Ferrari Daytona SP3 Italian Stallion – FEATURES

^{Words: Jack Rix / PICTURES: Mark Riccioni / Translation: Tony}

Is it okay to collect oil? That was the pressing question I faced as I came out of the La Source hairpin and hugged the pit wall like a cozy blanket. In my favour, the weather (warm and dry weather), the car in hand (very superb mid-engined V12 Ferrari) and the race situation (the only person next to me on the track). The conditions for opposing me are good location (my younger brother is a newcomer from Shanquan, and has never challenged Eau Rouge, let alone crossed Eau Rouge with full throttle) and driving talent (I am called Jacky Rix, not Jacky Ickx).

I decided to believe in the favorable conditions, so I twisted my body against the seat and lowered my sitting position by an inch, thereby lowering the height of the center of gravity, and at the same time hiding myself behind the instrument tube. If so, the person goes straight down the straight road and goes straight to the towering slope. When passing through the left, right, and left continuous turns, he exhausts all his concentration and ignores rational dissuasion, and wholeheartedly prevents his right foot from mingjin to retreat. There was a sudden pain in the corner of my eye when a drop of sweat bypassed my eyebrows, but fortunately the front wheels passed the Raidillon corner without deviating from the track. Once we got to the top of the hill, the engine opened up and fired a twelve-cylinder salute to the enduro wind and cloud it was trying to maintain… And that’s it, we finally made it safely to the Kemmel Straight, and just in time for a very opportune ray of sunlight to shine through the clouds The earth, as if God is also blessing SP3 to pass the test smoothly.

All of the above… actually happened below 70km/h, which is really shameful. “Based on the value of this car and its limited edition status, it can only be driven up to 70km/h on the track.” It is Ferrari that makes this decision, not me. I don’t know how brutal the request is, but here’s what it looks like: We had four hours to whip a Daytona SP3 on the road around Mountain Springs, then lap up the fastest track in the world with one of the most exciting cars in the world Two hours, two hours at the speed of the M25 traffic jam. A well-curated series of press photos to flesh out the car’s backstory would have been enough, but not nearly enough, to understand the limits of the £2m 828bhp psychopath, which was produced in a limited run of 599 examples. Don’t be afraid, because we have learned from the road test earlier that SP3 is aiming for the world, and we will explain the details later. Here is a brief history lesson.

Ferrari claims that they don’t do retro, so people won’t catch the pain of directly flipping the old one like the new Lamborghini Countach. But they are still willing to refer to their own history, and they never get tired of it. Therefore, the Icona series, which “extracts the essence of an era, and uses it as a springboard to create new concepts, so as to achieve masterpieces in the eyes of future generations”, came into being. Seen here is the third Icona, Ferrari’s homage to its alluring 1960s sports car racing prototypes (Icona’s earliest models were the very handsome but largely moot Monza SP1 and SP2, Shiwei 2018).

But what is confusing is that the name Daytona here does not mean the shark-head front-engine GT known as the 365 GTB4 in the 1960s, but a tribute to Ferrari’s victory in the 1967 Daytona 24-hour race. They deliberately arranged 330 P3/4, 330 P4 and 412 P to cross the line side by side in this famous battle, and taught Ford a lesson in their own territory. shame.

In terms of styling, SP3 does not have only one reference object, but a combination of various Ferraris. The convex front sand board has a little shadow of 512 S and 712 Can-Am. Moving on to the front wheel sandboards, the horizontally striped tail, a homage to the 1968 Pininfarina Ferrari 250 P5 concept car, is an unexpected addition (search the Internet for this concept, and you won’t be disappointed).

From the bottom of my heart? When I saw the photos for the first time, I actually felt that the design of the SP3 was a bit messy. There were catfish fronts, aggressive front wheel arches and louvered rears. It tries to reference too many things on the one hand, but insists on being a unique piece of future-oriented work on the other hand. The goal is very lofty, but in the end, too many design implications are mixed up, or even ten more than the quota. But when I looked at the SP3 at an inconspicuous shelter on a secluded B-class road in Belgium, I was overwhelmed by its breathtaking boldness and power on the spot. First of all, the appearance of this car is ridiculously flat, and this impression is especially lingering when encountering an oncoming tractor that has no intention of giving in on the road. However, this car body also has many ingenious details, and it is impossible to appreciate the subtleties through the computer screen.

Take the front of the car as an example (this is probably the part I don’t like the most), with a pair of headlights stretching and retracting the “eyelids” to make people look impressive; this modern way of interpreting the flashlights should be listed as a designated action for future supercars. In addition, the front of the car has a pair of air intakes leading to the side radiators on the upper ends of the butterfly doors. Since the two are connected by an unobstructed air groove, the two waists of the body can be slim and smooth. The rear wheel arches, which are wider than the flat broadhead sand board, are large enough to fill the side mirrors, and the lines are seamlessly integrated with the rectifying wings that span the tailgate and make the entire body lean forward (although it is under 200km/h It can produce 230kg of downforce, SP3 actually does not have an active rectification device. This is a trick deliberately used by the factory to ensure the correct sense of the times), and the high tail throat helps to make room for the air diffuser. Finally, there are horizontal stripes on the rear of the car, which are simply eye-catching. “They reused it in the front air intakes for the same reason,” Birmingham-born Ferrari designer Adrian Griffiths told me. “These stripes that seem to go all the way through the body are like a stick of sugar.”

Let’s get in the car, shall we? When the butterfly door is raised, it will swing outward together with a large section of the door sill. When the door is opened, you can see a carbon fiber “bathtub” that will be close to your back. In order to avoid rumors spreading around, although this all-carbon fiber mid-mounted V12 supercar looks like a LaFerrari, it is by no means as simple as the LF with the electric hybrid device removed. Because the frame of LF must take into account the placement of batteries and electric motors behind the seat, it is totally unreasonable to modify the frame for SP3 by simply cutting and pasting. So can we say that the SP3 is spiritually equivalent to an analogue version of the LaFerrari? Ferrari will vehemently deny it, but it’s a safe place so I’d say yes.

Griffiths described the LaFerrari as more like a street car, where the driver feels more like he is sitting in the car than being surrounded. He also pointed out that the height of the LF field of view horizontal line is 40mm lower than that of the SP3, and the sitting posture is not so reclined, which is exactly what he said. In the SP3, you slump into the seats that attach directly to the chassis, and the next step is to buckle up the seat belts that connect the door sills to the center console. It sounds uncomfortable at first, but it’s not at all. Surrounded by the windshield, you feel like you’re in the depths of the car, you can pull the steering wheel closer to your chest, and you can adjust the spring-loaded pedal box to your feet (the pedal box is more snug than the socks). I’ve never driven a Ferrari sportscar racing prototype from the 1960s, but I’ve been assured that the SP3’s overall driving position and cabin envelopment feel close to pounding. Want to look up at the sky? The targa top can be removed by loosening the five clips. However, due to the light rain that day, it is better not to remove the roof.

With the 812 Superfast’s powerful naturally aspirated 6.5-litre V12 sitting behind it, it’s certainly not ideal to have a roof to block the sound. What’s more, the power of this engine has been increased to 828bhp with upgraded parts (such as the use of titanium alloy piston and connecting rod), so it has become the most powerful engine in the history of Ferrari street cars. Drivers will naturally concentrate more on driving when they think about it. The maximum speed of this engine has also been increased to 9,500rpm, which is comparable to that of the 812 Competizione. Of course, SP3 has not practiced LaFerrari’s 986bhp electric assist, but it can complete 0-100km/h acceleration in 2.85 seconds and a top speed of 340km/h. It can be exactly the same as 296 GTB, data fans please accept it).

I’ve heard amazing things about the 296 GTB’s new twin-turbo V6 known as the piccolo V12, but with twelve pistons behind it playing a symphony untainted by turbo or electricity, that flavor is always unmatched. This pair of engines starts to show off from around 3,500rpm, and hits 9,500rpm with a linear and very violent acceleration response. When you reach the speed limit, you are probably out of breath, and the speed limit may be a bit too high. The sound wave is also very special. In the car with the roof set up, you will hear a more melodious and low-pitched breathing sound, and those who are lucky enough to appear within the killing range of the sound wave power will hear the overwhelming scream of ghosts. This engine, together with this gearbox, is the perfect state of a supercar powertrain.

As a work that shows the influence of the Le Mans winning car, the SP3’s treatment of passengers turns out to be less harsh than I thought. Turn up the manettino to the Sport or Race mode, and then turn on the bumpy road mode, the SP3 is like a fast knife with a sharpened blade and a very comfortable handle. Yes, you do hear the sound of gravel hitting the wheel arches and sills, and parking in the S position is definitely not easy, but if you don’t mind buying toiletry items and a change of clothes after arriving at your destination, this car is really good for long-distance travel. Not impossible.

I love that the steering is as responsive as you’d expect from a modern Ferrari, and there’s a noticeable increase in torsional weight, a nod to the brave ’60s. I’m also happy to drive very slowly and carefully away from the chattering horde of executives, engineers, designers, and somewhat worried PR people, and finally be able to run out of engine revs a few hours ago. Because this car was originally designed to be shaken around by the back of the neck. Is the price comparable to the villas in Shuli County? Forget it, as the SP3 is literally a 458 Speciale on anabolic steroids.

Most exciting place? The beauty of this car can be appreciated without going through intense preliminaries. Because it has been marinated in Ferrari’s secret sauce, it can make more than 800 horsepower more approachable and responsive. Thanks to electronic magic, this engine can never escape the five-finger mountain of the frame, and the frame will always obey the driver’s orders. You might have to be high on Ferrari’s customer list to be invited to spend £2m on one, but the driving experience of the SP3 isn’t so exclusive and aloof, it’s the tangible result of the democratization of premium performance.
Getting the chance to drive a Daytona SP3 is always a great honor, regardless of whether the speed limit is too hot for a track test. For me, the amazing thing about SP3 is not the price or rarity, but the ability to execute. Putting the most powerful engine in Ferrari history, with a proper number of cylinders and not affected by electricity, is placed behind the driver, and then surrounded by carbon fiber and electronic systems to create a natural response to please the driver. The repair level is almost as high as that of a street car. The highest state of the world, SP3 is really a superb work of Ferrari, even if the speed can only be driven to 70 kilometers per hour, it will not hurt.

FERRARI DAYTONA SP3
引擎：6.496公升V12
馬力：828bhp
扭力:71.1kgm
傳動：後輪驅動
0-100km/h：2.85秒
極速:340km/h
乾重：1,485kg
油耗：19.5L/100km
售價：£2,000,000