Mat Watson lined up two of Italy’s fiercest plug-in hybrid supercars on the CarWow strip for a straight-line battle that refused to settle quickly. One side brought a lighter, sharper Ferrari. The other brought raw V12 force and four-wheel drive, and the result stayed tight from start to finish.
Joe, the owner of a brand new Ferrari 296 Speciale with a stunning purple finish and eye-catching red stripes, gets behind the wheel of his own automobile. Watson gets into a Lamborghini Revuelto. The Speciale uses a 3-liter twin-turbo V6 with an electric motor to produce 880 horsepower and 755 Nm of torque. All power is routed to the rear wheels via an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. With Ferrari removing roughly 60 kg to reduce it to 1,500 kg, the weight does not appear as burdensome. This specific model cost half a million pounds.
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The Revuelto comes back with a 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12 engine and three electric motors. The total output is huge, with 1,015 horsepower and 1,062 Nm. This is all sent to all four axles via yet another eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. Adding all that extra gear raises the weight to approximately 1,890 kg. In terms of power-to-weight, the Ferrari still has a tiny advantage, but it’s unclear whether the Lamborghini will have enough traction to compensate.
Standing starts became more exciting as the Revuelto launched hard on all-wheel drive and maintained a razor-thin edge. A slow-motion replay revealed that the Lamborghini crossed the quarter-mile line first, despite the fact that both cars had dead-heat times of ten seconds flat. The Ferrari’s rear-drive setup and reduced mass allowed it to stay close to the Lambo’s bumper throughout the race, with no chance of a runaway victory.
When it came to rolling races over the half-mile, things became much more difficult. At 30 mph in third gear, the Speciale would occasionally pull ahead, leaving Watson astonished. Higher-speed launches in second or eighth gear at 50-60 mph swung the other way, with the Revuelto using its increased power and hybrid torque to drive away. We’d have picture finishes left and right, with one rolling pass going to the Ferrari, but only when the camera angle finally decided the debate. Manual-mode runs once again demonstrated the Lamborghini’s power edge, but the Speciale remained visible in the rearview mirror.
However, outbraking from 100 mph resulted in a clearer decision because the lighter Ferrari came to a stop sooner. Watson’s heavier Revuelto had to press on down the track a little longer to come to a halt, finishing around half a car’s length behind, and there you have it: weight had finally taken its toll. Throughout the day, neither car truly dominated. The Revuelto’s four-wheel drive and sheer horsepower scored a narrow victory in the standing quarter and a few rolling contests, but the Speciale’s better power-to-weight and brakes consistently closed gaps that should have remained open. Between runs, the drivers were exchanging notes, attempting to figure out why the Ferrari’s gearbox was acting one way and the simple physics of weight versus traction the other.
