New Ferrari F80 revealed: Is the most powerful model ever?
This is the new Ferrari F80, and it’s the long-awaited LaFerrari successor which will go head to head with the McLaren W1, and it’s powered by a hybridised V6 engine.
New Ferrari F80 revealed
Long-awaited LaFerrari successor ditches V12 engine
Uses a hybrid V6 instead
Produces a combined 1,200hp and does 0-60 in 2.15 seconds
Le Mans-inspired interior layout
Just 799 to be built costing £3 million each
Hot on the heels of the new McLaren W1, the new Ferrari F80 has now also broken cover. It’s the second car in the next so-called “holy trinity”, which comprises the flagship hypercars from McLaren, Ferrari and Porsche.
The F80’s engine has half the amount of cylinders as the iconic LaFerrari, however thanks to a clever hybrid system it’s officially the most powerful road car Ferrari has ever made.
New Ferrari F80 design
Before we talk about speed and power, we need to talk about styling. After all, half the point of owning a Ferrari is showing off, so the new F80 flagship needs to have the wow factor.
It doesn’t have quite the same shock value as the LaFerrari did when it launched in the early 2010s, probably thanks to the billionaires who don’t want this car outshining their bespoke, one-off hypercars like the SP8 Roadster.
The black band across the front of the car is very similar to that of the 12 Cilindri GT car, and the squared-off headlights are similar to that car’s as well. The nose isn’t as pointy or dramatic as the LaFerrari or the Enzo which went before.
It’s a similar story down the side as well, where the silhouette is pretty tame for a hypercar. The roof is a full five centimetres lower than the LaFerrari’s, and the staggered alloy wheels look cool as well. They measure 19-inches at the front and 20-inches at the rear.
You do get a massive rear wing to add a sense of drama, although it’s not capable of quite the same acrobatics as the McLaren W1’s which extends backwards as well as up. There’s a hint of the SP3 Daytona at the rear as well.
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New Ferrari F80 engine and performance
Diehard Ferrari fans may be sharpening their pitchforks as they read this, because the new F80 is the first flagship from the brand built to celebrate the company’s anniversary which doesn’t have a thumping great V12 in it.
In fact, it’s packing half the amount of cylinders. The new F80 is powered by a 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged V6 engine – a variation of the one used in the 296 GTB. Now before you start brandishing said pitchforks outside Maranello, you may want to find out how much power it makes.
A version of this V6 engine has been used before in 499P, a hybrid hypercar which has won the Le Mans 24-hour race twice. That car’s engine is limited to 680hp thanks to some boring rules and regulations in racing, however here it is totally unlimited and puts out 900hp and 850Nm of torque.
That’s 100hp more than you got in the LaFerrari, and we haven’t even got to the hybrid system yet. The F80 has a total of five electric motors. Two of them help to spool up the turbos to get the engine up to 900hp, then there’s one driving the rear wheels and two more which power the front wheels.
The upshot of this is a total system output of 1,200hp, making it the most powerful Ferrari road car ever made. It’s still 75hp down on the McLaren W1, however it’s over half a second quicker from 0-60mph than that car.
It completes the sprint in just 2.15 seconds. This is mostly thanks to the fact that this car is all-wheel drive, whereas the McLaren sends all 1,275hp to the rear wheels only.
New Ferrari F80 chassis and suspension
With all these electric motors and batteries on board, you may be thinking that this Ferrari will weigh the same as a house. Well actually, it tips the scales at just 1,525kg before fluids, which is 100kg lighter than an SF90.
