Ferrari F80

this legendary high development cost of V12 is total BS

 

Do the maths, selling price x799 units, minus maybe 1mil tops bom cost per car and this leaves plenty for development and profit margin.

 

I was really good at math as kid
first: this new V12/v10 engine would be also in future SP cars and regular front engine cars
second: how could Gordon Murrey affor develop new engine when he just start his bussines and have such low production numbers? maybe we should start GO FUND ME for guys from Maranello? all this talk about cost is bad joke

 

Because the manufacturer in question is 100% committed to increasing their profit margins further and further, even though their existing margins are massively above every other manufacturer's (and have been for a very long time).

 

Developing a new engine is expensive, very expensive. That said, the thorough re-engineering of the V6 found in the F80 couldn't have been much cheaper. The reason for utilising a V6 was the marketing connection with the racing programmes and the technology transfer from racing in general. The fact that this technology can also be applied to other road cars must have played a part too. The Vakyrie and its V12 are amazing. Just try to understand that Ferrari is trying to do something different with the F80. Don't judge a book by its cover.

 

Today in an opinion column TopGear published an article written by Jethro Bovingdon in which he begins by asking the following question “does anyone really care about the McLaren W1 and Ferrari F80?

JB starts by saying “The W1 and F80 are two prestigious hypercars, yet the pursuit of more makes them seem somehow predictable, and forgettable”.
In the end he concludes: “The question is, does anyone care? Don't get me wrong. The idea of driving a W1 or F80 is thrilling. The performance is mind scrambling and there's little doubt both will provide an industrial sized shot of adrenaline to the nervous system. But maybe the game has changed. The search for ‘more’ is surely a dead end? Nobody needs to go as fast as a McLaren 750S or Ferrari 296 GTB, let alone these new creations. Performance is a drug, no question. But when you can’t access it for more than a split second on the road, isn’t it a bit of a buzzkill?”

Although the F80 and W1 are the super juice in terms of power, neither of them is an F1 or LMH because if they were, they would never be road legal. Even with other Ferraris that are older and less performing and less faster than the F80 and the W1, the performance they are capable of can’t be accessed on the vast majority of roads. However, some of these Ferraris are capable of providing all the emotion and drama one could ask for. IMO that feeling was due to the combination of performance with several other factors that seem to have disappeared in many of the newer models.

 

Opinions are like...

 

I wish Ferrari and Mclaren did what Gordon Murray did with the T50. Add lightness. NA V12 with no batteries. Make the driver be properly involved.

 

F80 could have been more interesting, if it were like

1. 1 seater
2. 1400kg without front motor
3. 11000rpm
4. Super short 10 speed gearbox

this would have been like tdf of hypercar. Dare to try esc off, and it will bite your head off kinda car.

 

I think this is a very fair and familiar opinion. Similar has been said about other models, like the SF90 for example. I have some sympathy with it as a view. Our Spyder RS is so good and easy to use, it’s also ‘thrilling’, a word he used to describe the F80 and W1. There are far more occasions when you can use and enjoy such a car, without huge attention.

I once remember the husband of a British mountain climber, interviewed after she had just died climbing a difficult mountain. The interviewer’s tone was ‘you have a young child, wasn’t this a waste? Why did she do it?’ The husband answered “because it was there”. He seemed to understand and accept that this was part of who his wife was and he knew the risks. There is something in humans about ‘because it’s there’ or ‘because we can’. I think that’s part of the reason cars like the F80 will always hold an appeal. It’s not logical (but neither is losing your life climbing as also happened to a friend of mine) but who’s to say whether it’s sensible? Only each individual can decide that. The pinnacle of what’s possible in a road car, or even the thought that you are getting the pinnacle of what’s possible, holds an appeal. To be able to drive it for yourself, technology that is usually reserved for more gifted drivers, is quite a thing.

With a car like the F80, that feeling of not maximising is further increased. As is the specialness. It’s an irony. We are obsessed with these cars, precisely because they are unattainable - by which I mean because of price and tech but also because of their ability exceeding our capacity to use them.

 

I think Ferrari considered this matter more than McLaren by focusing on road holding and predictability over the absolute power. The 3-litre V6 is enough for them. Funnily though, because of this approach, F80 is likely to be the faster one on most road driving situations.

 

To take a wristwatch analogy.

The F80 and W1 are the like a Patek 5207, a grand complication with a minute repeater, tourbillion, and perpetual calendar.

Is it cool? Absolutely. Is it a major flex by Patek? Sure. But is it a watch that one really wants to wear on any sort of semi-regular basis? Probably not.

Most people, if we are talking Pateks, would actually prefer a steel Patek like the 5711, which is cheaper than a 5207 (MSRP to MSRP) by probably a factor of 10, but on the secondary market the 5711 probably command a 10x "want" factor over the 5207.

Same with cars. Most people would probably just rather have a SP3 or F12TdF or 812Comp (Ferrari) or a 765LT or 750 or Senna (Mclaren)

 

Looking at the various models that preceded the F80 since 1984, there is a common denominator between them. All were supercars that represented the pinnacle of cutting-edge technology and innovation of their eras employing the most advanced technological solutions available to maximize performance. It would be strange if the F80's concept was different from that of previous supercars and that's why its architecture and engine were inspired by top-level racing. For me the F80 is what it had to be and not what we would eventually like it to be.

However, something completely different are other hybrid Ferraris that preceded the LaFerrari such as the SF90, which was the brand's more performant model when it was launched. The SF90 did not have to follow the trends of top-level racers like the F80, but above all it should have been capable of providing all the emotion and drama a Ferrari can. IMO the SF90 could have been a different and much more emotional car, so Ferrari would have wanted it to be, but it didn't, and that's why it took refuge in that theory that down-sizing the engine was essential in the case of hybrids. . To a certain extent, Ferrari even contradicted itself in relation to what it had already achieved with the LaFerrari. What is a fact is that Lamborghini in 2023 presented the Revuelto, which in essence is a modern version of what Ferrari achieved in 2013 with the LaFerrari.

 

Thanks for your feedback.
Personally, I did read the full technical press release and I agree with you: the F80 is a technical powerhouse, by far one of the most technically complex road cars ever conceived.
Point is, there are so many more hints which the full technical data do not reveal and which would be possible to be discovered only with direct feedback from engineers and designers.
Hence why I am very interested in the opinion of persons like you who had the chance to discuss with them "beyond the curtains" and saw the car in person.
Would you maybe like to share more details on this? For example, you mentioned the comparison with the W1: how was that generally perceived internally by people in Ferrari?

 

Looks good from this angle:

https://www.thesupercarblog.com/ferrari-f80-spotted-at-times-square-ahead-of-us-tour/

 

A TopGear video published today with a competent analysis of the F80 and also of the W1 and a Porsche named Mission X.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/DFIt8pRJzP8/

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

more https://www.facebook.com/share/14tQNhp2Q8/

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
hd https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GiGgNpRawAAulIF?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GiGgNpPakAACT0q?format=jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GiGgNpQbAAAvbcr?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GiGgNpQb0AEyMAA?format=jpg&name=large
more https://www.instagram.com/izaac.autophotos/p/DE6OnC0NV_D/?img_index=1

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/pPpB7x3sSrY?si=U644jDcvuTD77NOO

 

Just dropping the black mask his a long way.

But this looks amazing!

Can't wait to see how folks spec them.

 

And the wheels are so much nicer.

 

Saw the F80 for the first time today in person, the car is striking but also quirky, but has considerable presence.

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I love it!

 

Looks fantastic in these real life pictures.