You might remember Zyrus Engineering. The firm is a bigger deal in its native Norway - where it competes in the Extreme GT1+ class - but it is also known more broadly for the road-legal LP1200 Strada it announced a couple of years ago. That car was based on the Huracan Super Trofeo, but heavily (like, really heavily) modified to output 1,200hp and 2,010kg of downforce at 124mph. In other words, it was a race car with a numberplate stuck on and a price sticker attached. It cost from 595,000 euros and Zyrus said it would only make nine. Back in the summer, having gone through an extensive development process, the first customer car was united with its new owner.
Doubtless the firm learned a lot from the experience, and you suspect the sum total of its new knowledge has been poured into this, the LP1020 Stimolante. The first thing to note about the newcomer is that, clearly, it is not quite as extreme as the LP1200 (although the carbon fibre addenda are certainly not for show: it still promises over 1,300kg of downforce at 124mph) and is therefore likely to have been developed with a greater focus on road driving. Nevertheless, Zyrus assures us that the 18,000 circuit-based kilometres it racked up with the Strada have not been wasted: much of the same tech has been poured into the Stimolante.
This includes the firm’s bespoke, twin-turbocharged take on the Huracan’s 5.2-litre V10. Zyrus has walked the horsepower figure back for its new model - but only to 1090hp, and it’s accompanied by 735lb ft of torque. It declines to divulge what engine speed either peak figure appears at but reckons the V10 is still capable of revving to 9,000rpm. Which, in a car said to weigh 1,592kg, is a hair-raising thought. In fairness, Zyrus doesn’t intend you to trundle to the shops in this format: only ‘Corsa’ mode will access top whack, and you’ll need to enter a personal code to trigger it. In ‘Strada’, it’ll churn out a much more reasonable 700hp, while ‘Sport’ unlocks 850hp.
Of course, the Stimolante is built to rock and roll whatever your mood. Hundreds of standard Huracan parts are said to have been swapped out, and that includes a chassis which now features four-way, height-adjustable Öhlins dampers, carbon ceramic brakes and Trofeo R tyres. All this comes with a three-year warranty (that covers track driving, too) and peace of mind that comes from knowing that the car was certified by the TÜV in Germany and is therefore road-legal throughout the EU. No word on UK availability, unsurprisingly - or price - but with just 24 examples lined up for production, you’d imagine Zyrus would be amenable to a phone call and a bit of light shipping…
1 / 6
