A piece of art, not just a car. This is how Flavio Manzoni, Chief Design Officer Ferrari, defines the Daytona SP3, the new limited edition sportscar that joins the Monza SP1 and SP2 in the “Ferrari Icona” special segment. To create this new collectible jewel, his team was able to operate with a stylistic freedom rarely allowed in the case of a supercar: “It was a true design-driven project, with which we pay homage to the evocative volumes of Sport Prototypes without any nostalgic approach, projecting the Ferrari design language into the future ».
The inspiration for the sensual forms of the Daytona SP3 are the historic racing cars of the 1960s such as the 330 P3/4, the 330 P4, the 350 Can-Am and the 512 S, but without literal or retro references. The architecture (derived from LaFerrari) is also typical of racing cars, with a naturally-aspirated V12 engine mounted in the center-rear position. This is the most iconic engine of the Maranello company, with 840 HP of power (the most powerful to date produced by Ferrari), 697 Nm of torque and a maximum revs of 9500 rpm.
“To ensure maximum formal purity we have deliberately avoided active aerodynamic elements, working on the maximum efficiency of the car body and studying with the engineers new solutions such as the “chimneys” that extract low-pressure air from the underbody, with the air passing through the doors and conveyed towards the tail», explains Manzoni. The sculptural forms are rich in unprecedented and surprising details, such as the semi-retractable headlights (an eyelid rises to reveal the otherwise covered high beams) and the horizontal blades that completely wrap around the car rear end, concealing the thin strip of the headlights, invisible when they are off.
Formal purity and great refinement are also found inside, a cockpit-like environment where the dashboard has an airy and enveloping appearance, while the fixed seats are shaped like a mantle that connects the two seats with the door panels. A mix of sportiness and elegance that, not surprisingly, is the result of the work of two different teams from the Maranello Style Center headed by Manzoni: the one led by Carlo Palazzani, head of the exterior design of the Sports cars, and that of Fabio Massari, the Granturismo interior chief designer.
In the next issue of Auto&Design we will tell the complete design story of this fascinating “targa” coupé of which 599 units will be produced, to be delivered from the end of 2022 at a price of 2 million each. As usual, already sold out.
