WATCH | Savage new Lamborghini Urus smashes Pikes Peak record

11 August 2022 - 12:22
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When car manufacturers gear up to release a new performance model they usually try to create media exposure by breaking the Nürburgring Nordschleife lap record for whatever class soon-to-be-unveiled vehicle happens to reside in. Not so for the high-performance Lamborghini Urus, which is most likely going to adopt the firm's famed “Performante” nameplate when it makes its official global reveal next week. 

Instead of setting it loose around the “Green Hell”, Lamborghini stuck time-trial champion and Pirelli test driver Simone Faggioli behind the wheel of its prickly new vehicle and asked him to smash the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb production SUV record set by the Bentley Bentayga in 2018. Obviously not at the actual event — Lamborghini would have needed a time machine as it happened in June — but at a private and officially timed session where the team would have uninterrupted access to the 20km, 156-turn circuit.

Simone Faggioli and the rest of the Lamborghini team celebrate the new record.
Simone Faggioli and the rest of the Lamborghini team celebrate the new record.
Image: Supplied

To comply with record regulations this flagship Urus was fitted with mandatory safety equipment, including a FIA-approved racing seat, six-point harness, roll-cage and fire extinguisher system. The vehicle's updated 4.0l twin-turbocharged V8 engine (rumoured to make in the region of 478kW) was left untouched, as was its chassis and suspension. Ensuring maximum asphalt adhesion was a set of newly developed and super-sticky Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R semi-slick tyres measuring 285/40 R22 and 325/35 R22 at the front and rear respectively. 

The end result saw Italy's Faggioli steer the still-camouflaged Urus up this fearsome high-altitude ribbon of tarmac in a new record time of 10:32.064 — that's a full 17.838 seconds faster than what the aforementioned Bentley managed four years ago. 

But enough waffling — hit the play button and watch this magnificent feat for yourself.


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