F80: Ferrari’s Latest Supercar, destined to join iconic models from the 1984 GTO to the 2016 LaFerrari Aperta. The F80 is a showcase for the latest technology and performance from the marque and represents an extreme internal combustion engine development. With a combined maximum power of 1200 hp, the V6-hybrid powertrain of the F80 makes it the most powerful road car ever to come out of the gates of the Ferrari factory. A host of advanced technological solutions makes the F80 the new benchmark for innovation and engineering excellence.
Today, Ferrari unveiled the F80 and wrote a new chapter on the history of legendary supercars bearing the Prancing Horse badge. The F80 will be produced in a limited run of just 799 examples and joins the pantheon of icons such as the GTO, F40 and LaFerrari by showcasing the best that the Maranello-based marque has achieved in terms of technology and performance.
Since 1984, Ferrari has periodically released a new supercar representing its era’s pinnacle of cutting-edge technology and innovation and was destined to be enshrined in popular culture. Intended for the most discerning clients of the brand, these cars immediately became legends in their lifetime, making an indelible mark not only on the history of Ferrari but also on the history of the automobile itself.
The latest addition to this family, the F80, is tasked with embodying the ultimate in engineering for an internal-combustion-engined vehicle and employs all the most advanced technological solutions, including latest-generation hybrid technology for the powertrain, to achieve unparalleled levels of power and torque. Every aspect of the architecture is conceived to maximise performance, from the carbon-fibre chassis and extreme aerodynamic solutions far beyond anything seen before in a road-legal car, to the new active suspension optimised to let the driver wring every ounce of performance from the car on the track.
Unlike anything else in the current supercar world, the F80 combines all these attributes with uncompromising levels of usability on the road, where it can be driven easily. This ability shaped every choice in terms of technology and architecture to achieve the goal, which at first sight seems impossible, of creating a track-oriented supercar that’s just as driveable as a production range model.
All this means that the driver will spend even more time in the car and can genuinely get to know and revel in its performance and the thrilling driving experience it offers. The architecture of the F80 is so extreme that the layout chosen results in a narrower cabin with a driver-centric design, which nonetheless still provides excellent space and comfort for a passenger. This choice had crucial benefits in terms of minimising drag and weight.
The cockpit area, therefore, has a distinct single-seater feel, even though the car is homologated for two occupants, resulting in an architecture that we could call “1+”. The primary reason for this choice was to minimise width, to the benefit of aerodynamics (with less drag) and weight saving. This concept is entirely in keeping with the motorsport world from which this car draws inspiration and inherits technological solutions.
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As has always been the case with the Ferrari supercars preceding the F80, the powertrain is based on motorsport’s finest expression of technology. A turbo V8 powered the GTO and F40 because Formula 1 cars used turbocharged engines in the 1980s. Today, in Formula 1 and the World Endurance Championship (WEC), powertrains consist of turbo V6 ICE engines mated with an 800 V hybrid system. It was only natural then that this architecture – the same one used by the 499P, which took two consecutive victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans – would be transferred into the new F80.
Here, though, the powertrain is further complemented by the introduction, for the first time on a Ferrari, of electric turbo technology (e-turbo), which, with an electric motor installed between the turbine and compressor of each turbo, allows for precise power output and instantaneous response from low down in the rev range.
Aerodynamics play a crucial role in the F80, with solutions such as the active rear wing, rear diffuser, flat underbody, front triplane wing, and S-Duct generating 1000 kg of downforce at 250 km/h. This result is further enhanced thanks to the active suspension, which contributes directly to generating ground effects. Performance is boosted by the electric front axle, which brings four-wheel drive capability to make even more effective use of the torque and power on tap, and the new brakes with motorsports-derived CCM-R Plus technology.
As with all the supercars preceding it, the F80 marks the start of a new design era for Ferrari, with a more tense, extreme design language accentuating its race-bred soul. There are explicit references to cues borrowed from aerospace, which underscore every technical solution’s cutting-edge technology and elegant engineering. But there are also nods to its hallowed progenitors, who declare the illustrious lineage of the F80.
