FERRARI F80

Maranello lets it all hang out with a limited-run technical tour de force that follows in the footsteps of its Le Mans-winning hypercar.

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The F80 is the Ferrari that's too fast for Fiorano. It's the latest limited-run, extreme-performance Ferrari of the kind that appears once a decade, a lineage featuring the GTO (aka 288), F40, F50, Enzo and LaFerrari, and it is the first that hasn't been demonstrated at Ferrari's home test track. Instead it was presented at Misano, a wider and longer circuit than Fiorano and more suitable for a car with the F80's astonishing performance.

Misano is popular with motorcycle racers and looked as expansive as Silverstone on the video I watched of an Audi R8 GT3 lapping it. The F80's speed made it feel about half the size in reality.

To the details first, though. The F80's development timeline almost mirrors that of the 499P Le Mans-winning race car. The two are different - this is not a road-going racer - but there are similarities both in ethos and with some mechanicals.

The F80 has a two-seat carbonfibre passenger tub, 5% lighter but 50% stiffer than a LaFerrari's (the next most recent special), with the passenger slightly offset behind the driver so they don't bang shoulders in a cabin that's 50mm narrower. The supportive driver's seat adjusts, the passenger's pads don't.

At the front and rear are mostly extruded aluminium subframes, from which hangs double-wishbone suspension all round, with 3D-printed upper wishbones and active Multimatic spring and damper units similar to those that made their Ferrari debut in the Purosangue, mounted horizontally to maintain a low centre of gravity. As well as having adjustable damping, they extend or withdraw to control pitch and roll, so there are no separate anti-roll bars.