The Most Powerful Ferrari Ever Made

With a top speed of 227 MPH, the Ferrari F12 is Ferrari’s fastest road car ever. Quicker than the hypercar LaFerrari, quicker than an Enzo. It is astonishingly fast – and not just in a straight line, either. It goes around Ferrari’s Fiorano test track quicker than either of those two as well.

Although Ferrari has been making front-engined V12 grand touring sports cars for the road for almost six decades, the car to which the new F12 owes its biggest debt is probably the 275 GTB of 1964.

Thing is, from behind the wheel, if you don’t clock the fact it has 730hp and can hit 62mph from rest in 3.1 seconds, you might be forgiven for thinking it was ‘just’ a replacement for the 599GTB. It’s that approachable, that friendly and easy to drive. It even looks elegant and, although beautiful, relatively understated with it. 

Built by Scaglietti, the F12’s monocoque underbody is made of 12 different aluminium alloys and contributes to a 20 per cent gain in torsional rigidity compared with the 599, as well as a 70kg overall saving.

The car is clothed in aluminium, too, its panels sculpted according to Ferrari’s unique ‘aerodynamics via subtraction’ philosophy. The arcing channels cut into the bonnet form the so-called Aero Bridge, diverting air from the base of the windscreen and using it to reduce drag around the wheelarches.

Flaps in the front valance open when the brakes warm up, providing cooling when needed and less drag when it isn't

Carbon-ceramic brakes and magnetorheological dampers are standard. Power comes from a 6.3-litre V12 with normal aspiration and direct injection. It produces 731hp and 509lb ft of torque, sent via a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

The car’s headline 731hp is the eye-catching figure – if you want more power than that, you can only really get it in production cars costing at least three times as much as the F12 – but its 509lb ft of torque is just as important. Eighty per cent of that torque is available from just 2500rpm.

As this is a Ferrari – and a V12 Ferrari at that – discussion of its value or sticker price or running costs are all but redundant. Nevertheless, as the numbers are amusing and eyebrow-raising, we’ll indulge your interest. The F12's list price of just under $240,000 is less than that of a Lamborghini Aventador and other assorted exotica, but more expensive than practically anything else. And that’s just for starters. No example will leave the factory (or the dealer) at that level. With its paint job alone costing over $15k, no example will be found for under $300,000.

The F12 can be defined  as a Supercar, not GT car – you'll note that we're inclined to make the distinction. Because although the F12 has an extremely habitable interior and decent-size boot – plus a vast fuel tank that turns its laughable economy into a usable range – this is still a car that, at heart, is dominated by its performance. And, well, look at it!