28 November 2017
It has an output of 800 PS and 12 cylinders: this explains the name of the most powerful road-going Ferrari of all time, the 812 Superfast. But it is not just a question of numbers, and record-breaking performance: from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in 2.9 seconds and a top speed of 211 mph (340 km/h). The 812 is an all-round hypercar: design, mechanics, electronics and aerodynamics are all of the same highest level. Completely new features include the Virtual Short Wheelbase (PCV) system, an advanced four-wheel steering mode which makes the rear wheels work in phase, almost always, or in counter-phase, hardly ever, with the angle of turn. Then there is “a line conceived by aerodynamics,” as Flavio Manzoni, the manufacturer’s senior vice president design, put it to us, that gives an incisive boost to the traction. The 812 is extremely agile and reactive in curves, almost as if it were a car of compact size, and the speed that it reaches through a bend will leave you gaping. This is due, in part, to the three flaps that control the downforce of the rear spreader, opening or closing according to need. And even the enveloping wheel arches are not there for purely aesthetic reasons: they channel the air flows and stabilize the dynamic behavior of the Superfast. The well-known Manettino dial that can be used to adjust the suspension, engine, electronic differential, traction control and stability helps to make the driving experience a highly flexible one: comfortable, perhaps for the most traditional of Sunday outings, or forceful, when the more aggressive settings are chosen: Race, CT Off, ESC Off. Then the V12 with its displacement of 6.496 cc revs up with an impressive noise and grit, approaching 9000 rpm, and the torque of 718 Nm pushes you forward with titanic force. And in any case there is always the sensation of a special, safe relationship with the 812; the driver never has the impression of losing control at the wheel, thanks in part to the electric power steering, an absolute first for Ferrari, which intervenes in an intelligent way on the basis of the intensity of the torque. A unique car: sensual and high-tech, right up to date and traditional at the same time.
