You’ve got doubtless heard of the Ferrari FXX and the newer FXX-Okay, however what concerning the FX? It isn’t a track-only racer primarily based on a Ferrari hypercar, however relatively, a street-legal machine with Testarossa DNA. And with a complete manufacturing of simply six, you have most likely by no means seen one. Till now.
We owe this glimpse into Ferrari historical past to Shmee150, who lately visited the Marconi Auto Museum in California. The FX is a part of an unimaginable assortment of exotics, classics, and race automobiles valued at $60 million, all donated by Dick and John Marconi to type a nonprofit for kids. Along with displaying some correctly implausible autos, the museum hosts particular occasions and donates a portion of its proceeds to charities.
It isn’t simple to steal consideration away from a Ferrari F50, Ayrton Senna’s Formulation 1 automobile, or the unique Keaton-era Batmobile, however the FX succeeds in doing simply that. It is really one in all three autos within the museum previously a part of the notorious Sultan of Brunei assortment, becoming a member of a Cizeta V16 and a Ferrari 456 Spyder that is extraordinarily uncommon in its personal proper. However the 1996 Ferrari FX is really one thing particular to see.
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Commissioned particularly for the Sultan of Brunei, a Ferrari 512M provides the bones for this automobile. That additionally means a 4.9-liter flat-12 engine holds station behind the driving force, but it surely’s not linked to a gated guide transmission. As a substitute, you will discover a racing-derived paddle-shift gearbox engineered by Williams, put in upon request to provide the FX a semi-automatic driving expertise. This predates Ferrari’s F1 gearbox by a few years.
As for what you possibly can see, the physique is carbon fiber and follows a normal 512/Testarossa theme given the chassis. It is designed by Pininfarina, that includes a really giant NACA duct within the hood and outstanding facet vents behind the home windows, eliminating the Testarossa’s straked decrease facet intakes. There’s extra carbon fiber below the large engine cowl within the type of consumption tubes, designed to feed the 12-pot. In some ways, it is a supercar effectively forward of its time.
The destiny of the opposite 5 automobiles is unknown. All have been created for the Brunei household, however we’re grateful to see at the least one alive and effectively and on show for fans to understand. For extra basic and uncommon automotive content material, take a look at the Rambling About Automobiles podcast, out there beneath.