FERR ARI SF90 XX
XX badge gets a rare outing, and its first on a road-legal Ferrari
It’s loud, vicious and a little bit scary the first few times you pin the throttle pedal
It’s not often that Ferrari pulls the covers off an addition to its extreme XX series of cars and it’s even less often that it comes out wearing a set of number plates. The SF90 XX Stradale (and Spider – it’s available as a convertible, too) is the first road-legal XX, and Maranello will be making 1398 examples for its most valued customers. With a starting price of £673,584 for the Stradale, that works out at nearly a billion pounds of revenue for a model line that previously sold in far smaller numbers.
But, money aside, there are plenty of other interesting figures. A twin-turbo 4.0-litre with triple e-motor assistance that makes 1016bhp (up 30bhp from the regular SF90) is some going. Zero to 62mph flashes up in 2.3 seconds while 0-124mph takes just 6.7 seconds (quicker than a Bugatti Veyron). Top speed is down on the non-XX SF90 at 199mph because of some hefty aero tweaks.
Combustion-chamber efficiency has benefit from polished inlet and exhaust ducts, as well as increasing the compression ratio with new pistons and some clever machining of the chamber.
In order to maximise thrust throughout the rev range, the driver has up to 30 short bursts of additional EV power that are automatically deployed at the optimum moment for reducing lap times. Ferrari reckons it’s worth 0.25 seconds around Fiorano, which may not sound much, but the feeling of additional power is tangible. Together with redesigned shift logic on the eight-speed dual-clutch ’box (from the Daytona SP3), the extra boost kicks you in the back just when you think your internal organs are in line for some respite from the 786bhp V8. It’s loud, vicious and a little bit scary the first few times you pin the SF90 XX’s throttle pedal. But boy is it an experience.
For outright lap times, though, the aero is where the biggest gains have been made. Through a combination of wings, fins and louvres, the XX delivers double the total downforce of the regular SF90. At 155mph, the giant rear wing can generate 315kg of push over the rear end, while S-Ducts in the bonnet help deliver 20 per cent more front downforce. There’s also inspiration from the Nürburgring 24 Hours-winning 296 GT3 car in the cooling, and anew underbody further improves aero ability.
On a circu
