Competizione Ventidue new take on 250 GT SWB
UK design firm's recreation filters classic Ferrari through retrospective lens
It’s not easy to see why the Ferrari 250 family of cars has proven so popular for the restomod sector. Already it includes creations as different as the GTO Squalo and RML Short Wheelbase, both inspired by the Ferrari but making very different cars. As one of Ferrari’s most beautiful and most valuable creations, so the appeal of something that recreates the look for not so many millions of pounds will increase.
Here's one more to potentially add to the collection: Forge Design’s Competizione Ventidue. ‘Ventidue’ is Italian for 22, so they’re really cutting it fine for showing it in digital form this year, and a nice 61 years since Ferrari introduced the ‘Comp 61’, or SEFAC Hot Rod, 250 SWB in 1961 - which this car is inspired by. That Ferrari was made of thinner aluminium to reduce weight, and the engine made more power with intake changes and high lift cams, winning at Le Mans and Goodwood in the same year.
The look previewed here stretches back even further than 1961 for its influences; as well as name-checking the original 250 GT Berlinetta SWB of 1959, Forge says the Guggenheim and Miles Davis ‘Kind of Blue’ album have played their part. Both of those cultural icons were also revealed to the world that year. Forge reckons the Ventidue is the kind of car ‘that an ascendent Miles Davis ‘might have bought, driven with wild abandon and spared no expense upgrading to match racing specifications in 1961’.
But with another 60 years of development behind it, the Ventidue of course promises greater technological innovation. Though sticking with V12 power and a spec that closely matches those old SWBs, Forge envisages indirect hydrogen injection to eliminate exhaust emissions - which is nothing if not ambitious. Naturally, a production version would use composite for the body now, rather than aluminium, with a chassis similar to the SWB but with independent suspension and increased rigidity.
Elsewhere, modern brakes and lighting should keep the Ventidue usable in the 2020s. Forge says the look draws upon the 60s but ‘has been carefully modified and updated with contemporary technology’. Same goes for the tech that will be added, any additional features ‘always upholding the original intention and ethos of the car’.
The Ventidue is a long way from reality at the moment, of course, but the design team (already endowed with varied OEM experience) is clearly passionate about old Ferraris, and is currently inviting feedback on its website. Plus, the more cars that look like a 250 SWB in the world - especially on Campagnolo-style wheels - must be a very good thing. And if they can be emissions-free at the exhaust, so much the better.
I do like it, maybe not as a Ferrari but I'd happily have that (except for the likely ludicrous price), nice fat tyres tooMaybe some nice wire wheels with tyres to match and a nice paint that flips and flops with its curves and it could look a little prettier?
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