Feast Your Eyes On The New Ferrari

This is Ferrari’s F12tdf, the ultimate expression of the F12 Berlinetta which will be built in a limited run of 799 units.

Ferrari has introduced the special-edition F12tdf, celebrating the historic Tour de France automobile race. The race has not been held since 1986 but Ferrari dominated the race in the 1950s and ’60s, particularly with the 1956 250 GT Berlinetta which won numerous editions.

The engine is the same 6.3-litre V12 as the standard F12, but small tweaks have been made to up power from 730 to 770bhp and achieve a 15Nm increase in maximum torque, bringing the total up to 705Nm.

The F12 TdF is truly HotHardware, boasting 769hp and 520 ft-lbs of torque, 80 percent of which is available at a low, low 2,500 RPM. With innovations like these, perhaps it’s a good time to think about investing in the Italian automaker, now that Ferrari just filed for that IPO under “RACE.”

Taking its name from the classic French road race, as well as the racing Ferraris that were named for their successes on the event, the tdf sits along side the Speciale as the F12’s halo model, as a successor to the 599 GTO. The F12tdf has lapped Ferrari’s Fiorano test track in 1min 21sec – two seconds faster than the regular F12 Berlinetta but not as fast as the LaFerrari’s 1min 19sec. The auto also marks the debut of a new rear-wheel steering system the company labels the Virtual Short Wheelbase. That motor is paired with a revised seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission that features shorter gear ratios along with improved software that has improved upshift and downshift speeds by 30 per cent and 40 per cent respectively. That’s 2 seconds better than the F12 Berlinetta and just 1.3 seconds behind the LaFerrari. Using model-based control logic developed entirely in-house by Ferrari, the rear axle steering automatically adjusts the rear wheels, working out the optimal steering angle as a function of the steering wheel angle, speed of steering inputs and vehicle speed.

In its bid to enhance agility and handling, Ferrari said they have increased the rate of front to rear tyres by 8 percent.

The F12tdf’s aerodynamic efficiency figure is 1.6, nearly double that of the F12berlinetta. Ferrari even says it used aluminum panels rather than carpeted floor mats to save “every last ounce of weight”. The auto also has a rear-wheel steering system that makes the steering more responsive and makes the vehicle quicker and more stable at high cornering speeds.