ZoneTecnico
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Let's start off with my favourite marque for cars – Ferrari
Ferrari is a name steeped in the world of racing. And that is no surprise since it is started life as a racing team, Scuderia Ferrari. Essentially, motor racing is the blood of Ferrari.
Yet, Ferrari is also a household name for the road cars they produce. There is a very logical reason why Enzo Ferrari decided to build road cars. It was to fund his racing programs as they cost a lot of money and are ever going to get more expensive. And I cannot thank him more for this decision that he has made because Ferrari went on to produce many beautiful and fast road cars and is carrying on the tradition till today.
This is a very interesting concept. Just think about it, both the racing and road car divisions are highly dependent on one another like in a team. If the racing division is achieving great success on the track, it generates more awareness and instills confidence in the road cars. That will potentially improve sales. This in turn provide more funding for the racing division and the research and development (R&D) to implement racing technologies in road cars. When the quality of the road cars are getting better, sales will improve and that again generates even more funding for the racing division. And the opposite will happen when either the racing or road car division were to do badly.
Every now and then, the men and women at Ferrari work their magic to create a masterpiece that showcases the pinnacle of their innovations and capabilities. The Ferrari GTO (1984), the F40 (1987), the F50 (1995) and the most recent LaFerrari (2013).
One was also created in 2002, Ferrari announced that it will build a car to commemorate their first Formula One (F1) title of the new millennium, codenamed the F60. It was eventually named after the founder. The design of the car was penned by Ken Okuyama, the former head designer of Pininfarina, Ferrari's long-term design partner.
It is no surprise that F1 technology was extensively used in the development of the car. A body made of carbon fibre for strength and weight-saving. A F1-styled electrohydraulic shift single clutch gearbox which allowed gearshifts of 150ms, faster than you can blink your eye. And carbon reinforced silicon carbide ceramic composite disc brakes that can withstand high temperatures of up to 1000°C and not fade after extensive use. In fact, the brake discs generates more bite after they are warmed up.
The heart of this beast is a 6.0L V12 engine capable of 650bhp and 657Nm of torque with a redline of 8,200rpm. It propels the car from 0 to 100km/h in a blistering 3.6s; 0 to 200 in 9.5s; 0 to 300 in 26.1s and on to a top speed of 355km/h.
A limited number of 349 units were originally planned to be built and sold before production began. After numerous requests, Ferrari decided to build 50 more. And in 2004, one more unit was built and donated to the Vatican, bringing the total produced units to 400.
Another interesting fact is that the Enzo has a twin, the Maserati MC12, which was developed based on the chassis, engine and transmission of the Enzo.
Although many faster and better supercars have been produced by Ferrari, as well as other marques, to me, the Ferrari Enzo is still the coveted one, my grail. There is actually a story behind this. The picture of the Enzo you see above is the first time I have seen one in the metal after reading all about it. That moment was magical. And it was more than 6 years ago at an event organised by Hong Seh, the authorised dealer for Ferrari and Maserati in Singapore. Fast forward to the present, it is crazy enough that I am currently working in that same company and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the exact same Enzo after all these years. It was like deja vu, only the best part was now I can get up close and personal with it!
It is more than just a car. It is a vision, a dream and a reminder to never give up.
Written by Z-one
Let's start off with my favourite marque for cars – Ferrari
Very nice article, Zone Tecnico.
Nope, I beg to differ
