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Richard Hammond helps terminally ill girl live pink Lamborghini dream

Emilia Palmer, an eight-year-old from Kimbolton, Herefordshire in England's West Midlands, suffers from a rare lung illness, requiring her to constantly be on oxygen. She made a request through Rays of Sunshine, which is like the Make-A-Wish Foundation, to get a ride in a pink Lamborghini, driven by everyone's favorite Hamster, Richard Hammond. And last Sunday, she got to do just that, escaping from her hospital just long enough to stop home and get a surprise visit.
Within days of receiving Emilia's wish, Rays of Sunshine found someone willing to donate a Lamborghini Aventador Roadster, and let the charity get it resprayed in an eye-searing, matte pink. The charity also managed to get Hammond to fly in for a personal visit with Emilia.
You can take a look at video of the meeting down below. You can also click over to Rays of Sunshine's website and donate, so that they can continue granting wishes for terminally ill children across the UK. Now, if you'll excuse us, we need to step away and get all this dust out of our eyes.

Lamborghini previews a Huracan race car made just tame enough for the road

November 2020's Los Angeles Auto Show has been rescheduled to May 2021, but the new date is not stopping carmakers from revealing the models they planned to introduce at the event. Lamborghini released a preview image that shows what could be the most extreme variant of the Huracan to date. We'll see it in full this Wednesday, November 18. Very likely called Huracan STO, an acronym which stands for Super Trofeo Omologato, the coupe will arrive as a street-legal supercar endowed with some of the technology developed for the Super Trofeo Evo model that races around the world. Lamborghini's preview image highlights W-shaped LEDs integrated into the headlights, but the cover that obscures the STO's full design can't conceal the giant wing attached to the back end. It also looks like the hood receives a pair of deep air vents. While the photo leaves a lot to the imagination, a set of spy shots published earlier in 2020 gave us a much better look at the car's aggressive aerodynamic add-ons. We expect the cabin will ditch some of the comfort-oriented features found in the standard Huracan in order to save weight; earlier reports claimed the STO will tip the scale at approximately 330 pounds less than the coupe it's based on. Amazon Alexa compatibility won't be needed, for example. Who preheats their oven while lapping Laguna Seca? It sounds like the variant will be street-legal, however, so it won't be completely stripped down. Why the STO needs so much downforce is, if you'll pardon the pun, up in the air. Power will almost certainly come from Lamborghini's naturally-aspirated, 5.2-liter V10 engine, but we'd be surprised if the firm doesn't use this opportunity to put a few more horses in the cavalry. In the Huracan Evo, the 10-cylinder produces 632 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque. Rear-wheel drive and a paddle-shifted automatic transmission will come standard, and bigger brakes will help drivers keep the extra power in check on and off the track. Lamborghini will unveil the Huracan STO online on November 18. While nothing is official yet, unverified rumors claim it will arrive as a limited-edition model, and odds are it will be sold out by the time it breaks cover. Related Video:

Lamborghini SC63 endurance race car unveiled for LMDh category

Lamborghini has set its sights on beating Porsche, BMW, and Cadillac, among other teams, in the top tier of endurance racing. The company has unveiled a race car named SC63 that was designed to compete in the LMDh category, and Autoblog sat down with CEO Stephan Winkelmann to get additional details about the upcoming model and its significance. Lamborghini has run a one-make racing series for over a decade, and its Huracan has competed in the GT3 category for several years, but the Italian brand has never been present on the highest echelon of the endurance racing world. Winkelmann explained why that changed. "This is a race series that's giving us a lot of visibility. We're not only racing in IMSA or in the WEC; we're racing in both. This is good for North America, it's good for Europe, and it's good for the Asia-Pacific region. It's a race series where the major OEMs are participating, so I think that also here there is an opportunity," Winkelmann told us. "We're a super-sportscar manufacturer; it's important." Power for the SC63 comes from a gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain built around a new, 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged V8 developed in-house specifically for the racing program. The system's total output checks in at about 670 horsepower, which is the maximum allowed by racing regulations, and the gearbox, the battery, as well as the motor-generator unit are standard components that other teams are using as well. That's not to say the SC63 is identical to, say, the BMW M Hybrid and the Porsche 963. Lamborghini explains that racing regulations give its engineering team the freedom to customize the gear ratios and the slip of the mechanical differential, among several other parameters.  Lamborghini asked a French firm named Ligier to develop and build the SC63's monocoque, though its engineers played a big role in dialing in the car's specifications. They notably requested a push rod-type front suspension system, ensured it has the ideal weight distribution, and made sure that critical parts are easy to access and service; every second count during a pit stop, even when you're competing in a 24-hour-long race. Lamborghini and Ligier also paid special attention to the brakes to find the right middle ground between weight and durability. Honing the SC63's aerodynamic profile was easier said than done, because LMDh regulations allow teams to use only one body kit per season, and the scope of the changes that can be made between races is limited.