by Wallace Wyss –
At The Quail this year during Monterey Car Week, the first car I saw when I walked in was a new Ferrari, reportedly conceived as a completely original interpretation of the Sports Prototype concept. It’s called the P80/C.
It was designed at the Ferrari Styling Centre, directed by Flavio Manzoni, working hand in hand with Ferrari’s engineering and aerodynamics teams. In the new spirit of publicizing, there’s even a video of its construction on the internet.
The car looks totally modern but if you look at it long enough you perceive that they were paying attention to capturing the Zeitgeist (soul?) of some of the classic sports prototype racers of the past like the 330 P3/P4 and Dino 206 S of the 1960s.
True to Ferrari tradition, although these were designed for the track, they influenced the road-going Ferraris. Oddly, the P80/C project took one helluva time to get borne, since work started on it four years ago.
To do it they had to spend a lot on additional design and engineering capabilities. In other words, this car wasn’t just for looks—it was a test car to push the envelope so they say “Every element of performance and aerodynamics was meticulously analyzed.”
At least they didn’t have to worry about the lighting laws, or other street regulations, it’s a pure track car, built for those who want to run it on the track, not drive it on the road.
At the entrance to The Quail, A Motor Sport Gathering
It’s based on the Ferrari 488 GT3 but has a longer wheelbase (50mm over the 488 GTB).
If you compared side by side views, it has a more classic layout with its cockpit in the middle of the car, compared to the GT chassis, which is more cab-forward. It also has an elongated rear end, which they think adds powerfully aggressive character.
The fenders merge into the side air intakes. Their goal was to make it look like the cabin is fused with the body. The windscreen is more wraparound like the Sports Prototypes of the past, and in their press release they say “the flying buttresses converging towards the roof seem to make the glasshouse resemble a racing driver’s helmet visor.”
Though it has no headlights, it does have taillights disguised as air vents. They point out that it has a “prominent rear diffuser that almost seems to ‘float’ at the back.”
They again reference their iconic ‘60s race car, the 330 P3/P4, in pointing to the rear engine louvers. Only this car is totally modern, made entirely from carbon-fiber.
Ferrari P80/C – art by Wallace Wyss
The main body is painted in a bright red called Rosso Vero – a name chosen by the client. In contrast to other Ferrari one off cars of recent times that have the buyer’s initials incorporated in the name this is just the P80/C. So we don’t know yet who bought it and brought it to the Quail show in Carmel during Monterey Car Week in 2019. But we’re glad to see Ferrari’s latest work…
Ferrari 488 – art by Wallace Wyss
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR/ARTIST: Wallace Wyss was inspired enough by the Ferrari P80/C PR shots to do a painting. Details for ordering at mendoart7@gmail.com
According to a FerrariChat member, this one-off has been specially created for @mr_tk and was delivered by Blackbird Concessionaries in Hong Kong. See https://www.coachbuild.com/2/index.php/news/modern-coachbuilds/131-ferrari-special-projects-all-cars-listing#SP-P80-C
So the practice of incorporating one’s initials into the name of a custom Ferrari isn’t a hard and fast rule (I was kinda looking forward to the Ferrari WW) I like the way Ferrari has their customer-influenced one-offs serve as prototypes for their own future designs. Why don’t we do that in the U.S.? Hey, GM, why didn’t you ask me how the new Corvette should look?
Eric Clapton started this one-off craze a while back?
Money will make money..no way you can lose!
Ferrari Special Projects made a few before Clapton
s Boxer themed re-do. One was for a New York money man who ordered a “golden Ferrrari” inspired by one in a Fellini movie.Another was an order from an American who wanted a car that was inspired by the P3/4 race car. He got it, called the P4/5. But later he and Ferrari went their different ways and he is spending money trying to build exotics under his his own name. I believe Porsche is trying to get a similar operation going where the customer dictate the car.
The GoldenCar, a Navarro Special, was at Concorso a few years back. More photos here: https://mycarquest.com/2013/10/ferrari-drogo-goldencar-navarro-special-nart.html
That has to be the ugliest Ferrari. Cheated after Ferrari had built it their way I think. Here’s a dilemma, he or she could rebody it to make it look stock in which case it will look like all the others or keep it looking this way and be unique, (and ugly)