There’s a storm coming. Justin Tan’s Liberty Walk Lamborghini Huracán is in town…
The 1990s were exciting times for impressionable young car fans. The supercar excess of the ’80s had brought us the angular insanity of the QV and Anniversary versions of the Lamborghini Countach, as well as the Ferrari F40, ensuring that Athena’s poster sales were consistently strong to starry-eyed boys and girls. But little did those kids know what was coming in the Britpop era: the McLaren F1, the Jaguar XJ220, the Ferrari F50, the Bugatti EB110, these were glory days for junior petrolheads, these monstrous machines all fighting it out for wall-space in bedrooms across the globe.
And arguably the most supercar-ish of all the supercars was the outrageous Lamborghini Diablo – excessively wide, aggressively low, hilariously impractical, and more powerful than could ever be necessary. A particular favourite among burgeoning fans was the special-edition Diablo SE30 – essentially a street-legal race car that was lighter and more powerful than the standard version, with magnesium manifolds and huge spoilers and all sorts of ostentatious lunacy. Just 150 were made, and they brought the genre one of its most stunning paint shades: Viola Purple.
Now, a lucky few who had these posters on their walls as kids get to live the dream when they grow up, and Justin Tan is one such person. “The SE30 was my childhood dream car,” he smiles. And interestingly, his own back-catalogue is studded with cars that represent more than a few dreams around the Fast Car office: custom Mercedes C63 AMG, C-West Impreza WRX, Lamborghini Gallardo, Mansory Porsche Cayenne, Novitec Lamborghini Huracán coupé, all of them heavily modified… and when the Viola Purple paint shade became available through Lamborghini’s Ad Personam program, Justin could immediately see the bones of a plan beginning to assemble.
What’s Ad Personam, you ask? Well, it’s something the company offers for people ordering a new Huracán or Aventador, allowing them to customise and personalise with an infinite range of possibilities; paint finishes, seat trim, stitching colours and patterns, embellished leathers, forged composites, it ensures a Rolls-Royce level of personalisation for customers who don’t just want to drive any old Lambo.
“This car is my second Huracán, but this time I wanted the convertible,” says Justin. “I saw the potential it had to become a car with real impact. So I ordered mine direct from the factory in Viola Purple, in tribute to the Diablo SE30 – I had to wait twelve months for it!”
Well worth the wait, of course, that goes without saying. So he had a shiny new Lambo on order, in the correct dream-weaving SE30 shade… that was the colour taken care of, but what about the road presence? The Huracán has a gorgeous little profile, but it’s designed to scythe through the air with balletic elegance, while the whole point of the Diablo was that it was, frankly, massive. So wide you could never get it in a regular parking bay, so impractical that you had to half climb out and sit on the sill to reverse it. The Huracán, as bonkers as it is, is still a little too… sensible. So how to make it a bit madder, a bit wider? The answer is Liberty Walk.
“I was reluctant to cut the guards off a brand new Lamborghini,” Justin admits, totally understandably. “But when I went to Liberty Walk in Japan, I was so impressed with the company’s work and craftsmanship, and the culture they’ve created for car enthusiasts, so I jumped into ordering the kit right away! The full widebody kit was supplied by Vogue Industries, who are also known as Liberty Walk Australia, which I then brought to Camerons Bodyworks in Brisbane to get it fitted and painted.”
While the work was being carried out to that fresh and unsuspecting LP610-4 shell, Justin had a little bit of shopping to do in order to transform the Huracán into a more complete package. First on the list was a full valvetronic system from Fi Exhaust – because while that 602bhp 5.2-litre V10 is a howling beast, it really benefits from open pipes to help it truly find its voice. The Fi Exhaust system is clever because it features the company’s cutting-edge intelligent ECU exhaust control valve – when the butterflies are closed, you can pootle around town without going deaf; click them open and all hell breaks loose, unlocking maximum power and maximum noise.
Another key consideration was how the car would sit. Extra width means a broader footprint is required, and the thing would look nuts at stock ride height with all this additional bodywork carried out. So to address this, Justin sourced a bespoke air-ride setup from AirREX to provide the requisite levels of hard-parked lows and everyday drivability. When the car airs out and dumps itself in the weeds, that fat purple brute looks absolutely sensational, but Justin needn’t be fearful of speedbumps either!
In terms of broadening the contact patch, it was PUR Wheels who answered the call. Their LX11 design is a forged three-piece beaut in a deep-concave setup; Justin’s opted for a 20” diameter here, with 9.5” of width up front and a mighty 12.5” at the rear – which is enough to fill out those colossal purple hips nicely! The rose gold finish offers a classy contrast too; it’s not a blingy, yellowy gold, but something more mellow that works with the creamy, powdery, retro Viola of the SE30.
“The last piece of the puzzle was the 1016 Industries carbon fibre bonnet,” he says. This is an aggressive piece of design, as it pinches styling cues from both the Huracán Super Trofeo road-racer and the über-unicorn Centenario, while also being lighter and stronger than the factory item.
With all of these premium pieces drawn together and expertly finished, the Huracán presents a startling and striking profile, which is mirrored in the ear-splitting shrieks when Justin fires up that Sant’Agata V10. The finish of the car is so flawless, you’d be forgiven for thinking that he’d put it together as a sort of high-net-worth showpiece, to keep in a heated garage and occasionally trailer to shows… but no, Justin’s built this to be used, and used hard. “I take it everywhere,” he assures us. “I love taking it out to drive meets that are thousands of kilometres away.” And that’s very reassuring, isn’t it? It’s so easy to sideline cars like this as trinkets and playboy showpieces, but Justin’s keen to keep at front-of-mind that this is, first and foremost, a car. One that deserves to be used at any given opportunity.
He has plans, of course. People with this sort of vision always do. “I’ve now started building my third Liberty Walk car,” he tells us. And given that he’s already fulfilled the SE30 boyhood dream, we can’t wait to see what the next one is…
TECH SPEC LAMBORGHINI HURACÁN SPYDER
Styling:
Ad Personam Viola SE30 paint, Liberty Walk full carbon fibre widebody comprising wings/arches, front lip, sideskirts, rear diffuser and rear wing, 1016 Industries carbon fibre bonnet
Tuning:
5.2-litre V10, Fi Exhaust valvetronic system, 7-speed dual-clutch transmission
Chassis:
9.5×20” (front) and 12.5×20” (rear) PUR Wheels LX11 forged three-piece wheels in rose gold, 245/30 (f) and 305/30 (r) Pirelli P-Zero tyres, AirREX air suspension, 6-pot carbon brakes
Interior:
Ad Personam carbon bucket seats
Thanks:
“Thank you to Kato and Toshi from Liberty Walk, Camerons Bodyworks for working on the car, Alan from Fi Exhaust, AirREX, PUR Wheels, Peter from 1016 industries, Nick from Pomponazzi Crystal coating, Trakpro for the GPS Tracking, and all the staff of Vogue Industries for the whole build of the car – and last but not least is my family support for all my time spent on cars…”
Words Dan Bevis Photography Lucas Croydon
