Does the Ferrari F12tdf tear back the hypercar crown?

When we first drove the magnificent Ferrari F12 Berlinetta earlier this year it left a series of unforgettable impressions. The hyperbolic super coupe is fabulously pretty, it makes a sound that your instincts tell you should be afraid of, and it is very good at converting lots and lots of petrol into carbon dioxide.

More memorably than anything though, the Ferrari F12 is fast. Extraordinarily, demonically and savagely fast. But that didn’t stop the Maranello master engineers chucking back a few grappas and then deciding they should make the F12 even faster. Gosh we love the Italians.

It has more vents, downforce, carbon-fibre, power, torque and presence. The F12tdf is the most potent non-hybrid Ferrari to date.

Built to celebrate the Tour de France street race that Ferrari dominated in the 1950s, the vicious F12tdf starts the combination of ‘standard’ Berlinetta 546kW 6.3-litre, V12 rear-drive chassis and gorgeous coupe body as a basis and then adds a little skunkworks magic.

Ferrari’s XX development program has previously only produced vehicles so potent that they were confined to private roads and circuits, but not the tdf. It has XX blood in its veins and a rego sticker on its windscreen.

No, no not the bicycle race. The Tour de France was also a motor race held from the early 1900s and, with its potent road cars, Ferrari embarrassed a lot of other performance vehicle brands.

Pure XX race-cars require a trained driver to rein the monstrous potential when at the wheel, but the F12tdf has been engineered to allow less experienced motorists to enjoy its full performance – an attribute essential to win the Tour de France, according to the Italian car-maker.

At its core, the F12tdf is powered by a naturally aspirated V12 that has found 29 extra kilowatts and 15 more newton meters over the regular F12, thanks to solid valve lifters in place of hydraulic versions, and variable inlet trumpets like an F1 car.

Those measures have pushed the rev limit to an almost absurd 8900 rpm. That is an almost motorcycle-like engine speed coming from a motor about six times larger than the average bike engine.

No turbos here, just revs. The 6.3-litre 65-degree V12 is art for the eyes and music to the ears.

With 705Nm and 574kW squared away for the F12tdf, engineers looked at how to increase performance further by stripping superfluous kit and weight. For the tdf, carbon-fibre is used more extensively, lighter Alcantara and aluminium replaces weightier leather and conventional materials, while padding fills storage areas.

The tdf’s massive carbon-ceramic brake discs are also very lightweight and scrub speed more consistently that iron rotors, while the single piece callipers that pinch them save more weight and have only been fitted to one other road-going Ferrari — the LaFerrari hyper hybrid.

Coming to a standstill in the F12tdf from 100km/h takes just 30 meters and only 121 meters from 200km/h, but stopping one of Ferrari’s most exhilarating cars to date isn’t what you really want to know is it?

The F12tdf made its public debut at the Finali Mondiali Ferrari Challenge race meeting on November 5 and it is understood that the Italian car-maker has already received significant interest in the car.

With all the XX team tweaks, the highly exclusive F12tdf will flash to 100km/h from zero in a delicious 2.9 seconds and double that in just 7.9 seconds. Top speed is “in excess of 340km/h.”

But straight line speed is only half the point of a race-bred road car, and with significant chassis modifications, the tdf is quicker in the twisty bits too.

Ferrari's Virtual Short Wheelbase rear-wheel steering system counters the car's tendency to oversteer caused by its wider 275 front tyres – now 10 inches across, while sharpening the turn-in and mid-corner grip.

Traction is also boosted by a more aerodynamic body which adds another 107kg of downforce to the total 123kg of the F12 Berlinetta, increasing grip and stability at high speed. That’s like carrying around 12 bags of cement at 200km/h.

Ferrari’s beautiful 250 GT won the Tour de France Automobile every year between 1956 and 1962. In 1963 and 1964 the incredibly rare 250 GTO continued the winning streak. This was the first to win and recently sold for $13.2 million. Photo: Sotheby's.

The added downforce is produced by a heavily modified front bumper, front and rear wings, bonnet and rear spoiler, which is 60mm longer and sits 30mm higher above the rear end.

Three active flaps in the rear diffuser alter underbody air-flow depending on road speed and adds to the aerodynamic changes as well as bringing a new overall look to the F12 exterior.

The seven-speed F1 DCT dual-clutch transmission is largely the same as the unit linking the engine to the rear wheels in the Berlinetta, but has been “optimised” with six per cent shorter gear ratios and operates 30 per cent faster when shifting up and 40 per cent quicker downshifting.

Ferraris that have anything to do with the XX development program are usually hardcore stripped-out racers, but the F12tdf retains some comforts of the F12 Berlinetta.

But all these figures on paper are so far from day-to-day road car ability it is hard to understand just what the F12tdf can do, so let’s give it some context. With the extra power, torque, fettled chassis and reduced weight the new model cracked out a lap at the Fiorano test track in a staggering one minute 21 seconds.

For comparison only the LaFerrari has gone quicker with a one minute 19.7-second lap.

Want one? Yes so do we but you would be very lucky to get your hands on one because Ferrari is limiting the tdf to just 799 worldwide and like many very exclusive prancing horse models, only favoured customers will be invited to purchase.

Extensive aerodynamic alterations such as front and rear diffusers, larger rear spoiler and lots of extra vents, stabilise the F12tdf at speed.

The new F12 variant joins the list of Australia's most exclusive limited edition versions of already potent supercars, such as ultra-rare versions of Lamborghini's Aventador and the McLaren 650S.

It is not known how many will be rolled out for Australia, but the local price reveals one final interesting feature of the F12tdf. At $808,888 the vicious Ferrari is clearly being aimed at superstitious Chinese buyers, many of whom place great significance on the figure 8 as a symbol of good luck.

We are not superstitious, but If you end up with a Ferrari F12tdf in your garage, we would say that is pretty good luck too.

Daniel Gardner GoAuto.com.au

Protect your Ferrari. Call Shannons Insurance on 13 46 46 to get a quote today.