Getting enough grip at the start is a problem many drag racers struggle with. Not the world’s fastest/quickest Lamborghini Huracan, though, which used to have too much traction and pulled spectacular, but potentially dangerous wheelies. The Lambo recently set a new quarter-mile record and now that it has an anti-wheelie system, getting the nose up in the air is no longer an issue.
In factory trim, a Lamborghini Huracan delivers at least 600 hp—depending on the exact model—and is capable of low-10s quarter-mile passes with trap speeds of over 130 mph.
This UGR (Underground Racing)-built, twin-turbo Huracan ran by the Drag965 team? It recently set a new 1/4-mile record for the quickest (Elapsed Time) and fastest (Trap Speed) street-legal Lamborghini, with a 7.28s run at 202 mph.
So, how does the Italian-built, American-tuned, Kuwaiti team-owned machine do it? It’s all about power and, just as importantly, being able to put as much of it down as quickly as possible.
The Pro Line Racing-built V10 works with a pair of custom turbos supplied by Precision. Further down the power line, we find a 13-plate street clutch working with a full billet gearset for the dual-clutch transmission (gears 1-7) coming from Emco Gears.
How Anti-Wheelie works in drag racing
The factory Huracan is a display of technological prowess. But chasing drag and roll racing records (UGR also holds the standing 1/2-mile with 260 mph as well as the rolling 1/4-mile with 237 mph) needed some serious custom work, hence the list of custom systems mentioned above.
You might already be familiar to this red Bull (no pun intended) since the vehicle set some of the records mentioned above last year. However, it only seems to have received an anti-wheelie feature for 2022.
This is based on the Motec M1 engine management, which allows specialists like John Reed Racing, who worked on this car, to come up with their own software. In this case, we’re talking about a feature that prevents the front wheels from getting too high off the ground.
Why don’t they just install a wheelie bar? one might ask. Well, certain classes simply don’t allow the introduction of such hardware.
The system, which is more accurately called wheelie control, relies on a multi-axis accelerometer that reads the pitch angle of the car. And since wheelies can cause the driver to lose control and/or damage the vehicle during a brutal landing, among other trouble, once that angle passes a certain limit, the feature can retard timing or cut cylinder spark altogether to reduce power and ensure only the productive kind of wheelie is delivered.
When checking out the first clip below, which shows the latest record of the UGR Huracan, you’ll see that the front wheels do enjoy a bit of air time—note that the shenanigan took place at the Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida.
However, we’ve added a second clip. This shows a May 2021 run where the vehicle pulled a wheelie while it was already at high speed (this sounds like third gear), so the driver had to feather the throttle and the numbers were sacrificed in the process.
Anti-Lag, Autoshift, and Burnout Mode
Speaking of the driver, the boost is so violent in this sort of machine, that building revs can often feel like an explosion. So, to make sure the upshifts are optimal, the car also sports an autoshift feature—the factory Huracan can also take care of shifting on its own, but it delivers the best results when the paddle shifters are used. And you can check this out on the third video below, which brings about a roll race from the 2021 TX2K event.
As mentioned above, there’s an anti-lag system to keep those turbos spooled. And while this beast has maintained its AWD nature, it comes with a burnout mode that only sends power to the rear wheels and locks the brakes on the front axle. So, those meaty drag radials at the back can be brought up to temperature for the blast-style AWD starts.
We’re dealing with a supercar that retrains its full interior and amenities, taking its street-legal status seriously. It’s not just the respect for the license plates that keeps the factory luxuries on the vehicle, though—sometimes, having serious weight pushing down on all four tires will bring traction benefits that overshadow the performance penalty those extra pounds bring.
And while UGR hasn’t mentioned the weight of the Drag965 twin-turbo Lamborghini Huracan, they do state that a somewhat similar build based on the platform mate of the Lambo, the Audi R8, tips the scales at over 3,800 lbs without the driver.
As for the maximum output, the said TT V10 setup should be capable of delivering anywhere between 2,000 and 3,000 horsepower, but it looks like the limit is imposed by traction.
What comes next? A lot of extra work, of course. After all, this Lambo won’t get into the sixes all by itself. Seriously, the AWD Sant’Agata Bolognese machine does quite a bit of dancing while grabbing the record, which means its numbers could be even sweeter.
