2015 Ferrari LaFerrari Tested: We Run Numbers on Maranello’s Ultimate Hypercar!

To test the Ferrari LaFerrari, we traveled to Italy to the storied marque’s personal track, Fiorano. Ferrari’s offer you was this: We could either test there—or not at all. We chose to test.

The Fiorano circuit is almost 2 miles long, a thirteen-turn rollercoaster built on what was when Italian farmland. Our usual testing venues, exactly where we gather our zero-to-60-mph instances, quarter-mile acceleration, braking figures, and grip numbers are absolutely nothing like racetracks. Placing a automobile via our battery of tests calls for a extended, flat straight, typically a single much more than a mile in length, as effectively as a 300-foot skidpad to assess lateral acceleration.

But even when we test at our areas, Ferrari doesn’t just let us jump into its automobiles and test them. An engineer watches the proceedings and supplies an often-valuable briefing on the subsystems of the auto, and mechanics are there to swap out tires if needed. When asked why all the bother, Ferrari says it wants the test to go smoothly and being there guarantees that any difficulties that arise can be hammered out that day. Each contemporary Ferrari we’ve tested with the factory’s information also had the automaker’s personal test gear inside the auto to record what we’re doing and, as they inform us, as a backup ought to our own test gear fail. We find this “generosity” entirely unnecessary, however, and, aside from a recent McLaren 650S test, no other manufacturer proctors our standard battery of tests, and we test a lot more than 200 vehicles per year.

The Final results: Apply an Asterisk as You Deem Fit

to 60 mph: 2.5 sec
to 100 mph: 4.8 sec
to 150 mph: 9.8 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 9.8 sec @ 150 mph

Complete disclosure: The Fiorano track introduces main limitations to our usual testing procedures. The straight has a slight kink in it as you pass beneath a bridge, and there’s not a lot space to accelerate beyond the quarter-mile. C/D process calls for operating in 2 directions to offset any prospective elevation modifications and the effects of wind. Fiorano’s straight is ever so slightly downhill, but at least there was tiny to no wind on our test day. Ordinarily, we’d either reject the testing venue or we’d run in each directions and typical the results. Operating the straight in 2 directions is impossible, according to Ferrari, and reversing the FIA-approved racetrack would apparently poke the bureaucratic monster that rules more than Italy. Or we might hit the bridge. Either way, that wasn’t taking place. So we had been unable to average our greatest runs in every path and have to use the ideal in 1 direction right here. The results, we have to note, are uncorrected for ambient conditions, which means they’re representative of what the LaFerrari did on this specific day. It’s the very same policy we applied to our 2003 test of the Enzo, and, in any occasion, the climate correction wouldn’t have affected the LaFerrari numbers a lot at all.

That’s it with the caveats—apply an asterisk as you deem fit—but at Fiorano the LaFerrari developed the quickest acceleration to 150 mph of any production car we’ve ever tested. To 150 mph, the LaFerrari is a full 1.5 seconds quicker than the early Bugatti Veyron 16.4 we tested in 2008. Place up against the Porsche 918 Spyder, the LaFerrari traverses the quarter-mile in the exact same 9.8 seconds, but the Ferrari is going 150 mph at the traps versus the 918’s 145.

Producing the functionality even more exceptional is that the LaFerrari is rear-wheel drive. Ferrari’s launch handle is straightforward to actuate and rips off constant runs, but the 918’s 4-wheel drive gives it an initial advantage. So the LaFerrari’s 2.5-second -to-60 romp cannot match the Porsche’s 2.2-second time to 60 mph. Initial traction gets the 918 to 60 in 114 feet the LaFerrari wants 119. Nevertheless, the LaFerrari is pushing on your chest with a full g of force by means of 70 mph and it does not taper off significantly soon after that. In the rolling 5-to-60-mph test, which removes the aggressive launch, the LaFerrari posted a 3.-second time.

Beyond 60 mph, the 3489-pound LaFerrari’s superior energy-to-weight ratio permits it to commence to pull away from the 3724-pound 918. The Ferrari’s combined 950 horsepower yields a 3.7-pound-per-horsepower ratio each and every of the 918’s horses moves 4.2 pounds. In the Ferrari, the century mark passes in a what-the-hell-was-that 4.8 seconds—one-tenth quicker than the 918. And there’s the aforementioned advantage to 150. At one particular of our regular testing venues, we could have pushed nicely previous 150 mph, but at Fiorano we had to be hard on the brakes a blink after the speedometer indicated that speed.

At least the LaFerrari’s braking numbers don’t call for any hemming or hawing. There’s enough of a flat and even surface ahead of Turn Twelve to carry out our 70-to–mph test. Stops from 70 took only 136 feet, and the LaFerrari hooks to the ground as if it stubbed its toe. Regenerative braking can erase up to .4 g of braking force, but the large carbon-ceramic rotors are the principal retardants. Stops are repeatable and incredibly stable due to the dynamic aero that flips up the air brakes under severe deceleration. Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires created for the LaFerrari are the only rubber available. When asked if Pirelli’s stickier Trofeo R rubber was considered, an engineer quipped, “Our owners may have to drive house in the rain.” A clear criticism of the slick tires that Basic Motors puts on the Camaro Z/28, and not the first time Ferrari personnel commented to us on the Z/28’s rubber. We’ve driven the Z/28 in the rain, although, and it’s not impossible. Which leaves us dreaming of a LaFerrari on Trofeo Rs.

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2015 Ferrari LaFerrari Tested: We Run Numbers on Maranello’s Ultimate Hypercar!