Ferrari reveals its F1-inspired F80 hybrid supercar – the most powerful Ferrari ever launched at Maranello

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Ferrari has lifted the lid on the most powerful road-going supercar it has ever built, equipping the carbon fiber-laden F80 with a three-liter twin-turbo six-cylinder engine that develops 900 hp on its own.

The combustion engine is then paired with three electric motors (all developed in-house) that add an additional 300 hp to the mix. That’s 1,200 horses in total, coming from a propulsion system that’s essentially derived from its 499P Le Mans race car, but which is just as happy to go to the shops to buy a liter of milk.

Far from being an attempt to reduce Ferrari’s global carbon emissions, this is instead an exercise in extracting maximum performance. The tiny 800V/2.3kWh battery that’s hidden behind the seats, for example, uses F1 technology to ensure it can charge and discharge as quickly and efficiently as possible.

This means customers will not be able to drive the F80 in all-electric mode, but will instead be able to rocket from standstill to 62mph in 2.15 seconds, hit 190mph in just 5.75 seconds and top out at 220 miles. /h. Things that melt the mind.

The F80 is designed for raw performance, using a carbon fiber chassis that is as narrow as possible for engineers to ensure less aerodynamic drag. Inside, there is enough space for the driver and a very small passenger.

Ferrari calls it a “1+” vehicle, as the second seat is slightly staggered to allow controls to wrap around the driver. To highlight that this is no romantic grand tourer, the driver’s seat is bright red, while the poor passenger has to make do with black… and racing harnesses.

There are so many technological tricks going on beneath the spaceship-style body and butterfly wing doors that Maranello’s engineers could easily fill an entire Netflix documentary series with content. The engine-controlled active suspension system, for example, eliminates the need for stabilizer bars and allows the vehicle to transform from a crouching track monster to a supple road vehicle with ease.

Ferrari took advantage of 3D printing technology to create the suspension arms and also used large amounts of carbon fiber in its five-spoke alloy wheels and also introduced some serious software tricks to make the most of the circuit’s lap times. of racing.

Boost Optimization, which racing fans can access in the two high-performance driving modes (Performance and Qualify), maps warm-up laps of a preferred circuit and then automatically delivers additional power to the section it deems most needed. like when accelerating. along a straight line.

A technological powerhouse

The Ferrari F80 won’t go into production until 2025 – from then on, the 799 lucky customers selected to receive one will have to wait until 2027 to experience it. Fortunately, this is Ferrari’s 80th anniversary, hence the name.

It will cost around 3.6 million euros, which is the equivalent of over 4 million dollars and almost 6 million Australian dollars, by far the most expensive Ferrari road car ever built and alongside some of the most expensive production supercars of all time.

But this moves the game for the Italian automaker, not just in raw numbers when compared to the LaFerrari it usurps, but also in active aerodynamic technology, track-focused features and extensive use of electric motors in everything from the turbochargers to the powertrain. suspension.

The proof is in the pudding, as the brand claims the F80 has set a new lap record at the Fiorano test track of 1min 15.3sec – 4.4 seconds faster than the LaFerrari.

This may sound like marginal gains, but the numbers are huge in the cutthroat world of low-volume but terribly expensive supercars.