Monday 20th February 2012

Ferrari Enzo successor: due this year with 920hp

Maranello aims to put Porsche 918 in the shade with some serious poke

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Ferrari seems set to answer Porsche's forthcoming 918 Spyder with a 920hp successor to the Ferrari Enzo, and it's rumoured to be coming this way before the year's out.

During a chat to Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa, Automobile Magazine's Georg Kacher discovered that Ferrari's riposte to Porsche's new petrol-electric eco-hypercar is coming. It will be fitted with the same 7.3-litre V12 as the forthcoming 599 replacement, but tweaked from around 720hp to 800hp, with a KERS electric motor adding 120hp on top of that (hence 920hp).

Currently understood to be called the 'F70' (though whether it makes it to production as that is another matter entirely), the new car should weigh in at close to 1000kg, so should be more than a little rapid.

It, along with the 599 successor, is also likely to be the last hurrah for the naturally aspirated V12 - a twin-turbo V8 the likely eventual replacement at the top of Ferrari's engine tree.

[dufctubs]

Bonkers, must be a least £1 million ?

[Rawwr]

I don't know what's wrong with me. I can't get excited about this.

[MCBrowncoat]

Oh. My. God.

[CocoUK]

'800hp, with a KERS electric motor adding 120hp on top of that (hence 920hp)'
'the new car should weigh in at close to 1000kg'

COR BLIMEY GUVNOR!

[obscene]

[Gatsods]

Couldn't be more excited to see what this ends up looking like. What an incredible set of numbers if they stick to it though!

[suffolk009]

Rawwr said:

I don't know what's wrong with me. I can't get excited about this.

I know. Me neither.

At least once the V12 is gone and V8 turbos take over, some certain journos will have to stop wailing on about how the noise they make is subjectively nicer than others.

Hope they manage to make a car that looks nice this time.

[Mx5guy]

CocoUK said:

'800hp, with a KERS electric motor adding 120hp on top of that (hence 920hp)'
'the new car should weigh in at close to 1000kg'

COR BLIMEY GUVNOR!

Sounds like the dashboard is going to look like a christmas tree on the odd occasion,

[Dave Hedgehog]

Ferrari announce the new phallus 13 inch "this car is a substantial upgrade over the phallus 12 inch, especially for the public house expert"

nice a car that only about 200 people on the planet could driver properly lol

and 1000kgs?? the old cars where way over that with less safety gear, smaller engines and no hybrid / kers and battery

body made out of rizzla's?

[MogulBoy]

Close to 1,000kgs? snigger.

[Nedzilla]

Cant see it being that light,I would imagine 1300-1400kgs would be more like it.

[KB_S1]

7.3 V12? I thought the new GT car was going to be using the 6.2 engine as seen in the FF?

[myhandle]

suffolk009 said:

I know. Me neither.

At least once the V12 is gone and V8 turbos take over, some certain journos will have to stop wailing on about how the noise they make is subjectively nicer than others.

Hope they manage to make a car that looks nice this time.

I think the Enzo looked pretty challenging when first revealed, but nowadays it seems to have aged fairly well. As with the 599 and some other recent Ferraris, the Enzo looks so much better in reality compared with photos.

As for it not being exciting, well, surely it is rather exciting, both inherently, and also because all the clever technology will filter down to production spec Ferraris, then to Maseratis and Alfas, and also to other cars.

[Riggers]

KB_S1 said:

7.3 V12? I thought the new GT car was going to be using the 6.2 engine as seen in the FF?

Hmmm... good point. But that's what Automobile says. could easily be a typo, I guess...

We'll see come the autumn, I suppose.

[DaveH23]

Some of these number seem a little bonkers.

Why not go the whole hog. Would it be possible to take the 2 turbos off the V8 and strap them on to the V12?

I mean mechanically possible would something like that actually work?

[Eighteeteewhy]

It needs to be good, and a little bit of Italian craziness would help.

[myhandle]

Dave Hedgehog said:

Ferrari announce the new phallus 13 inch "this car is a substantial upgrade over the phallus 12 inch, especially for the public house expert"

nice a car that only about 200 people on the planet could driver properly lol

Seems Ferrari can't win. When the Carrera 4 964 and the NSX were considered better than the 348 , and the Diablo considered better than the Testarossa (pre 512TR) , people said "Ferrari must try harder, they are no longer the ultimate". Now they are producing some incredibly impressive cars - such as the 599 and 458, and the imminent 599 replacement, and of course this new Enzo - and they attract criticism for being hard to drive by normal drivers. Audi make the R8 and Porsche the 997 C4 / 991 C2S for those who want excellent cars that those of moderate ability can get the best out of. Ferrari are trying for something a little more extreme with this car.

[McSam]

DaveH23 said:

Some of these number seem a little bonkers.

Why not go the whole hog. Would it be possible to take the 2 turbos off the V8 and strap them on to the V12?

I mean mechanically possible would something like that actually work?

It's possible, yes - but finding somewhere to put them and their piping and finding a way not to reduce the engine to its component parts when you apply boost, that's a different matter

[Wills2]

So if those figures are right, it will have 920bhp/ton? That does appear to be a slight over egging of the pudding.

[CocoUK]

Automobile Magazine's Georg Kacher:
'Since the weight target of the carbon-fiber supercar was clearly inspired by the Millechili (1000 kilogram, or 2200 pound) concept, the F70 should come close to the track-only FXX, which weighed 2550 pounds.'

Which is 1156kg... and counting...