Born out of a natural desire to come up with something new in an automotive world that has seen about everything, the “Jumpacan” is not your regular Lamborghini Huracan. For starters, it’s just a bare 12-point roll cage shell of its former Italian self. Then it’s also not that V10-powered anymore, as this custom ride joins the (in)famous LS-swapped V8 community. But there is also much more to it.
For starters, it’s also a stick shift. And if that’s not enough, those huge off-road tires and the name itself are clear hints towards its ultimate, adventurous use case scenario. So, because we’re fans of quirky builds, we took notice and watched the build process unfold. Then, it was only natural that a quick test drive needed to be made – just to make sure everything worked as intended.
But the real fire trial only came in the latest episode from the B is for Build YouTube channel, where the team decided to get the “Jumpacan” on a trailer and throw down a few quick laps on the same course that we saw their monster 30-inch MINI perform like a hoot. It’s a different story with the off-road Lambo Huracan as this one clearly needs some more lift to become a proper dune slasher... hence the little trailer offload incident at the start of the video (2:30).
Although they foresee additional problems, such as running out of gas, the team valiantly proceeds forward even though it’s around 114 degrees (over 45 degrees Celsius) outside and some 140 degrees (60 degrees Celsius) inside. No worries, because even the folks over at Engineering Explained approve of the “open windshield, dirt and rocks flying everywhere, still no racing gloves” attitude.
So, the first lap (kicking off at 4:54) is not exactly the most spectacular, even though at one time the driver says it’s “not that rough of a course” while dirt accumulates inside as if they’re visiting the Sahara Desert. You’ll also notice that some incidents did occur during the lap (which is still said to have been at least ten seconds faster than with the MINI), such as the Lambo vying off track to the left, then to the right, and finally straightening up after killing a tree...
That’s a big hint that not all things will go down smoothly until the end, and that’s quite obvious once the second lap starts at the 10:35 mark... and ends immediately after the first jump. As it turns out, the rear suspension’s trailing arm broke and now the guys have just a few days to fix everything before their next adventure in Las Vegas.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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