With the presentation of the 559 GTB Fiorano, Ferrari has added a new super sports car to its already sumptuous catalogue. The task of defining the lines around the 12 cylinder, 6 litre, 620 bhp heart was entrusted, as always, to the company’s historic partner, Pininfarina. Fabio Galvano met the chief executive of the Turin company, Andrea Pininfarina, and creative director, Ken Okuyama, to walk through the salient aspects of the project. Here are some passages from the interview:
“The Fiorano employs a very important element, the chassis of the 612 Scaglietti, with a shorter, and hence a sportier wheelbase (…). The challenge for us lay in making the styling consistent with this extraordinary performance level and the substantial degree of technological evolution showcased by Ferrari in this car”, says Pininfarina.
So here we have a 612 cut down to two volumes, reducing the front overhang and even more so the rear. “Pininfarina style”, explains Okuyama, “has always been about proportions. In this case we had to move many components so as to reduce the rear overhang and lower the vehicle. The Scaglietti chassis was fine for a GT, but this is a supersports car: these measures, plus the positioning of the engine behind the front axle, provide superb balance”.
“Right from the front”, continues Okuyama, “we chose profiles reminiscent of Formula 1, with a similar downwards curvature. Certainly, this was to be a fast, athletic, bold and aggressive car, but without going beyond certain limits. After all, we were working on a Ferrari. A balance had to be created between elegance and strength, two characteristics that a Ferrari must always have and which generally do not go together: a Lamborghini can be more exotic and forceful than elegant, a Ferrari no.
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 158
