The Italian language makes the mundane sound magnificent. Nowhere else on the earth may you get away with calling a sedan, merely, the 4-Door. But that’s the literal translation of the title used for Maserati’s high-end sedan, the Quattroporte.
So, meet the Ferrari 12Cilindri. Italians pronounce it doh-dichee chill-indree, which sounds awfully unique however actually means… 12-cylinder.
Whereas that precisely describes what’s underneath the bonnet of this brand-new front-engine mannequin from Maranello, don’t suppose for a second that Ferrari’s advertising and marketing division has merely run out of concepts.
The 12Cilindri title adorns a automobile designed from the wheels as much as be a celebration of Ferrari’s most iconic engine structure, the V12.
In easy phrases, the 12Cilindri, which will likely be accessible as both a coupe or retractable hardtop Spider, replaces the 812 Superfast. Nevertheless it additionally refocuses the function of the front-engine V12 two-door in a Ferrari lineup that now features a four-door SUV and a six-cylinder, plug-in hybrid mid-engine sports activities automobile.
“It isn’t the top quality when it comes to efficiency,” says Ferrari’s chief advertising and marketing and industrial officer, Enrico Galliera. “It’s the top quality when it comes to efficiency and luxury.”
The 12Cilindri has been designed to recall the spirit of iconic V12 Ferrari GTs from the previous such because the Lusso and 275 GTB/4, automobiles which had been very quick but in addition snug sufficient to be pushed lengthy distances.
However that’s to not recommend the 12Cilindri is a retro automobile, at the very least not within the standard sense. Certainly, aside from a sly wink on the 1968 Ferrari Daytona in the way in which the black panel on the entrance of the automobile connects the headlights, the 12Cilindri is maybe the primary mainstream Ferrari because the brutalist Enzo that doesn’t clearly reference Maranello’s again catalogue.
The proportions of the 12Cilindri may echo these of a traditional front-engine V12 two-door Ferrari, however its surfacing and graphics and detailing most emphatically don’t.
As an alternative, says Ferrari’s chief design officer, Flavio Manzoni, they riff on the futurism seen in Sixties and Seventies Italian product design and structure, and the visible aesthetics of films reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A House Odyssey and George Lucas’s Star Wars, some extent strengthened by the white paint on the 12Cilindri he unveiled for the media at Maranello.
“We needed to create a automobile that was respectful to our custom, however we additionally needed to create one thing that was very trendy,” explains Manzoni. And that philosophy extends to the engine underneath the 12Cilindri’s bonnet.
Ferrari’s first street automobile, the 125S, was powered by a V12 engine, and V12s have powered a string of quick and charismatic Ferrari street and racing automobiles within the 77 years since.
However the 12Cilindri isn’t merely one other V12, says Ferrari chief product growth officer Gianmaria Fulgenzi: “That is the V12.”
Codenamed F140HD, the 12Cilindri’s 6.5-liter V12 traces its origins again to the engine that powered the mid-engine Ferrari Enzo. Its primary structure – a 65-degree vee with double overhead camshafts and 4 valves per cylinder – is thus greater than 20 years outdated.
Formally, the F140HD is a complete rework of the F140HC used within the 812 Competizione. Unofficially, a lot of its new, efficiency enhancing parts and applied sciences had been previewed in 2022 within the V12 that powered the restricted version, mid-engine SP3 Daytona.
It’s essentially the most highly effective naturally aspirated Ferrari engine in historical past. Capable of rev to a screaming 9500rpm, the F140HD makes 610kW of energy at 9250rpm and 678Nm of torque at 7250rpm.
These dizzying crank speeds are the results of titanium conrods which might be 40 per cent lighter than equal metal objects, new pistons which might be two per cent lighter than these used within the 812 Competizione’s engine, and a rebalanced crankshaft that’s three per cent lighter.
The engine’s 48 valves are actuated by sliding finger cam followers, a low-mass, low-friction expertise borrowed from Ferrari’s F1 engines, and gas is pumped into the combustion chambers by way of a direct injection system working at 350 bar.
The spent gases exit by way of a brand new exhaust system with equal size header pipes that feed into the ceramic catalytic converters and particulate filters that assist the massive V12 meet the powerful Euro 6e emissions requirements set for 2026 and past.
The F140HD drives the rear wheels by means of a brand new eight-speed dual-clutch transaxle transmission, giving the 12Cilindri an additional gear over the 812 Competizione.
This has allowed Ferrari to vary the transmission’s ratios and shift sample, and enhance the torque transmitted to the rear wheels by 12 per cent whereas lowering shift instances by 5 p.c.
Ferrari claims the 1560kg (dry weight) 12Cilindri will speed up from 0 to 100km/h in simply 2.9 seconds, and to 200km/h in lower than 7.9 seconds. High pace is 340km/h.
A lot of the 12Cilinidri’s suspension and braking {hardware} is carried over from the 812 Competizione, as is the differential. However the all-aluminum chassis, made up of extrusions and castings, is new and has a 20mm shorter wheelbase and 15 p.c higher torsional rigidity.
The 12 Cilindri additionally has the rear-wheel steering system that debuted on the 812 Competizione, however the rear wheels might be independently steered to additional enhance agility or stability when required.
Overseeing the 12 Cilindri’s chassis {hardware} is new software program that makes the many of the six-axis car movement controller and the brake-by-wire ABS Evo system that debuted on the 296GTB.
Dubbed SSC 8.0, this newest evolution of Ferrari’s modern dynamic management system has a ten per cent quicker studying pace and a ten per cent greater diploma of precisely estimating car behaviour in any given situation.
Ferrari claims the system can now precisely measure the extent of tyre grip even because the wheels are being steered.
Talking of tyres, the 12Cilindri is out there with Michelin Pilot Sport S5 or Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersport tyres, each of which had been developed in new sizes particularly for the automobile: 275/35ZR21 on the entrance and 315/35ZR21 on the rear.
Customary wheels (seen on the inexperienced 12Cilindri Spider) are forged alloy, however wheels machined from strong billets of aluminium alloy (fitted to the white coupe) can be found as an choice.
The choice to go for 21-inch wheels was pushed by the design workforce, says Gianmaria Fulgenzi. His engineers would have most well-liked 20-inch wheels, that are lighter and so might be extra exactly managed by the springs and dampers and permit for faster acceleration due to their decrease inertia.
Adopting the 21s was simply one of many tons of of compromises between kind and performance that formed the 12Cilinidri, nonetheless.
The unique 3D aero mannequin of the 12Cilindri was, says Flavio Manzoni, “a chaos of parts”. However such is the significance of aero, each when it comes to efficiency and effectivity, that the workforce working underneath Ferrari’s head of exterior design Andrea Militello primarily handled the administration of airflow paths and patterns nearly like bodily hardpoints round which elements the outside of the 12Cilindri needed to be formed.
Balancing the calls for of aerodynamicists with the wishes of the designers led to an modern technique of guaranteeing the 12Cilindri stays secure at pace.
Primarily based on the information streaming by means of the 12Cilindri’s subtle digital neural community detailing the automobile’s pace and grip ranges, movable flaps at every rear nook of the bodywork might be articulated as a lot as 10 levels into the airflow between 60km/h and 300km/h.
The flaps work in tandem. They’re not wanted beneath 60km/h, and above 300km/h the 25mm lip throughout the rear delivers all the steadiness the automobile wants.
At 200km/h, says Fulgenzi, the system delivers 50kg of downforce to the rear wheels. And, says Manzoni, it eradicated the necessity for a full-width lively rear-wing, permitting the designers to endow the 12Cilindri with a surprisingly roomy boot, and to arrange the daring delta-wing graphic that encompasses the rear window and is the Ferrari design chief’s favorite aspect of the automobile’s exterior.
“It’s a superb instance of how we labored along with the engineers,” he says.
As befits a automobile firm that additionally owns an F1 workforce, a lot of the intense aerodynamic trickery lies underneath the 12Cilindri, out of sight.
On the entrance part of the underbody are three pairs of vortex turbines that work with the entrance splitter to extend downforce on the entrance wheels.
The central a part of the underbody is designed to channel air to the rear diffuser, and an additional pair of vortex turbines are positioned between the rear wheels.
A sequence of fastidiously designed and exactly positioned vents direct much less environment friendly sizzling air from the engine and radiators away from the cool air flowing by means of the underfloor’s downforce-generating parts.
Extra sizzling air is extracted from the engine compartment by way of the 2 vents on the bonnet.
The 12Cilindri is strictly a two-seater, although along with that roomy boot there’s a shelf behind the seats that may accommodate further baggage.
The inside structure, honed underneath the course of Ferrari’s head of inside design, Fabio Massari, is outlined by binnacles on both aspect of the cabin that wrap in direction of driver and passenger.
Within the driver’s binnacle is a 15.6-inch digital instrument panel with the identical performance and configurability as within the Ferrari 296GTB and Roma.
Within the different binnacle is a slim 8.8-inch display that may be configured to show quite a lot of info to thrill, terrify or entertain the passenger.
Between the 2 is a panorama format 10.25-inch touchscreen that flies above a centre console with an aluminium construction that echoes the delta-wing graphic of on the rear of the automobile and homes the transmission shift toggles.
This unique Ferrari additionally accommodates the on a regular basis: Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity is commonplace, and the centre console additionally has a wi-fi charging pad.
Customary seats are what Ferrari calls consolation seats with light-weight carbon-shell sports activities seats accessible as an choice.
Coupe consumers may also select between three roof choices: glass, aluminium, or carbon fibre. The Spider’s folding hardtop might be raised or lowered in 14 seconds at speeds of as much as 40km/h.
The 12Cilindri can also be accessible with an optionally available 1600W Burmester sound system that has 15 audio system.
Having pushed the SP3 Daytona, although, and skilled the sound, the fury, the wanton magnificence of taking its proto-F140HD V12 to 9500rpm, upshifts cracking like rifle pictures because it stormed down the street, it’s arduous to think about why anybody would wish to swap the sound system on.
Certainly, the 12Cilindri guarantees to ship essentially the most soul-stirring soundtrack of any trendy Ferrari.
The 12Cilindri coupe goes on sale in Europe within the fourth quarter this 12 months, priced in Italy at 395,000 euro (A$665,000), with the 435,000 euro (A$720,000) Spider arriving within the first quarter of 2025.
Manufacturing of right-hand drive automobiles gained’t begin till mid-2025, with the coupe slated to reach in Australia within the second half of the 12 months, and the Spider a number of months later or early in 2026.
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