Latest news with #EnzoFerrari
Top Gear
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Hall of fame/shame: 33 of Alfa Romeo's greatest hits... and misses
RL Targa Florio (1922): HIT Alfa was race first, road second. In the hands of Ugo Sivocci, the lightened, 6cyl RLTF gave AR its first big international race victory, taking the chequered flag in the 1923 Targa Florio. A couple of months later, the RLTF won the Ravenna Grand Prix, handing a first win to an ambitious young driver by the name of Enzo Ferrari. Enzo would run Alfa's race outfit, before departing to establish his own car company. Whatever happened to those guys? Advertisement - Page continues below Vittorio Jano's 8cyl, twin supercharged masterpiece – and the world's first true single seater GP racecar – dominated track racing in the early 1930s, establishing Alfa as the Red Bull of the era, only 1,000 per cent cooler. Though it started life making just over 200bhp, the P3's output would reach a faintly terrifying 330bhp by 1935. That power would prove just enough to secure one of history's all time underdog victories in the '35 German GP. You might like 6C 2300 Pescara Spyder (1935): MISS The 6C was expensive, powerful and unquestionably beautiful. Unfortunately it was also a favourite of Italian dictator and all round bad egg, Benito Mussolini. In the 1930s, Mussolini brought Alfa under his control, establishing it as a sportswashing instrument of the fascist Italian state. Alfa's always struggled to disentangle itself from national politics, but the late 1930s were a low ebb. Advertisement - Page continues below Though it was a decade old design by 1950, the supercharged 158 won every race of the inaugural season of the F1 World Championship in which it competed, delivering the driver's title to Giuseppe Farina. Lightly fettled for 1951, it took Juan Manuel Fangio to victory that season too. Three quarters of a century later, Alfa's yet to add to those back to back F1 titles. As milestones go, at least the 158's a pretty one. Disco Volante (1952): HIT This experimental racing car looks wildly futuristic today. When the Disco Volante landed in the early 1950s, we're lucky it wasn't burned at the stake by panicking onlookers. With enclosed bodywork sculpted in the wind tunnel, the spaceship-like Disco Volante boasted a radically low drag coefficient. Fitted with Alfa's straight six engine, it was capable of 140 miles an hour. The tomorrow we were promised, but never got. Italy's answer to the Willys Jeep and Land Rover, a whole lot more unnecessarily complicated than either. Developed in response to a request from the Italian government for a light reconnaissance vehicle, the Matta was offered in military and civilian guise. Sophisticated suspension meant it would get very off road. Complex 1.9-litre petrol engine (complete with twin overhead cams) meant it probably wouldn't get back. Another Alfa low drag experiment, Franco Scaglione's BAT lived up to its name by looking a) like the company car of some shadowy, caped superhero, and b) utterly, well, bats**t. Scaglione blended science and art to create a prototype both extraordinary and extraordinarily efficient: despite its 4cyl engine developing barely 40bhp, the original BAT was allegedly clocked at 124mph. The Batmobile was no slice of show stand vapour. It worked . Advertisement - Page continues below Probably the most influential Alfa of them all. The delicious, Bertone designed Giulia wasn't just smartly engineered and fine to drive, it effectively invented the exec saloon class, paving the way for BMW's 3 Series and the rest. With a lightweight monocoque body, sublime aluminium twin cam engines and coil spring suspension all round, the Giulia was a genuine trailblazer: Alfa leading the charge rather than playing catch up. Giulia Sprint GTA (1965): HIT The OG. The pinnacle. The (tiny, lightweight) daddy. With steel panels switched for aluminium, Plexiglas glazing and magnesium wheels, the GTA boasted a power to weight ratio of 230bhp per tonne in race trim: by 1960s standards, basically a space rocket. The GTA was sublime on track – racking up a reputed 200 victories in the 1966 season alone – and perhaps even better on the road: a fizzing, furious ball of pure joy. Advertisement - Page continues below And here's to you, Mrs Robinson... Pininfarina's pitch perfect roadster was a hit even before its starring role in The Graduate . Once Dustin Hoffman got his slender hands on it, the Spider – or Duetto, as some knew it – rose to the status of bona fide pop culture legend. It would prove to be the final car designed by Battista Pininfarina himself. What a way to bow out – so immaculate were the Spider's lines, it would remain in production for nearly 30 years. The prettiest Alfa of all time, so therefore the prettiest car of all time. Effectively a roadgoing version of Alfa's Tipo 33 sports racing prototype, at launch the 33 Stradale was not only the world's most expensive car, but also its fastest accelerating, the 2.0 V8 generating 230bhp in a spindle of aluminium weighing barely 700kg. Despite its groundbreaking performance, despite its butterfly doors, despite those looks , the 33 Stradale struggled to sell. A Bertone concept based on a spare 33 Stradale chassis (told you Alfa struggled to sell them) and named after British football's least popular competition, the Carabo was Marcello Gandini's blueprint for the future of the supercar, foreshadowing the Lamborghini Countach with its outrageously wedgy profile and scissor doors: in fact, it was the first car ever to use them. Stood less than 39 inches tall, thus making the original Ford GT40 look like an SUV. Peak early 1970s cool. The 2+2 Montreal not only looked magnificently louche, but – with a 2.6-litre V8 closely related to that of the 33 Stradale – had the soul of a supercar, and performance to match. OK, at launch it cost twice as much as a Jag E-Type. And more than a 911. And pretty much the same as a Ferrari Dino. But did any of those cars have retractable headlight grilles? No, they did not. Case closed, your honour. Alfa's first FWD offering was a technological tour de force of its day, upstaging Lambo's Countach prototype when it was unveiled at the Turin Auto Show. But the Alfasud was undone by politics and rust – to stimulate the economy of the country's south, the Italian government insisted it would be made in a factory just outside Naples, resulting in all the quality you'd expect from a workforce with no experience of car building but plenty of experience of going on strike. The driving position was terrible. The underpinnings were pensionable. The reliability... wasn't. But the fuel injected V6 was glorious, gifting the GTV serious smarts not just on the road but around the track, too: it would go on to win the European Touring Car Championship four years on the spin. Sensible buyers went for the cheaper, more reliable Porsche 924. But where's the fun in sensible? Alfa's tie-up with Nissan – a liaison that also birthed the Nissan Sunny – could have delivered Italian looks with Japanese build quality. Sadly the Arna served up exactly the opposite: utterly anonymous visuals, married to the thrilling lottery of 1980s Italian electrics. Alfa reckoned it could sell 60,000 Arnas a year, but didn't manage that number in total over the car's four year lifespan. That rarest of things, an entirely forgettable Alfa. Yep, the 1980s were a bad era for Alfa. The 75 wasn't quite such a flop as the Arna – which, OK, is like being 'nicer than chlamydia' – but was still decidedly floppy. Effectively a reworked version of the old Giulietta – which itself had borrowed plenty from the even older Alfetta – the 75 was behind the times even at launch. Roof mounted switchgear, the world's oddest handbrake and mystifying lack of rear legroom see this one filed under 'WTF ergonomics'. Riccardo Patrese described it as 'the worst car he ever drove'. Alfa's 1985 F1 machine was so spectacularly uncompetitive that, halfway through the season and with no points scored, the team simply ditched it for the previous year's car (which also failed to score a point, but hey, always good to change things up, right?). The experience proved so traumatic it sent Alfa into a self imposed three decade exile from F1. We've all been there. You've spent years developing a V10 F1 engine, only to discover that it's just too heavy to stick into your Grand Prix car. So what do you do? Stick it in middle of your sensible executive saloon, of course, to create a 600bhp 217mph racing monster. History's ultimate sleeper, the 164 ProCar would never race competitively, which – given it blended F1 car power with absolutely zero downforce – was possibly for the best. Some will tell you 'Il Mostro' is perhaps the ugliest car ever to wear the Alfa badge. You must ignore these folk. The brutalist SZ was a thing of uncompromising beauty, its thermoplastic composite bodywork (meant to save kilos, somehow ended up weighing almost exactly the same as the 75 saloon on which it was based, because Alfa ) looking better with every passing year. You may disagree. But you'll be wrong. Peak touring car cool. For the 1993 season, Alfa rocked up at Germany's DTM championship with this satanic reworking of its 155 saloon, replete with four wheel drive, carbon fibre body and a sophisticated 2.5-litre V6 spinning to nearly 12,000rpm. Sounded great, looked great – and (perhaps most improbably) went great. The 155 crushed Merc and BMW in their own backyard to deliver the 1993 DTM title to Nicola Larini. In your face, Germany! Again! An extraordinary feat of packaging. Extraordinary in the sense of 'what did they do with all the cabin and luggage space?' The GTV may have been as practical as windscreen wipers on a submarine, but made sense on an emotional level (the most important of all the levels) with its combination of sparkly engines, happy handling and a pretty interior that occasionally didn't even fall apart within 20 minutes of driving off the forecourt. 145 Cloverleaf (1995): HIT Discerning hot hatch enthusiasts of the era bought a 306 GTi-6, but the 145 was the romantic choice. Its looks might have been slightly gopping – blame Chris Bangle – but a zippy 148bhp twin spark 2.0-litre, crisp five speed box and tidy chassis imbued the Cloverleaf a unique charm. Few survive today, those that avoided falling victim to 'roadside beech trees' instead falling victim to rust. As we all know, front wheel drive super saloons don't work . Asking the same two patches of rubber to manage both propulsion and steering duties is a recipe for wayward handling and driving dissatisfaction. But there's always an exception that proves the rule, and the 156 GTA delivered BMW bashing performance despite its wrong wheel drive configuration. How the company managed this witchcraft, no one seems quite sure. Including Alfa. On paper, it looked great. And frankly 'on paper' was the best way to experience the Spider (and its coupe sibling, the Brera). Great on a bedroom wall poster, rather less great from behind the wheel. The Spider's chassis served up none of the excitement promised by the rock star aesthetics, while the build quality was notable only for its utter absence. You'd have been delighted if someone on your street bought one, so long as that someone wasn't you. Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione (2007): HIT The 8C – which, under its indecently beautiful carbon fibre skin, borrowed plenty from the less scarce Maserati GranTurismo – was far from the last word in handling dynamics. Hardly a problem, as 'going for a drive in it' was frankly an unnecessarily distraction from the main pleasure of 'just standing and staring at it'. Sounded as good as it looked, which is saying something. A treat for eyes and ears. Aimed to stick it to BMW's Mini with irresistible Italian styling and irresistible Italian handling. Failed on pretty much every front. The MiTo looked weirdly gawky, and, with its Fiat Punto underpinnings, steered no more elegantly. Might have sold more if Alfa had a) offered it as a 5dr and b) made it less pants. And then there was the name – a portmanteau of 'Milano' and 'Torino' – which sounded like a brand of canned canine sustenance. A dog's dinner. So close, yet so far. The 4C's list of raw ingredients were so delicious – mid-engined, rear drive, two seats, lightweight carbon chassis – it seemed impossible that even Alfa could bugger up the bake. Somehow it managed it. The 4C drove in a fashion so disjointed, so lurchy and so twitchy, one could only conclude it was either a) broken or b) haunted by vengeful spirits. More fool us for daring to believe. As the old quote goes, it's the hope that kills you. Giulietta QV (2014): MISS You want to out-Golf GTI the Golf GTI, you'd better bring your A-game. With the Giulietta QV, Alfa failed to bring any game in the first half of its alphabet. Stodgy handling and an even stodgier double clutch gearbox – along with frustratingly offset pedals, frustratingly unyielding seats and... in fact frustratingly nearly everything – relegated the Cloverleaf Giulietta to the most tepid end of the great hot hatch league table. Came for the king, missed by a mile. Now that's a proper Cloverleaf. The super saloon edition of Alfa's first RWD offering in decades was an absolute honey, its 'three quarters of a Ferrari engine' V6 generously doling out ample power, noise and skids on demand. The Alfa was sharper handling... and the M3 a classier all-rounder, but who would you prefer to hang out with? A true spiritual successor to the Giulia Sprint GTA. Compliments don't come much higher. Alfaholics GTA-R (2017): HIT Is this merely an excuse to stick another GTA on the list? Yes, yes it is. Do we apologise for this? No, no we do not. It might hail from Bristol rather than Balocco, but Alfaholics' glorious restomod sharpens up the 1960s original to appeal to our discerning 21st century palates. Given the 3,000 hours of work that goes into each car, the GTA-R's £300k price tag doesn't sound that ridiculous, right? Someone? Anyone? On 10 April, 2024, Alfa revealed its first EV, proudly announcing its battery powered SUV would be called the Milano. Five days later, it was rechristened the Junior. Why? The Italian government curtly reminded Alfa that only products made in Italy could employ such an Italian name. And the Junior – despite Alfa's claims of passione and velocita – was very much made in... Poland. A marketing fail on so very many levels. So rare and absurdly expensive is Alfa's new mid-engined supercar, you could argue it's no more than an irrelevant sidenote. You might well be correct. But, at the same time, the 33 Stradale is proof that, when Alfa can avoid being entirely mad for a while, it's still capable of cooking up world class delicacies. Sure, there's plenty of Maserati under the skin, but the nuova 33 Stradale is also fizzy, fun, special to sit in and breathtaking to behold.
Gulf Insider
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Gulf Insider
A Visit To Lamborghini's Polo Storico: Living the Legend
Like so many kids in the 1980s, I had a poster of the Lamborghini Countach on the wall of my childhood bedroom. My brother and I would cut pictures of supercars from magazines and tape them inside our closet, imagining ourselves driving them along the sunlit, winding roads of the Italian countryside. Decades later, that dream came full circle. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Automobili Lamborghini Polo Storico – the division dedicated to preserving the brand's legendary heritage – Gulf Insider took part in a special media event in Sant'Agata Bolognese. There, I experienced firsthand the incredible cars that inspired generations and saw how Lamborghini archives, certifies and restores these iconic machines. We stepped back into history as participants drove four incredible machines through the rolling hills: the elegant 400 GT, the bold LM002, the roaring Diablo SE and the ultimate head-turner – the Countach 25th Anniversary model. Back at the workshop, I got my hands dirty working on the Miura, arguably one of the most beautiful cars ever designed. These cars tell the incredible story of the brand: bold decisions, revolutionary design and innovative engineering – all wrapped in pure beauty. Nothing captures the Italian spirit quite like the raging bull of Lamborghini. Seeing these cars together is a reminder of how many 'firsts' Lamborghini achieved. The 400 GT – an evolution of the original 350 GT – was among the fastest, most refined grand tourers of its era, offering comfort and drivability that stood out from its peers. Ferruccio Lamborghini famously founded the company after a dispute with Enzo Ferrari, aiming to build a more reliable, road-friendly sports car than the Ferrari he owned. The Miura became the world's first true supercar, introducing innovations like the mid-engine layout, now a staple in modern performance cars. Its legend was sealed in pop culture with The Italian Job (1969), where a bright orange Miura glides through the Alps, setting the standard for automotive elegance. Next, the LM002 – the world's first luxury SUV. Nicknamed the 'Rambo Lambo,' it paved the way for today's Urus. The Countach, with its wild lines, became the poster car of the 1980s and a cinematic icon in films like The Cannonball Run and The Wolf of Wall Street. Then came the Diablo – a 1990s classic and among the first production cars to break the 200 mph barrier. Preserving this legacy hasn't been easy. Lamborghini's early decades saw financial troubles and shifting ownership. Today, its heritage is protected through three pillars: archiving, certification, and restoration. Today, that legacy is being safeguarded through three main pillars: the archive, where everything begins; certification and restoration. The Polo Storico team includes expert mechanics, historians, and veteran employees – some from as far back as the 1960s. We saw a remarkable archive of hand-drawn sketches, production sheets, old invoices, and even original customer names. Many of these documents were once thought lost, later found in forgotten storage rooms – or in the homes of retired staff who had quietly preserved pieces of Lamborghini's history. Alessandro Farmeschi, Lamborghini's After Sales Director, explained: 'For us, the archive means knowing the history of each and every vehicle. In the mass automotive market, there's something called the 'end of life' of a product. For Lamborghini, this doesn't exist. Every single car is a piece of art – a collectible. They're assets, and we see our job as adding value to those assets.' In addition to building the archive, the team offers a certification service for classic Lamborghini models. Each vehicle undergoes a detailed inspection and documentation process to verify its originality. We saw how each car is meticulously examined and cross-referenced with historical records. It's a labour-intensive job, but fascinatingly reveals each car's unique story, tracing back to its factory origins. Owners can also request full restorations. The dedicated mechanics who carry out this craftsmanship showed us the work being done on the Miura's V12 engine. Every component is fine-tuned with incredible precision, factoring in everything from driving style to climatic conditions to deliver the ultimate performance. To achieve this, the team uses a mix of modern and traditional tools, including one irreplaceable asset: the ears of Giancarlo Barbieri, who's been with the factory since the 1960s and, half-jokingly, claims his hearing is still more accurate than any modern diagnostic device. Sourcing spare parts is a challenge in itself. If not found in old stock, the team searches the market. If that fails, they reach out to original manufacturers or reverse-engineer the part themselves. To stay true to each car's original form, Lamborghini also partners with tyre manufacturer Pirelli to recreate vintage tyres long out of production. Mr Farmeschi further explained the philosophy behind their work: 'We have certified only 200 cars so far and completed restoration on just 40. Our objective is not volume – it's about doing things the right way.' I also spoke with him about the Middle East market specifically. 'We have many customers in the Middle East who own these collectible cars,' he said. 'They're part of some of the finest collections in the region. We have great relationships with them, and the Middle East is a key market for us.' Naturally, having official certification from Lamborghini adds significant value to these vehicles, and the company is keen to work closely with Middle Eastern collectors. 'The key word here is trust,' he added. 'A recent study confirms that trust is one of the most important factors for collectors – you need to trust the seller and the history of the car. Our certification is the statement that 'this is the car.' That brings real value.' As we left the event, Lamborghini's latest models – the Urus, new Temerario, and Revuelto – were parked outside. It was hard not to wonder if these high-tech machines would ever evoke the same raw emotion as the classics we'd just seen. Lamborghini is embracing electrification, but not just for lower emissions. For them, electric tech is a means to elevate performance. So far, it's proving true. Only time will tell if today's lineup will become tomorrow's icons, inspiring future generations like the Miura or Countach did.
Globe and Mail
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Globe and Mail
Bull Of The Day: Ferrari (RACE
Ferrari (RACE) is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) that has an D for Value and an A for Growth. A recent earnings beat has this stock in the spotlight. This luxury auto maker will report earnings again at the end of the month and with the economy remaining resilient we might see a boost in sales. If that continues the stock will grow into is rather high valuation. Let's learn more about why this stock is the Bull of the Day. Description Ferrari NV is a holding company, which engages in the design, engineering, production, and sale of luxury sports cars. The firm's models include the F12Berlinetta, 488GTB, 488 Spider, 458 Speciale, California T, the LaFerrari Hybrid, LaFerrari, and the FF four-wheel drive. It participates in car racing such as Formula One. The company was founded by Enzo Anselmo Ferrari in 1939 and is headquartered in Maranello, Italy. Earnings History When I look at a stock, the first thing I do is look to see if the company is beating the number. This tells me right away where the market's expectations have been for the company and how management has communicated to the market. A stock that consistently beats has management communicating expectations to Wall Street that can be achieved. That is what you want to see. Ferrari (RACE) has posted four consecutive beats of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The takeaway from the earnings history is that the company has an average positive earnings surprise of 10.78% over the last year. The most recent earnings print saw the company post $2.42 when the consensus was at $2.36. That 6 cent beat translates into a positive earnings surprise of 2.5%. Earnings Estimates Revisions Earnings estimate revisions is what the Zacks Rank is all about. Estimates are moving higher for Ferrari (RACE)). The full year 2025 has seen a big move, going from $9.60 to $10.25 over the last 60 days. 2026 has increased from $10.81 to $11.61 over the same time period. Growth There is good growth projected for Ferrari (RACE). This fiscal year analysts are expecting $8.2B in revenue which would be good for 13.5% topline growth. Next fiscal year, the consensus is calling for $9.04B and that would be good for 10.2%. Valuation The forward PE for Ferrari (RACE) is up there at 47.5x, but that number would drop with higher earnings. Given the solid revenue growth, that multiple could fall further in margins improve. Price to book is at 31.35x and that is high for an auto manufacturer so the value conscious investors will not be interested in this stock. Price to sales comes it at a lofty 16x. Only $1 to See All Zacks' Buys and Sells We're not kidding. Several years ago, we shocked our members by offering them 30-day access to all our picks for the total sum of only $1. No obligation to spend another cent. Thousands have taken advantage of this opportunity. Thousands did not - they thought there must be a catch. Yes, we do have a reason. We want you to get acquainted with our portfolio services like Surprise Trader, Stocks Under $10, Technology Innovators, and more, that closed 256 positions with double- and triple-digit gains in 2024 alone. See Stocks Now >>
Car and Driver
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
View Photos of the 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO
read the full review Although it could be mistaken for the comparatively humble 308, the 288GTO is the first in the line of modern Ferrari supercars.
Motor Trend
11-07-2025
- Automotive
- Motor Trend
Special FXX: Sampling the Outrageously Fast, Shockingly Expensive "Super Enzo"
[This story first appeared in the January 2006 issue of MotorTrend] The windshield is curved like a fishbowl. And we are the fish. Outside, hundreds of fans lining the pit wall of Italy's Mugello racetrack are elbowing for a better view of the car we're sitting in, the brand-new FXX, a supercar so rock-star excessive it makes the almighty Enzo look like a teacher's pet. I'm in the passenger seat, lungs clamped tight by a five-point racing harness, all-too aware that every onlooker is asking in Italian, "Chi? Who the hell is that?" In 2006, Ferrari unveiled the FXX, a 789-hp, track-only supercar. Piero Lardi Ferrari drove it at Mugello, nearly crashing during its debut. Priced at $1.92 million, all 29 units were sold, offering buyers training and track sessions, contributing data for future Ferraris. This summary was generated by AI using content from this MotorTrend article Read Next The man on my left, though, is recognized by all: Belted into the driver's seat is Piero Lardi Ferrari, the 61-year-old son of Enzo Ferrari and current vice chairman (and 10-percent owner) of the automaker his father founded in 1947. Ferrari's fingers tap the steering wheel; he's clearly feeling the pressure of giving his company's 789-horsepower, street-illegal "Super Enzo" its first public workout. "I'm sorry you have to ride with me," he says with a shy smile, his face a haunting likeness of his father's iconic profile. "I think I am not so fast." Whether Ferrari is fast or not, the tifosi are here. Some 30,000 of them have come to Mugello to attend the final day of the annual Ferrari World Finals weekend, a racing-red orgy of speed and wealth that includes the championship runoffs of the Ferrari Challenge race series, gala dinners for the company's best customers, lots of European playboys arm in arm with skinny ladies in Chanel sunglasses, celebrity guests, laps by vintage Ferrari race cars, an F1 demonstration by Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, and--everywhere you look--Ferraris of every shape and description. Suddenly, a mechanic in red Ferrari overalls is signaling us with a furious twirl of his fingers. Time to go. With the press of a button, Ferrari starts Ferrari and the FXX explodes to life, the shattering exhaust note of its unfiltered, 6.3-liter V-12 causing everyone to step back and clamp their hands against their ears. Another aide in a red Ferrari racing jacket waves us out of the garage. The pit-exit light is green. The track is ours. The schedule calls for a series of gentle parade laps. But Piero Ferrari is an Italian--and driving a spectacular new Ferrari in front of a wildly enthusiastic home crowd. He stands on the gas. The FXX charges like an angry rhino onto the circuit, my view blurring into a funnel of waving spectators and onrushing asphalt as Ferrari flicks the right shift paddle again and again, the transmission hammering up through the gears, the untrimmed carbon-fiber cockpit an echo chamber with a 789-horsepower monster screaming inside it. We charge down the front straight, Ferrari leaning into the steering wheel, his right foot mashing the throttle. Ahead, approaching fast, lie the first tight turns of the tricky Mugello circuit... "The FXX isn't a car," says Amedeo Felisa, Ferrari's soft-spoken vice general manager and the man largely responsible for the last decade's worth of Ferrari road cars. "It's a concept." What a concept: 29 of Ferrari's richest, luckiest customers will become, in effect, drivers for Team Ferrari. After buying an FXX, they'll be trained at Fiorano by Ferrari's top drivers, test the car over the next two years during at least 12 company-supported track sessions (four each in Europe, Japan, and the United States), and share their downloaded track data with Ferrari technicians. "The FXX will not be raced," says Felisa. "It's a test car only. Just as Schumacher helped us develop the Enzo, we intend to use the data we obtain from our 29 FXX clients to help us produce future Ferraris of extreme performance. We want to build supercars that are tuned not just for professional racing drivers." The price for this ultimate Walter Mitty fantasy: 1.6 million Euros--nearly two million U.S. dollars (that sum does include a custom driving suit and helmet, though). And, yes, all 29 FXXs are already sold. Ferrari's code name for the Enzo was FX, so adding an extra "X" seemed appropriate for a follow-up car with something extra--and then some. The FXX is a track-only car; it has no turn signals or other "civilian" gear, and it's designed to run on specially made 19-inch Bridgestone slicks. Behind the FXX's cockpit, the V-12 has been enlarged from 5998 to 6262 cc and features redesigned combustion chambers, a new crankcase, a low-backpressure exhaust, and revised cam profiles--all of which increase output from the Enzo's 651 horsepower to 800 (which converts to 789 SAE net) at 8500 rpm. Partnering the engine is an updated version of Ferrari's paddle-shift F1 gearbox, with shift time reduced to less than 100 milliseconds, nearly as quick as Ferrari's F1 cars. A new active aerodynamics system uses six computer-controlled actuators that, above 150 mph or so, open to redirect underbody airflow--lowering the car's drag while also increasing downforce by roughly 40 percent compared with the Enzo. Other enhancements include specially developed Brembo composite-ceramic brakes and a claimed 220-pound weight reduction (to just 2700 pounds). The result? "Although we don't have an official acceleration number yet," says project leader Giuseppe Petrotta, "the FXX can reach 60 mph in about 2.8 seconds--nearly as quick as a Ferrari F1." Then Petrotta grins. "Around Fiorano, it is six seconds per lap faster than the Enzo." Piero Lardi Ferrari is going for it. He brakes hard for Mugello's 180-degree Turn One, bangs off three rifle-shot downshifts, then powers through the apex and up a sharp incline. This is no parade lap. We fly into the left-hand Luco turn, and Ferrari is back on the power. We're out of control! Quicker than you can say arrivederci, the back end of the FXX lurches around, and we're spinning off the track and onto the grass. For one long, sickening, sliding second, the question hangs silently but thickly in the air: Will we very publicly, very humiliatingly write off this brand-new Ferrari ultracar against the Armco, or won't we? We don't. The FXX twirls to a stop without breaking anything other than our adrenal glands. Ferrari turns us around, powers through the gravel at the edge of the track, and heads toward the next corner. "Cold tires," I offer. "Si," Ferrari nods quietly. "Very cold." He accelerates again, but he's lost the fire; we're moving much more circumspectly now. Which is a shame: Slight over-exuberance aside, Ferrari clearly knows how to drive on a racetrack. He's smooth on the controls and knows his way into an apex. "My father would not let me go racing," he remarks when I comment on his educated line around the circuit. "But I am not afraid of the power. I have never driven an F1, but I test every new Ferrari road car." We stop briefly on the main straight, as Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello climb into their F1 cars directly in front of us. Then we're all waved off on another series of laps. I have to pinch myself: I'm not just watching Schumacher and Barrichello drive their Formula 1 Ferraris--I'm following them around a racetrack. It's a particularly poignant moment: These are Rubens Barrichello's last laps in a Formula 1 Ferrari. We pull into the pits so the F1 boys can cut loose. After they scream by on the front straight, I shake Piero Lardi Ferrari's hand and thank him for the drive. "Good," he says quietly before being surrounded by a throng of Ferrari executives and fans. I take a moment to catch my breath. This ocean of racing red, these fanatical fans, those earsplitting F1 torpedoes, this sublime FXX parked next to me, engine off but still radiating heat and passion and speed. Call Ferrari an automaker if you wish. Personally, I think it's an opera company.
