First Drive: 2023 Ferrari Daytona SP3 “Icona”

content of the article

Pretty much every auto journalist I spoke to initially thought that Ferrari’s latest SP3 Icona was intended as a homage to the 1968-’73 365 GTB/4. Except, of course, that there is absolutely no resemblance to the famous Daytona – which Ferrari absolutely claims has never been officially called the ‘Daytona’, instead insisting it was given that moniker by the media – the 365 is a shark-nosed, Front-engined grand tourer, while the new SP3 version of the Daytona is a classic mid-engined cab supercar. The only thing they have in common is that both are (were) available in red.

content of the article

Rather, the icon this Icona is trying to emulate – or rather, the iconic moment it’s based on – is the 1967 24 Hours of Daytona. You may remember it – and if you don’t, you see Just look at James Mangold’s 2019 Oscar winner Ford versus Ferrari – that Ferrari’s butt was kicked at Le Mans in 1966, the might of Maranello succumbing to the muscles of Michigan in the form of Ford’s famous GT 40 Mk II.

Ferrari’s response was immediate. Aerodynamics, never an Enzo priority, suddenly became important. Ditto the brakes. They even found a way to unleash another 30 horsepower by adding a second intake valve to the cylinder head of the big 4.0-liter V12. Come next spring at the world’s most famous oval – the 24 Hours of Daytona – Ferrari dominated, taking all three podiums and even, cue to another famous scene from Matt Damon’s classic, all three Ferraris defeating each other on the final lap ready for a race photo. It was literally il Commendatore middle-finger salute to Henry Ford II, the wound from 1966 apparently still fresh enough in Maranello’s memory that the icons the SP3 Daytona is said to be saluting are the first-placed Bandini/Amon 330 P3/4 as well as the 330 P4 and 412 P rounded out the podium.

content of the article

content of the article

An electric motor is not in sight

Hybrids have been grabbing all the attention at Maranello lately as Ferrari – and the rest of the world’s supercars – desperately try to marry electrification while still retaining the sonic appeal of the internal combustion engine.

Except SP3. With hardly a Lithium-Ion in sight – apart from the huge 60Ah battery it takes to spin 12 94-millimeter, 13.5:1 high-compression pistons – Daytona is spark ignition in its purest form. The 6.5-liter V12 is essentially differentiated from the 812 Competizione, but there are 10 more horses available thanks to revised intake and exhaust ducting necessitated by the midships move.

That makes a total of 828 hp, and pretty much all of that is only available when the engine screams. Maximum power is around 9,250 rpm and the F140HC tops out at 9,500 if you spin the wheels in the lower gears. And since all 12 of those pistons are right behind your ear, you’ll hear pretty much every last decibel of the combustion process. These include some very historical tracks that pop and thump when driven over, a soundtrack intentionally programmed into the Daytona’s ‘Race’ mode as another reminder of the golden age of internal combustion engines, when fuel mixtures were rich and mufflers weak . If you’re looking for some listening pleasure, the SP3 is pretty much the most exciting Ferrari since the 458.

content of the article

And doesn’t it shift its butt quite a bit too. But 100 kilometers per hour takes 2.85 seconds, and the top speed is around 340 kilometers per hour. That makes it only marginally quicker than Ferrari’s new 296 GTB, a car with just six cylinders – turbocharged, of course, but boosted by a high-torque 123-kilowatt electric motor. If anything, the “smaller” 296 probably comes out of the “hole” a little more adeptly than the big SP3, but once the big V12 starts singing, that’s all she wrote. No matter where its future lies – and even Ferrari admits the future is electrified – the most iconic powerplant from Maranello is the V12. The SP3 does not disappoint.

content of the article

content of the article

The handling is, well, iconic

There it seemed for a while that Ferrari was going mainstream with its chassis development, the hyperactivity of the peerless 458 giving way to the McLaren-like stability of the 488. Oversteer was banned, steering ratios were stiffened and, well, the cars got a little benign – hardly an attribute that conjures up phantasms from the past of the jumping horses.

Not the SP3 Daytona. Like a 458 on anabolic steroids, the big V12 leaps at tips like a politician to a photo op. Steering is light, lag-free and oh-so-precise. Given its head — and those 828 horses — the rear end will kick out just fine, but the front end will remain glued to the road. Oh, to be sure, there are enough electronic traction alerts to ensure the craze doesn’t throw 2.2 million worth of greenbacks in the trash. Based on the LaFerrari’s carbon fiber tub, the chassis is the definition of rigid, an absolute necessity when you’re heading towards the evil side of 300mph. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you if it’s faster than the 296, or delight you with tales of how they pushed the Pirelli PZero Corsas – 265/30ZR20 up front and 345/30ZR21 in the rear – to their limits, because it was me of Germany famous Hockenheimring, we were under a strictly enforced curfew of 70 kilometers per hour. Maybe next time when the parents aren’t around.

content of the article

content of the article

As for the more pedestrian stuff…

The 2023 SP3 Daytona will cost you – as if you could buy another one – around $2,218,935. That works, on August 1st^St Exchange rates at around $2.85 Crazy, give or take a Fed rate hike or two. If you have already ordered one, expect next year’s May 2023 for the earliest delivery.

Like most modern Ferraris, the SP3’s cabin is fairly civilized (which is almost certainly its biggest departure from the icons it’s based on). The seats are fairly comfortable, although lacking any adjustment (like a real race car, the driving position is changed by changing the position of the brake and accelerator pedals). There’s even a “rough road” setting for the adjustable suspension, something these legendary ’67 racers certainly didn’t like.

content of the article

Ferrari’s latest infotainment system is on board, including an excellent navigation system, and no, you won’t be cooking in your own juices like the aforementioned P3 and P4, as the air conditioning is quite capable, even the youngest to cool heat wave in Europe. Indeed, the only thing that remains as Ferrariism – I’d say a quintessentially Italian quirk, but progressive police would certainly come after me – is that the wing mirrors require Job’s patience to adjust. It may purport to be iconic, but the SP3 is modern through and through.

But is it nice?

Like all homages to past classics, the SP3 will live and die by its looks, despite its incredible performance and unquestioned capabilities. That means it will only become iconic if its form stands the test of time under the stewardship of Ferrari design chief Flavio Manzoni. Roughly speaking, this is a Ferrari built for the catwalk and will long be judged on its beauty.

content of the article

So does it pass the pattern? Well, yes and no. I would tell you that images really don’t do it justice, even the ones rendered so professionally for this article. Every time I look at this car in pictures, I think all I see are these seemingly fancy stripes that adorn both the front and rear fascias. Maybe they add to the aerodynamic profile – the SP3 generates about 500 pounds of downforce over 125 mph – or maybe there’s an aesthetic principle with blinds and Ferraris that I don’t get. But in pictures the dominance of these horizontal lines – especially in the rear – is striking.

In the flesh, however, they seem to fade to insignificance, their awkwardness overshadowed by the near-perfect lines of the wraparound windshield and their muscular hips. It’s these strips that best capture the essence of this 330’s past, their organic form an antidote to the strictly scientific wedges that supercars have become. Throw in some whale-tail spoiler action, borrowed from the long-sleeved iconic 512 M, and you really have all the essential styling cues of the glamorous 1970s.

And that ultimately decides whether the SP3 Daytona will be an icon itself in 20, 30 or even 40 years.