Everyone goes crazy over a new Ferrari and so it was no surprise that when this shot of the new Ferrari F12 Speciale appeared – undisguised – yesterday the car world went slightly mad with excitement.
You can see why; even in the less that glamorous surroundings of what looks like a parking bay at Ferrari headquarters in Maranello, the F12 Speciale looks spot on.
The F12 Speciale is to be a limited edition version of the F12berlinetta, which replaced the Ferrari 599 series after making its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in 2012.
Part of all that excitement comes from how well received the F12berlinetta has been; the super car seems to have soaked up award after award like a sponge – in 2012 the F12 was voted Supercar of the Year by Top Gear magazine, in 2013 it achieved two Engine of the Year awards in Best Performance category and also Best Engine above 4 litres. As if this wasn’t enough, the F12 was awarded the XXIII Premio Compasso d’oro ADI in 2014. Compasso d’oro translates roughly as ‘Golden Compass’ and is a prestigious industrial design award.
The Speciale is likely to arrive in the ring at a pretty svelte weight compared to the F12berlinetta, with as much as 200kg being removed from the 1,525kg of the original. This is significant, I can get quite excited about power to weight ratios – after all, this is the science that can make a good kit car powered by a seemingly standard engine accelerate faster than a top sports car.
It’s a very simple remit on paper; make the car light, fit a good engine and watch it fly. Though in reality of course the pairing has to be spot on for good handling as well as safety reasons. For the F12 Speciale, this weight saving will potentially increase the bhp from around 447bhp to around 530bhp.
The F12 Speciale suspension will be tweaked to compensate for the extra power and you can expect the cockpit to be sparse. All part of the weight saving of course, although it’s expected that there will be various comfort options available for those that aren’t wanting to limit their use of the F12 Speciale to a few spins round the track every so often.
The official unveiling of the Ferrari F12 Speciale is expected to be at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month.
Images: autocar.co.uk
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