We drive the most powerful Ferrari road car of all time: the sublime Daytona SP3 V12. 'One of the ultimate expressions of what a traditional supercar can be,' says JamesTaylorCAR 🚀
► Design inspired by legendary racing FerrarisOrdinarily, this would be the dullest of driving environments. A nondescript stretch of dual carriageway, in steady drizzle, in a forgettable bit of Germany. But in the, it feels like a stint at Le Mans in the late ’60s or early ’70s. The trees the other side of the grey armco are rushing past in Cinemascope, and beads of rain elongate and slide across the deeply bowled screen like speed-line graphics in a sci-fi jump to hyperspace.
It’s powered solely by a naturally aspirated V12, and is surely among the last Ferraris to be so. Although the carbonfibre chassis is an evolution of that used in the hybrid, with various measures for reduced friction and greater use of titanium components, including the con-rods. ‘If you look at the side view, it’s very “cab-forward,” like a jet,’ he adds. ‘And it’s a car you sit in, not on.’ Reach under the three-dimensional door – which incorporates layered aero channels, ducting air from the front of the car through the door’s lower half, and through an upper airbox for the central radiators – for the recessed handle, and lift it upwards. It takes away the sill and much of the front wheelarch with it to reveal two seats. Of a sort.
Engineer Gabriele Pritoni says the engineering team had a similar brief: all about feeling. ‘I can say it was the same concept – the development was focused more in the feeling of the car than the absolute limit of performance. It’s the first time we had this brief.’Surprisingly so. Since they don’t move you instead adjust the pedals, by pulling a release cord at the seat base to release the spring-loaded pedalbox.
Which is exactly how its engine response has been engineered: the torque curve has been tuned carefully so it has a never-ending feel, with relatively little pull at the bottom of the rev range but maximum 514lb ft arriving at 7250rpm, handing the baton on to the power curve which peaks at 9250rpm. So there’s absolute incentive to keep going and going all the way to that 9500rpm ceiling, with 12 big-capacity cylinders soaring away behind you. It’s heady stuff.
That said, although a bespoke Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyre has been developed for the SP3 and its mechanical and aerodynamic grip levels are absolutely in-line with what you’d expect of a cutting-edge supercar, dynamically Ferrari’s engineers deliberately stopped short of outright performance for the sake of performance. Raffaele de Simone continues: ‘I like the imperfections of the old racing cars and I want this to be similar in feel.
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