Ferrari might go greener than you think

Ferrari in a nutshell: The V12

Ferrari, with their more than potent V12's and V8's, is not the stereotypical carmaker to involve the attributes eco-frendliness and low fuelconsumption  in their creations... Ferrari is more about flamboyance. A sound that'll make your ears bleed and an as high as possible power-to-sex-appeal ratio.

Usually, the green doesn't mix with the cool, but the competition between Ferrari and Porsche has changed that for good.



As you know, Ferrari and Porsche are enemies. Really, really bitter enemies. They've competed for the supercar-supremacy for, well, as long as there have been supercars, and they've always been neck and neck, one trying to outdo the other.

The Porsche 918 Spyder. Pretty neat.

A few years ago Porsche humiliated Ferrari. In fact, they humiliated the entire supercar-scene. Their revolutionary 918 Spyder concept, which is now in development, promised to combine a fuel-consumption of 3liters/100km (78mpg) and an emissions-chart of 70g/km whilst still managing to pump out 718hp when needed. Promised 0-100 for this pseudo-Prius? 3.2 secs. Everyone was staggered. Ferrari had no choice but to respond.

It's a quite slow response, though, but only in the time-wise sense. The response is this: a V12 Enzo-successor, probably named the F70. No launch-dates have been set but it's thought to be revealed sometime this fall.

The F70 will look something like this.

Promised specs for the F70 are mind-boggling. It'll feature a signature V12 developing 800hp and electric motors contributing with a 120hp, making for a total of 920hp. This power will be neatly packaged in an obviously red body weighing just over 1000kg. Dare I imagine what happens when you put the foot down? It's suspected that with those specs the F70 will be fast enough outrun the so-far most brutal supercar of them all, the Bugatti Veyron Supersport.

Now we'll just wait for Porsche to counter... The introduction of these two super-hybrids have changed the entire supercar scene. All of a sudden the two hottest supercars in the world are hybrid, and it seems that's the path to walk in the future. The Ferrari-Porsche rivalry is a brilliant thing to follow.

The 599 Hy-KERS concept, technological ancestor to the F70

As an addition to to the "mandatory" F70 hybrid response to Porsche, reports say that Ferrari has also filed a patent for a more conventional hybrid-system. The patent concerns a 90-degree forward mounted V engine, which would point at a system based on the Maserati-Ferrari V8 rather than the 65-degree V12. Of course, the patent-filing in itself still doesn't say much, but it could pave the way for a "green" Ferrari California... Anyone interested?

Anyone feeling excited about hybrid yet?


-HS


Sources: autoweek.com, automobilemag.com, caranddriver.com





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