California is a land, they say, that has something different for everyone. Cinema, from its mecca in Hollywood, has from time immemorial portrayed it as the great reference of the ‘good life’. The most adventurous entertain themselves by challenging the waves of the Pacific or walking its thousand and one trails. And many others come to him to find something new in their life or just to find themselves.
‘Drifting’ for the Anglo-Saxons is much more than the act of drifting with a car. Drifting also represents those who enjoy abandoning themselves to their own devices in a pleasant wanderlust. Without any definite direction, but enjoying every last bit of what he finds along his uncertain journey. And California is a magically perfect place to understand the meaning of this word.
We’re in Palm Springs with what may have been the most unusual Lamborghini of recent times: the Huracan Stereo. As befits a good modern car of its size and price, it includes sophisticated GPS navigation solutions, which on occasion we’d refrain from using. Instead, we’ll fire up its V10 and let our purest desires guide us.
Dust, wild nature and tinsel
Before we know it, the 610 hp Huracan Sterto whisked us out of town and into Joshua Tree National Park, our first special stop. The preserve is home to one of the most important repositories of the famous ‘Joshua Tree’, which was made sacred by the first Mormon settlers to settle here and was also the source of inspiration for the band U2 on their most famous album.
Like Bono and his cohorts, the California desert imbues us with a deep sense of desolation. But, as the kilometers pass, we become one with him, begin to understand him better and even find comfort in his solitude. We have already started our special ‘Drift’.
In this dreamlike state we arrive at the Coachella Valley, the location of the Chuckwalla Valley Raceway. A pure dirt circuit where the suspension, tyres, driving mode and the Huracan Sterato’s apparently absurd height to the ground finally click and take on all their meaning.
Lamborghini
The last animal of Santa Agata propels itself through straight lines, curves, cambers and jumps with the same energy that fires Baja’s ‘buggy’ profusion, leaving a Bolognese tenor’s ‘bel canto’ as its special signature of passage. Yes, very different from the rumble of indigenous V8s. But we are the only witnesses to this unique mix, because no one else is for miles around. Who would have thought that one of the most popular music festivals on the planet is held near here. But that’s California.
Our ‘drifting’ leads back to Palm Springs, as the return is also part of the journey. But we can’t resist squeezing out the last hours of daylight by doing a few laps on its asphalt circuit, the same one that in its day saw how Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles began writing their own legends.
Lamborghini
The very best of the Huracan has been revealed again, this time to continue to demonstrate that it is the most ‘Lamborghini in form’. And it is just like that: despite its status halfway between a supercar and a crossover, and despite all the ‘abuse’ we’ve given it so far, the Sterato precisely follows the trajectory we expect it to take at each turn. Let’s set, composing together an ephemeral ode to the joy of driving under the unapologetic tones of West Coast twilight, a mix of sea breeze and red dust in the suspension.
Lamborghini
Unfortunately there is no such thing as magic that lasts forever, and eventually we find ourselves again, almost night time, along those long paths lined with palm trees. After getting lost in (and found) the back of one of Bull Brand’s most exclusive models, the city’s residents look blank. We are back in another world, a world that perhaps long ago misunderstood the meaning of joy and happiness, turning it into false gloss and hypocrisy. A world lived out of authentic living, as we have been able to verify, is only hours away. But it’s the same in California.
