtney Crone, who raced for Lamborghini in the Super Trofeo and still supports the automaker in testing and at events like this. She did a great job egging me on to get as much out of the car as possible given the rain.

Here I got a better sense of the Temerario's dynamics. The steering is extremely light and razor-sharp, which sometimes could be to a car's detriment, but it was easy to get used to on the tight course. Even in the wet the Temerario handles tight maneuvers at relatively high speeds with aplomb, and the traction and instant torque added by the front-axle motors was clearly apparent. Brake pedal feel was firm but excellent, and not grabby like many other carbon-ceramic stoppers can be.

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As on the track I started off in Strada mode, then twisting the dial into Sport and eventually Corsa in subsequent runs. The difference in vigor and excitement was immediately apparent, and the power on tap felt immense when I was actually able to dig into the throttle on the short straight at the start of the course — I might have even exceeded 60 mph before having to slow down. The car lunged forward off the line like a dog that's just been let loose at the park, and as the tachometer got past the halfway point the exhaust started absolutely screaming behind my head. The progression through the rev range felt quite linear, with the upper ends of the tachometer reached almost instantly, and the large paddles rocketed off shifts with fervor.

Instead of going for another in Corsa mode, I decided to do my final lap of the course in Città, the only mode that'll let you lock the car into electric-only operation. In EV mode you're stuck with only 187 horsepower, and it definitely felt tame off the line, but once up to speed it was dynamically just as exciting as with the engine on. The Temerario's electric-only range is about 6 miles, and it's really made for around-town driving, but it's good to know you can still have fun on an autocross course if your local SCCA has very stringent noise regulations.

If there was one silver lining to spending hours not actually on track, it's that I had a lot of time to pore over the Temerario's styling. More so than any series production Lamborghini before it, the Reveulto really puts its aerodynamics and powertrain on display, and its little sibling takes that to a further extreme. The Temerario is certainly divisive and totally outrageous, as any good Lamborghini should be. While I'm a fan of the Huracán I always much preferred the more angular Gallardo, and I'm glad the Temerario's vibe is closer to the latter. It's all crisp lines, flat surfaces, subtle curvatures and complex elements. Air intakes are more prominent, the V8 is totally exposed as on the Revuelto (a feature lead designer Mitja Borkert says is inspired by superbikes), and there are fascinating aero details like the air channels just ahead of the recessed headlights, which you won't notice from certain angles. Those look very cool in the rain, when you can see the water shoot through the channel onto the hood.

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Importantly for a highly customizable car like this, the Temerario well-suited to both shouty color schemes like bright orange or yellow, and also more refined specs like satin blue or army green. It may not be my choice, but the Alleggerita pack's exposed carbon pieces do look good, integrated better into the design than the two-tones on the Revuelto. You can get bronze wheels, more than a dozen colors of brake caliper, and a bunch of different appearance packages and other options.

My favorite view is the rear three-quarter angle, as the Temerario's rear end is just totally extreme. Even more of the massive rear tires are visible than on the Revuelto, with the bodywork looking pinched around the center diffuser. The giant single exhaust tip is mounted high up on a vented panel between the hexagonal taillights, and there's no active wing to be found, though the Alleggerita pack gives it a taller spoiler. It looks truly awesome from behind, especially when kicking up water spray.

Again, I'm sorry that I don't have more to tell you about what the Temerario was really like on track, but it truly was raining cats and dogs out there. At least this little appetizer got me very excited to spend a few days with the new baby Lambo on my home turf, which is finally happening after a few delays and rescheduled loans. I plan on using the Temerario as, well, a normal car. As soon as it gets delivered today I'm picking up a friend from LAX in it, and then going to Angeles Crest Highway for a rip up the mountain. A normal use case.

The Temerario I'm getting is in the launch spec of Verde Mercurius (the green at the top of this story) with the Alleggerita package equipped. On top of the Temerario's $361,616 base price (including destination), which is already about a hundred grand more than the Huracán's, this one has $202,400 in options. That ranges from very pricey ones like the $23,600 paint, the $78,600 lightweight package and $8,100 sport seats to more reasonable options like $800 cupholders and $1,100 storage nets in the cabin. Sorry, did I say reasonable? I meant ridiculous.

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If you have any particular questions about what it's like to live with a Lamborghini Temerario, let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them. Because a witch must have cursed me or something, it's even gonna rain in LA for at least one of the days I've got it.