CRIMSON CRESCENDO

Hold your prancing horses and take a moment to gawk at Ferrari’s latest unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show.

Gawk at Ferrari’s latest unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show.

It’s Ferrari’s platinum jubilee this year, and it’s crossing the 70-year finishing line with a fiery statement piece: the 812 Superfast. Top performance specs aside, the cherry-coloured beast is Ferrari’s closing act of an era dominated by naturally aspirated v12 engines – the engineering marvels which produced some of the richest and most octane-pumping roars on the roads. Subsequent Ferraris are going turbo to meet stringent emissions standards set by the European Union. Boring. Once you’ve got over the barefaced name ( hey, at least it’s less selfabsorbed than “LaFerrari”) and looked under the hood, you’ll realise it isn’t just a whimsical title. Powered by a 6.5L v12 engine, the Superfast is capable of revving up to 8,500 rpm, achieving an eye-watering peak of 718Nm of torque at 7,000 rpm. The result is a sprint to 100kmh in three seconds flat, alongside a theoretical top speed of 339kmh.

A host of engineering firsts for the Italian marque debuted on this car, presumably to balance out its raw power. It’s the first Ferrari to sport four-wheel electronic power steering for better handling, and comes outfitted with the latest Side Slip Control system to maximise grip and driver confidence. An unprecedented bypass in the rear end is among the aerodynamic tweaks that generate downforce to keep this devil’s wheels grounded.

This last hurrah will be dressed in a new shade of the iconic Ferrari red palette with an interesting name: Rosso Settanta (Italian for “Red Seventy”). No prizes for guessing why.