F40 meets a legend

Was hugely lucky to spend nearly 3 days with Mr Leonardo Fioravanti and I thought some would appreciate this picture.

I found Mr Fioravanti to be a truly humble man, his ability to talk design in a language someone like me can understand was really impressive. His passion for Ferrari is immense as he said to me "Ferrari is my life, we are friends, friends because our passion and love of Ferrari".
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Didn't know who he was so I looked him up. Wow.....he's responsible for about every F-car design that I ever drooled over. The fact he penned the 288 GTO and F40 is staggering to me. Amazing talent.

 

Very cool!

 

Ferrari should entice him out of retirement.

 

Very cool.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

+1 on what Traveller said

 

Very cool to see this picture. A great man.

 

Interesting to note he designed part of the 458..everything above the belt line.

 

Great style and with just a bit of cuff showing...

 

Christian, I tried to send you a PM regarding the GTO book but your box is full

 

My thoughts exactly!

 

His comment on the F40 "the brakes ah, they are not so good".

It was extremely interesting to hear his thoughts on current Ferrari designs as well as get a true understanding of how large an undertaking SP1 was.

 

what was the event? I would love to hear his thoughts on today's designs, do tell!

 

Important part of Ferrari history. amazing designs on some of my favorite cars. They don't make 'em like that anymore

 

It was a Ferrari Club event, we brought him out to South Africa to celebrate 40 years since the 308 was unveiled in Paris and there were a number of events around this, including a few lunches and dinners. I got to spend quite a bit of time with him and will post more about this in the general section.

 

Very neat.

 

Incredible!

 

I was unsure of what to expect when I met Leonardo Fioravanti for the first time last Saturday but what I found was a humble man and a man absolutely passionate about Ferrari.

Sitting next to him at 2 lunches and a dinner I was able to gain some valuable insight into his thoughts about design.

Asked him about the 275 GTB and he actually mentioned he did not like the design because of the rather straight line that runs along belt line and the rear treatment which finishes too early.

Lusso he reckons is really beautiful, apart from the chrome around the rear window.

What was fascination was hearing how he learnt to drive cars quickly. His teacher was Mike Parks and back in those days he was involved not only in the design of the cars but also in the testing part, the 308 for example he designed and helped test.

His thoughts on current Ferrari design was interesting to say the least....

 

And those thoughts are.....?

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It would be most salient to hear his expert opinion on the work done by Mr Manzoni and his team at Ferrari Stile!

 

I asked this question and what he thought of Ferrari moving away from Pininfarina. The answer was incredibly long and complicated but he seems to infer that the modern sports cars are too aggressive in their design, there is an absence of elegance to the overall shape. When asked what was the last Ferrari he called beautiful, he mentioned that each has beautiful aspects when I asked him about overall he changed the subject.

Furthermore I asked if he thought aerodynamics had negatively effected elegance and he agreed to a point but pointed out that elegant solutions are available.

Spent quite a lot of time talking about SP1 and how the whole Special Projects Division was started.

When it came to the 308 he mentioned that there are usually always things one would change and in this instance he believed if the nose was perhaps 5cm shorter the car would be more elegant in look.

Daytona "I would not change a single thing with the design"

 

Thank you for the details Jacques!

I think a lot of design today is about playing it 'safe' with millions of dollars on the line. Government rules also meddle in the design decisions to.

Ironically it was LdM though who was pushing for more boldness in Ferrari designs. Even though he has left; his influence on future designs will be interesting to see. The first big design move will be the California replacement...

 

Another interesting thing he told me is that unsurprisingly today most designs are dictated by people who know nothing about design, i.e. the marketing department.

 

Interesting information from someone 'in the business' for a long time!

 

To my eye, that much is clear.