Power of Competizione: Meet Ferrari’s Record-breaking Superfast Twins
Arrival of the most powerful V12 Ferrari has always been a huge story. It’s just happened again!
The reveal of the latest in that incredible line of most powerful front-engined V12 Ferraris ever, has always been a huge occasion. These new 812 Superfast Competizione twins are no exception. Pushing 818 hp and 510 lb ft with a 9,500 rpm redline, Maranello says the 6496 cc 3278-pound beast will crush 60 mph in 2.8 seconds.
Never mind reach 125 mph in 7.5 seconds and run on to a handy 212 mph top speed.
They’d be called 540s in Enzo’s Day
They’d call this car the 540 Superfast Competizione In Enzo’s day. See, back in the real world, a Ferrari would be known by the cubic capacity of one of its cylinders. The very first 1947 Ferrari 125 S was for example a 1500 cc V12 – 125 being a twelfth of 1500. Scuderia Ferrari was around for 20 years by then, but the first car it ever built in-house was special. Because it was a V12.
As were the many in between. 225s, 250s, 275s and 365s — for 2.7, 3, 3.3 and 4.4 liters, among others, were some of the many V12 Ferraris to break power records over the years. Then Fiat took over and look at the names now! Who knows what those numbers mean — 812 could mean 8-litre V12. But, it’s not an 8-liter!
We digress. Hailed as the most powerful combustion engine of any road car to emerge from those hallowed Maranello gates, 812 Superfast Competizione comes with the stamp of approval of a stunning 1 minute 20 second lap record around Ferrari’s next door Fiorano test track. They call newcomer ‘the ultimate expression of a front-engined Ferrari’s Berlinetta. Only the LaFerrari and SF90 Stradale hybrid supercars beat it.
Open or closed, Competizione Breaks Records
Coming in either the coupe or an open ‘Competizione A’ roadster, The twins also break several other records. They pack Ferrari’s highest-revving production engine to date and among the quickest-spinning road-going V12s ever.
That thanks to a re-balanced 3 percent lighter crankshaft and 40 percent lighter titanium connecting rods. Add low friction diamond-like carbon-coated piston gudgeon pins. And camshafts feeding new variable geometry inlet tracts to alter their length to constantly combustion. All new tricks of the Competizione trade.
Ferrari also promises an incredibly high standard of traditional engine sound. Thanks to a specially tuned exhaust system now including a petrol particulate filter. Those 830 hoses turn the rear wheels via Competizione’s seven-speed double-clutch automated manual gearbox. Which benefits 5 percent quicker shift times ‘for even sportier shifting’ in collaboration with that elevated redline.