Concorso Italiano 2001 - Ferraris
This early Ferrari Barchetta won best of show.
The 250 Short Wheel Base (SWB) gave rise to the 250 GTO and Lusso.
Front engine V-12s such as this red 275 GTB
grew ever longer hoods,
culminating in what was thought in the early 1970's to be the final
front engined Ferrari model, the "Daytona" like this yellow 365 GTS.
By the late 60s Ferrari prototype racers were mid-engined.
And the 512 BB "Boxer" and 308 GTB/GTS followed the 206 and 246 Dino
into production as mid-engined Ferraris.
The V-6 Dino was joined by the flat 12 Boxer and V-8 208 and 308.
Dino, not shown here, was marketed in Europe as Dino, not Ferrari,
somewhat reminiscent of the 914 marketed in Europe as a VW, not Porsche.
The V-8 series ran through 308, 328, 348, and 355 models.
All were popular, successful and beautiful by design.
The current V-8 model is the 360 Modena.
It has outstanding aerodynamics, an Aluminum chassis,
a larger interior, and busier styling than its predecessors.
It's almost as if Pininfarina and Ferrari responded
to criticism of the classical restraint of the 348 and 355
by adding more scoops and curves to the Modena.
The Modena is the first Ferrari designed as a Spyder (convertible) first,
meaning it has plenty of rigidity with no roof.
Sergio Pininfarina said the Modena's glass engine cover was to
give honor to Ferrari's wonderful engines.
He joked that it also saved the trouble of raising
the engine lid for frequent requests to see the engine.
Sergio also noted the return of front cooling intakes,
with the novelty that they were split and placed
at the front corners, after Formula One.
He claimed front intakes reduced turbulence on the sides,
but GM actually reduced turbulence with
side rear cooling intakes on the Precept PNGV.
I would have said that moving the cooling intakes to front
was made for styling reasons were it not for the
engine and brake intake scoops at the back of the Modena.
The engine air intakes on top and in front of
the rear wheel arches may reduce the air seen by the arch fronts
and help re-attach air to the top and rear of the body
though vortex generation and pulling down the local flow.
The rising horizontal crease that runs along the side
is probably a vortex generator to help keep the side flow attached.
This has appeared on other cars staring in the late 90s.
These features are most visible on the silver example above.
The very rare twin turbo 288 GTO was the ultimate V-8 Ferrari
in the P6 concept car pattern.
Inspired by the turbocharged Formula One era,
the 288 GTO boasted around 400 hp and 2600 lbs weight.
It also featured one of the prettiest bodies Pininfarina
put on the V-8 models.
Wonder if those Ferrari cheesegraters can also rake sandtraps....
Lots of clever license plates, like this Testarossa with "TESTY".
In the 90's Ferrari came full circle, returning to front V-12 engines
in the 456, 550 Maranello and the limited production
550 Barchetta Pininfarina.
Sergio Pininfarina commented that
the front V-12 cars replaced the Testarossa in the marketing lineup.
He and Piero Ferrari opined that the front 12s were
as fast as the mid-engined 12s thanks to electronics.
Click on a small image to see the full one.