The Enzo reimagined.... Jim's Ferrari P 4/5 by Pininfarina

That's a great interview. When you talk about the improvements you've made on the 7 year old Enzo... I'm curious, how much has the Ferrari development team looked at what you've done with P4/5 as they create their next supercar? Things like the length of front overhang to make it more drive-able I'd hope they take note of for their next production car. Glad to see you're still having so much fun with it.

 

I don't think it's been gone over in detail what interior changes you've made since I saw it Jim. Any pictures? I would assume it's nothing major aesthetically, just moved some things around?

Peter Hatch

 

I'll let Dr.G tell you everything he's done, but the interior has had some work done to it. Seats look great!




-J

 

I meant the changes since the unveiling, not differences from the Enzo. You're right about the seats though, I got to feel them up before one of the Pininfarina guys told me I wasn't allowed to touch anything.

Peter Hatch

 

They looked at the car in great detail and took a lot of photograph and notes. JT particularly liked the interior seat leather/round rubber mesh and Ferrari used a similar seat treatment on the new 430S. I'm hopeful that they will follow what we came up with to enable shorter overhangs while maintaining down force as it makes a supercar much more drivable on the street. The other thing that worked well for me was changing around the location of various controls after driving her for a while. Until you drive a car for a while you often don't have a feeling for exactly where the controls are most useful.

 

i fall more and more in love with this car each time i see it! have you taken it out at all cause of the weather?

 

NY is salted in.

 

Detroit has the 3rd largest Salt mine in the world.... yet their distribution and extraction capabilities this year have been exceeded so much that we are now salting a mixed ratio with sand... Salted, sanded, and potholed in preparation to repave an entire city....

~~ don't blame you one bit

 

ouch

 

If you don't mind, what control changes?

 

Wow, thats a huge undertaking! I work for the Chamber of Commerce in my area and I can't imagine the kind of details that must be exacted to take on something as large as this. What is their timeline?



-J

 

Jim do you ever get contacted by game developers who want to put your car in a racing game?

And would they need permission or is the P4/5 considered a modified Enzo?

 

I'm not sure if I should comment for Jim, I may get hit by a lightening bolt. Eggshells. Eggshells.

This is only from what I understand of the car:

I'm positive he's been contacted, though they would need permission because Mr.G here owns all the design rights. The buck stops there. And no.. HELL NO! the P4/5 is not a "modified Enzo." It's officially recognized by Ferrari as P4/5 by Pininfarina.

Hope I got all that right... (trembles)



-J

 

Definitely a smart move. The P4/5 is literally Mr.G's car and nobody can take that away from him.

 

using exaggeration to demonstrate the unending cycle in latitudes like the Michigan range ~42-47~ the entire city would not be single handedly repaved in one foul swoop.... for one, Detroit doesn't have the funds, nor the organization.... they'd sooner repave the same street 3 times before fixing one that needs help

 

Initially we repositioned a lot of the controls, AC for example to a location I found more useful. After driving her for a while we made futher changes, Rain Light Switch for example. The thing is that while everyone is different I do think there is a logic that if followed makes finding controls by touch when driving and operating them easier. This may be a personal thing with me but I very often find the placement of controls in cars to be slightly off.

I own the intellectual property of Ferrari P 4/5 by Pininfarina excepting of course that Ferrari owns the intellectual property of the underlying components and their badges and logos which are used on the car with their expressed permission and Pininfarina of course owns the rights to their badges which are also used on the car with their express permission. The licencing would have to involve all of us and that makes it complicated. I'm hopeful that one fine day it will be sorted.

 

Thanx for taking the time to reply. Love learning more of the details of this astonishing ride. Really enjoy your references to the driving experience as well.

 

And even then it would be like pouring asphalt into the Grand Canyon. Pointless, and not as much fun for the tourists.



-J

 

It's amazing that it's been seven years. I still remember the day I got Road and Track in the mailbox and saw Mr. Losee's Enzo on the front of it...

Put in that type of perspective, the masterpiece that is the P4/5 impresses more than ever. Shows how far we can come in seven years but also shows how solid and consistent the platforms really are--we can still use a seven year old car at ever increasing performance levels.

Mr. G--I can't remember if someone has asked you this before, but have you thought about upgrading the transmission hardware and/or software?? I know that the Enzo and 599 share the same engine but am unaware if the layout of the transmission is different. Of all improvements to make on the car from a performance perspective, it seems that faster shift times (as much as they say they have increased in the last 7 years) would be obvious.

Thank you for the continued involvement. And that was a good online interview...Saw some pictures from a friend who went down and it looked like quite the show.

Hope the salt disappears soon.

 

What about an FXX transmission? Would this work?



-J

 

The gearbox as is, is fine for me. This is a road car not a race car.

 

I don't know if anyone has asked this already, but ....

1. how many years/months, have you have the car in your possession (after the Enzo was first transformed into your P 4/5)
2. how many miles were on it then?
3. how many miles are on it now?

~shahedc
.

 

Jim - the P4/5 would be a great addition to the Concours d'Elegance at Salon Prive in July (www.salonprivelondon.com)................

 

I'm pretty sure that the Enzo was still new when bought. So I think it just had factory miles on it.

 

1. About 2.5
2. 64 Factory test miles
3. 5500 including many hard ones on the track/Historic Targa Florio/Goodwood FOS.