APRIL 2019 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 7We l c o m e
‘Competition
drives Ferrari
- but it could
do without the
level it currently
faces’
Competition has driven Ferrari since its very
earliest days, when founder Enzo was un-
apologetic in his priorities; building and selling
road cars may have paid the bills but it was
humbling rivals on the track that drove him.
But Ferrari could surely do without the level
of competition it currently faces. In Formula
1, Ferrari would appear to be ‘winning’ the
pre-season tests. But recent experience
suggests Mercedes aren’t a team to worry
much about fast lap times when there are no
points to be won, and that their operational
armour is pretty much without chink. World’s
most complete driver? Check. The fastest car
over a season? Check. A pitwall not given to
race-ruining errors? Check.
No wonder Ferrari ’s been forced to make
some big changes, replacing both its team boss
and one of its drivers – the latter with F1’s Next
Big Thing, Charles Leclerc.
And on the road car side, rivals Lamborghini,
McLaren and now Aston Martin continue to
apply sustained pressure in a year in which – to
put it mildly – Ferrari has quite a bit on. Late
last year it confirmed that the Purosangue
SUV was in development, complete with an
innovative new suspension system able to
marry the apparently contradictory traits of
generous wheel travel and the kind of agility
and body control buyers will expect from a
Ferrari – even a tall, vaguely boxy Ferrari with
a name spectacularly ugly beyond its native
tongue (in which it sounds glorious, obviously).Ben
Miller
EditorStar
contributorsCHINA SPAIN INDIA BRAZIL ITALY TURKEY KOREA GREECEWE’RE ALSO PUBLISHED IN:Then there’s the small matter of its third
engine family – a hybrid-assisted turbo V6 to
join its award-winning turbo V8 and utterly
mesmerising turbo-free V12. Given Porsche
sweated the simple act of having to fit the new
911 with now compulsory exhaust particulate
filters, I can only begin to imagine the
brain-frying complexities around engineering
a new hybrid powertrain from scratch.
Just borrow the F1 team’s powertrain (also a
hybrid V6, of course)? Prohibitively expensive.
Borrow the tech introduced in Ferrari’s first
hybrid, the LaFerrari? Not worth having, I fear.
While that car’s electric motor summoned
a not inconsiderable 161bhp, the LaFerrari’s
silent, electric-only range was measured in
metres, not miles.
Nope, they’ll have to do this one the
old-fashioned way, with blood, sweat and tears.
But the result will be spectacular, of that I’m
sure. LaFerrari, 488 Pista, 812 Superfast – on
current form Maranello’s ability to seamlessly
integrate new technology into an intuitive
driving experience is all but peerless. Just as
well, given the onslaught coming its way.You may have noticed that CAR’s evolved a little
this month. If you haven’t noticed, that’s fine
by us. If you have and you like the new look,
feel and mix of stories, that’s also good news.
You might even want to get involved, either as
part of The shortlist, our new regular road test
in which readers drive the cars they’re thinking
about buying, or One year on, the story of your
first year with your latest buy. Either way, it’d
be good to hear your thoughts – drop us a line
at [email protected]
Enjoy the issue.Not a fan of driver aids, Gavin Green is your
man when you’ve a McLaren to drive in
sub-zero weather. Join him on page 34.Last month he shot hypercars for us. This
month we gave photographer Tom Salt a
Yugo... His astonishing images start on p108.Singer Vehicle Design’s Maz Fawaz is
obsessed with 911s. So is CAR’s Chris
Chilton. Their meeting of minds is on p100.