If there’s one thing the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta didn’t need, it was more power. But the chaps down at Maranello thought “al diavolo questa idea” (to hell with that idea) and have come up with this, the F12 TdF.
It’s a harder, faster, track-focused, yet road legal iteration of the V12 monster on which its based; the one that legendary motoring scribe Chris Harris power slid round an entire lap of Wales’ Anglesey race track.
So, what have they done to it?
Well to start the F12’s 6.3-litre V12 has been boosted from 550 to 575kW thanks to race-spec tappets and variable geometry intake trumpets, that maximum power arriving at 8,500rpm before an 8,900rpm redline.
Of course they didn’t just tinker with the engine and head off to the pub. The 7 speed dual-clutch ‘box now upshifts 30 percent faster and downshifts 40 percent faster than the old one. Ratios have been shortened too.
The track is wider, the wheels larger, the brakes come out of the LaFerrari parts bin. Should get the job done then.
Something called “Virtual Short Wheelbase system” makes an appearance, also known in English as four wheel steering. This sharpens turn-in and increases high-speed stability. Aero gets a once over, meaning at 200kmh the TdF makes 230kg of downforce, nearly double that of the standard F12.
And if all that wasn’t enough it’s also been on a diet, shedding the weight of 1 x Pier Spies, or 110kg for those who don’t know who he is. That’s thanks to liberal smatterings of the good stuff, carbon fibre.
So, to answer the burning question, why TdF? Well it’s nothing to do with the big bicycle ride, but rather a reference to the endurance road race which Ferrari dominated nine years running from 1956 through 1964.
Nice one.
