It's not often that we experience new, completely new automotive technology for the first time. But this seems to have been created by Lamborghini with its driving wheel mounts, which we have now sampled in prototype form. The system itself is both clever and sophisticated, but the basic purpose is simple: to control camber and toe-in alignment settings in real time while the car is in motion.
According to Lamborghini CTO Roven Mohr, this is one of the last frontiers of vehicle dynamics. Suspension geometries are often based on a series of trade-offs, and the loads created when the car moves will inevitably negatively affect at least some of them. And track-appropriate positioning settings can cause tires to wear out prematurely on the street, which is why many high-performance cars have track positioning settings and need to switch back and forth. Gaining active control in two different planes (the toe angle is the angle of the rotating wheel relative to the direction of travel, and the camber angle relative to the ground) means that many of these compromises can be eliminated. The results based on our Lamborghini Huracán development mule on the Porsche Nardò test track in Italy are impressive.
The idea itself is not new, and Moore admits that he had been working on it when he was working for Volkswagen's brother Audi. But beyond the hardware required to move the wheels in two planes, the challenge was to create a control system that could do this quickly and accurately enough to take full advantage of its benefits. Lamborghini is leading the way in this area.
The system is designed to work on every rear wheel of the Huracán prototype. Active toe-in control is essentially a rear-steering system. Of course, we've had this design before, but this one also moves the wheels between the toe inward (the leading edge points slightly towards each other) and the toe outward (the leading edge is opposite each other). In general, toe-in makes the car more responsive and more responsive in cornering, while toe-in provides better stability at high speeds.
Active camber control is even more revolutionary. Under cornering loads, the car tilts and the suspension compresses, which changes the relationship between the tire tread and the road surface. For a vehicle as low and firmly suspended as a Lamborghini supercar, this effect is much smaller than that of a sedan in the 70s of the 20th century, but it is still important because it creates an uneven pressure distribution on the contact surfaces of the tires, which reduces grip. Many high-performance cars compensate for this by setting a negative camber angle (the tire tilts to the inside edge), but doing so reduces straight-line traction and increases tire wear. The driving wheel carriage can be adjusted to the load, which is actually "the best of both worlds". According to Lamborghini, the solution enables the tires to generate up to 25% of the cornering force.
Up close, the active wheel carrier doesn't look like a revolutionary leap. It initially appeared to be a large hub assembly, with one side mated to the half-shaft connected to the transmission, and the other side connected to the hub that held the wheels in place. But the two swivel flanges inside change the relative angles between the two sides, one controlling camber and the other controlling toe. They are driven by 48-volt electric motor gears. The system is designed for the rear wheels only;Lamborghini has used dual-motor electric torque vectoring on the front wheels of the Revuelto, which could also be used as an alternative to the Huracán.
The driving wheel carrier is available in either direction up to 66 degrees of toe-in adjustment, and 25 degrees of positive camber and 5Adjustment between 5 degrees of negative camber. Both aircraft can be adjusted at the same time, and the electric motor can be adjusted at a speed of up to 60 degrees per second. As a result, even the most extreme changes – from full toe to full toe – can be done in a quarter of a second, although most of the changes are much smaller adjustments.
Mohr says the hardware is the easiest part here. Controlling the active wheel carrier requires a very complex dynamic control system that ultimately has to work in conjunction with stability control, torque management, and active aerodynamics. But that's for the future;Currently, the prototype runs on a rear-wheel-drive Huracán Evo without any traction or stability control.
Our test drive took place at Porsche's expansive Nardò proving ground in southern Italy, where we first test-drove several **Lamborghinis (including the Revuelto, Urus Performante, Huracán Tecnica and Huracán STO). In entry 3Before the 9-mile maneuvering runway, we had the opportunity to experience the changes the system brings on a giant steering pad – acres of asphalt that can be safely experimented with.
From the time the system was turned off, the EVO's rear suspension was in the default position, showing understeer on cold tires during intense driving, as well as a quick transition to oversteer when overtaking rear grip. Upon opening the drive wheel carrier, the Huracán immediately felt more grippy, more responsive, more willing to change direction (due in large part to the rear steering effect of the toe-in adjustment), and more stable when pushed to the edge of the grip.
Once you move to the control track, you'll have the opportunity to drive continuously with the system off and on. The Huracán was as fast as ever, and the V-10 engine roared to devour the ratios of the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Sadly, this was the last time we experienced one of the world's most glamorous engines in a new car;The Huracán replacement will switch to a twin-turbo V-8.
But we came to Naldo not for the engine, but for the chassis. When driving with AWC off, the first takeaway from the maneuvering track is how much work the Huracán's stability control typically takes under heavy use. Without it, the EVO prototype gets significant front-end thrust in tight corners and is uneasy when asked to turn into faster corners, especially on the Nardo 06 miles long on a fast left turn at the end of the main straight.
With Active Wheel Control activated, the difference is immediate. It feels like the grip on the rear axle has been noticeably improved. The prototype immediately found more traction in slower corners, but also felt more stable at higher speeds and faster turns. The actual changes made by the system are minimal, especially the camber. Talking to Mohr revealed that changes are usually only a fraction of a degree, with multiple corrections per second. But the impact was far-reaching, and with AWC in play, the aging Huracán felt like a different car.
The biggest problem is overconfidence, and Moore admits that drivers who experience AWC for the first time often think it will be able to correct a situation where they are completely out of control, but this is not the case. But the effect of the system is certainly measurable: on the manoeuvring track, our fastest lap with AWC on was 48 seconds, although for experienced riders this effect will diminish on more familiar tracks, but 39;It's still important. Even the Lamborghini pro driver was reported to be 28 seconds. That's comparable to what you would get from switching from sports tires to road-legal semi-slick tires.
The technology will also enable other changes: wider front tires relative to the rear wheels, slightly softer springs to allow for greater roll (active camber is able to adjust this), and it may be interesting to run different tire mixtures front and rear for maximum benefit from improved grip. The motors powering these units may also be upgraded to 400 volts of operating voltage, powered directly from the plug-in hybrid battery pack.
While AWC is just an experiment at this stage, it seems highly likely that it will play a role in Lamborghini's future – most likely a replacement for Huracán, which will be unveiled this year.