On this episode of Ignition
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 Introducing the LaFerrari.
00:03 Ferrari builds cars like this roughly once every decade.
00:06 And this one accomplishes three feats
00:08 of appropriate magnitude.
00:10 One, with 950 horsepower combined,
00:13 it's the most powerful Ferrari ever.
00:16 Two, it's the first hybrid Ferrari ever.
00:19 And three, it's named after the company.
00:22 And you thought the Enzo had shoes to fill.
00:25 As you'd expect, it represents the top tier
00:27 of Ferrari technology. The carbon fiber tub, for example,
00:31 is built by the same team that makes the Formula One cars.
00:34 And it's baked in the same autoclaves.
00:37 Our time behind the wheel took place over a brief day
00:40 at Ferrari's home court, the morning
00:42 at the 1.9 mile Fiorano development track,
00:45 and the afternoon on the mountain roads
00:46 surrounding the factory.
00:47 [ENGINE REVVING]
01:17 We only had roughly eight laps at Fiorano.
01:20 But it was impressive how easy the LaFerrari was to drive.
01:24 Not to say it was unintimidating.
01:25 You're certainly aware of the awesome power.
01:28 But the learning curve felt approachable.
01:30 [ENGINE REVVING]
01:33 So I've just done a lapping session in the LaFerrari.
01:37 And it's a hell of a car.
01:41 Yeah, there's pretty much ridiculous power everywhere.
01:44 But it's the power delivery that's so interesting.
01:50 The e-motor that's working on the differential,
01:53 the transaxle, just applies this immediacy to the throttle
01:58 response that I didn't believe that this V12 needed
02:03 before driving the car.
02:04 But now I'm a huge fan of it.
02:06 Because it just makes the engine feel so much more powerful.
02:11 Like right there, just that instantaneous throttle
02:15 response.
02:17 And this engine was already powerful.
02:18 But now it just seems even more.
02:21 The other really interesting thing is the steering feel.
02:28 It's kind of big.
02:29 Has a big area on the center to play with.
02:33 But once you start dialing in steering angle,
02:37 the gain is really quick in that it
02:42 seems to turn exponentially more aggressive the more you
02:46 turn the wheel.
02:48 Such that you're doing like a quarter turn
02:50 to basically do a 180.
02:52 Like I'm about a quarter there on a decently long corner.
02:58 It's crazy.
03:04 I can dive on the brakes at 260k there,
03:08 having done three laps in the car total.
03:11 And that's fine.
03:12 I do that without a problem.
03:15 I always forget there's a turn there.
03:16 This thing is phenomenal.
03:21 Woo-hoo!
03:22 And this car very much makes you feel good about yourself.
03:30 [ENGINE REVVING]
03:34 The LaFerrari looks deceivingly small.
03:37 It's actually longer and wider than the McLaren P1
03:40 and Porsche 918, though it's shorter in height than both.
03:44 It's a beautiful car in detail, from the side view
03:46 mirrors to the accentuated black body gap that evokes
03:49 all the great Ferraris--
03:50 288 GTO, F40, and F50, and so on.
03:54 My favorite part is the rear, how the black line
03:57 meets the taillights, how the exhaust pipes poke out
04:00 to the lower wings, and of course,
04:02 the F1 light at the bottom.
04:04 As a whole, it has this eye-catching and somewhat
04:06 alien aura, looking like a product of Ferrari
04:09 from the year 2025.
04:15 Ferrari claims 0 to 60 acceleration
04:18 takes less than three seconds, a cautious estimate,
04:20 especially compared to the McLaren P1 we tested.
04:24 I brought along our trusty V-Box to validate Ferrari's
04:26 performance claims, but the company
04:28 refused to let us test the car.
04:31 We'll have to wait and test one later.
04:32 So typically, when you do these things,
04:51 drive some Italian supercar on the road,
04:53 you realize it's just an exercise of frustration.
04:55 Roads are too tight, you have too much power,
04:58 and you can't really do anything that's fun.
05:00 It's very different in this car, and that's crazy.
05:08 This is a 950 horsepower Ferrari,
05:10 and I'm finding I enjoy it on the road a lot for reasons
05:17 like that.
05:19 Stability control's smart.
05:21 It gives me the amount of control I want.
05:23 The trans is shifting pretty much where
05:25 I'd want it to for this road.
05:27 I'm staying right in the torque.
05:30 I'm having a great time.
05:31 And this is a weird experience, considering
05:34 that Ferrari has spent so much time
05:36 on the ergonomics of this car, and they've got it right.
05:39 When has Ferrari ever cared about ergonomics?
05:42 And here we are in a car that nails it.
05:46 First, having no seat structure, the seats
05:49 just bolted right to the tub.
05:51 And that means your body's just part of what the chassis is
05:54 doing.
05:55 Your body's feeling everything.
05:57 You can sense every action of the car right
05:59 through the seat.
06:00 There's no structure to dampen out those forces.
06:04 It's quite an impressive feat that the car as a whole
06:07 feels so solid and controllable and easy to drive.
06:11 It's really amazing.
06:12 This thing drives so well on the road.
06:18 I almost prefer doing this than driving it on the racetrack.
06:21 So much fun to hustle this valuable, this powerful,
06:25 this technological of a car along a mountain road.
06:29 It's really good.
06:32 Of course, the LaFerrari would perform excellently
06:35 on the racetrack and roads it was developed on.
06:38 But even with that in mind, I didn't
06:39 want to stop driving it.
06:41 The performance was everything you'd hoped.
06:43 Stunning acceleration, consistent and powerful
06:46 braking, and high lateral limits.
06:49 But as spectacular as those parts were,
06:51 it was LaFerrari's sheer usability on the road
06:54 that impressed most.
06:56 As we were wrapping the day's shoot,
06:57 the thought entered my brain.
06:59 This may be the best road car I've ever driven.
07:01 There we go.
07:06 [ENGINE REVVING]
07:10 [LAUGHTER]
07:13 And you look over and you see some villa
07:19 off in the Italian countryside.
07:20 You go, oh yes, all is right in the world.