Ferrari F12tdf Boasts 769 Horsepower, Upgrades Everywhere

Special 769HP Ferrari F12tdf Honors the Other Tour de France

By Tony Markovich - October 13, 2015

ferrari-f12tdf

When somebody mentions the Tour de France, cars, let alone Ferraris, are not what come to mind. The Tour means bicycles. That’s just how it is. But what you might not know is that there once was a T de F for cars.

The biggest difference between the bicycle and automobile races is that the auto T de F was actually held in Ireland.

Kidding! Can’t believe you fell for that. No, the decidedly French, long-distance auto race began back in 1899. And Ferrari killed the competition during an impressive stretch in the ’50s and ’60s, most notably, the 250 GT Berlinetta, which won four of the endurance races in a row. As a tribute to that car, Ferrari has created a special edition F12berlinetta, known as the F12tdf, and only 799 will be built.

Unlike some automakers, who just slap a body kit on a supercar and call it a limited edition, Ferrari has improved this F12 at every level, starting with the engine. Performance has been upgraded from 730 horses to 769, and torque is up from 509 lb-ft to 520. The 7-speed dual-clutch transmission that’s mated to that V12 now upshifts 30 percent faster, and downshifts 40 percent faster.

The stance has also been altered. Both the front and rear tracks are wider, the tires are larger, and Ferrari added a rear-wheel steering system the company is calling a Virtual Short Wheelbase. Downforce is up 87 percent. More use of carbon fiber and small redesigns on just about every piece of the car helped Ferrari shed 242 pounds.

That all amounts to one thing: speed. It now jumps to 62 in 2.9 seconds and can get to 124 in 7.9 seconds. Stopping it all is the fresh addition of the brakes from the LaFerrari. And hot damn does this thing look phenomenal, as you can see in the gallery below. And as you can hear in the two Soundcloud samples above, it doesn’t sound too shabby either.