IT’S 1971, AND ENZO FERRARI HAS A PROBLEM
Racecar shakedowns at his factory’s local track are no longer an option Ever faster machines are igniting safety concerns at the antiquated Autodromo di Modena and whenever a prototype noses out of the pits colour filmwielding spies lurk out the back of the circuit The Scuderia’s secrets are available to the highest bidder Ferrari hasn’t won the Formula One constructors’ championship since and it’s now innovative Cosworthengined Brits like Lotus and Tyrrell in the ascendancy
Meanwhile even in Italy even in the Seventies it’s becoming increasingly ‘frowned upon’ to test racing cars on public roads A decade previously the hills around Modena would echo with the shriek of motorsport V s Times are changing and Enzo needs somewhere to hone his thoroughbreds free from public or clandestine gaze
Luckily Signore Ferrari has astutely bought up a patch of farmland opposite his factory in Maranello northern Italy where the company’s been established since And it’s only a couple of years since the omnipotent Fiat acquired a per cent stake in his brainchild ensuring its Italian not Americanowned survival
Flush with cash and a generous back garden Enzo plots a private track lassoing the old white farmhouse with the red door he now resides in The circuit contains vignettes of the world’s most fearsome racetracks Zandvoort’s banked Tarzan turn the Gasometer hairpin at Monaco now La Rascasse and Anthony Noghes and even the second Flugplatz jump at the infamous Nürburgring Nordschleife a blind summit atop the Suzukastyle bridge
By using a figure of eight miles of Scuderia boot camp was squeezed into the facility and it was ready for business by April Fiorano the home circuit of Ferrari where everything from the to Competizione and beyond was honed turns the grand old age of this year
The outright lap record belongs to Michael Schumacher Back when inseason F testing was allowed he got a bhp V powered F around here in an astonishing seconds A LaFerrari takes one minute seconds secs quicker than a Testarossa in just miles That’s the pace of progress
But in Fiorano’s half century it’s never played host to an allelectric lap record Easy to see why really Ferrari hasn’t yet built a pure EV When TopGear discovers there’s a bar waiting to be set we don’t just wonder and fantasise We get on the phone to Maranello and pitch something that’ll have highpressure Lavazza coffee sprayed up the red walls in surprise
While Ferrari itself may not have quite got around to going totally battery powered the British have gone ahead and done it for them
Introducing the latest Christmas musthave toy from those big kids at Oxfordshire’s Little Car Company the Ferrari Testa Rossa Junior This per cent scale replica of a Testa Rossa the late Fifties racer which took three victories each at Le Mans and Sebring follows on from its ‘Baby’ Bugatti Type and shrunken Aston Martin DB Volante and I’ll venture it is the most exquisite vehicle in the entire magazine you’re holding But even among Little Car Company machines the TRJ is special So it ought to be for £
See Ferrari is very particular about who it licenses its trademarks to Garnish something you’ve cobbled together in your shed with prancing horse shields and lawyers will be at your door before you can say ‘disastrous F tyre strategy’ But Ferrari was so impressed at the Little Car Company’s craftsmanship it’s given all examples its official blessing on one condition The miniature ‘red head’ had to be faster and boast better handling than all other Little Car Company creations It tops out at just over mph plenty for popping Fiorano’s leccy cherry
Under the handbeaten aluminium bodywork and leather seat wearing Ferrari’s approved cowhide lies a
“FOR THE TURN SIX HAIRPIN I HAVE TO ADOPT THE BIRTHING POSITION”
bhp electric motor driving the rear wheels through an open differential
It’s a proper little racer equipped with a spaceframe chassis coil springs and Pirelli tyres The brakes are Brembos from a Ducati superbike Intricate wire wheels are a bespoke commission from Borrani who fabricated the Testa Rossa’s original rims On the Junior they’re a popular optional extra
I’m six feet tall so access is tricky the doors are only implied so I step aboard trying not to scuff the seat and chestdip down where the seductive bodywork is braced until my size s rest on the pedals from a Pista Not pastiche homages the part numbers are identical Nardi has created a bonsai version of its iconic timberrimmed steering wheel I adore how the ’s dashboard has been reinterpreted instead of a revcounter or oil pressure gauge the correct font dials now show charge level battery / motor temperature and a per cent power meter
Best of all the tiny key acts as a cute facsimile of Ferrari’s manettino mode switch Just like an Superfast this changes how the car behaves Novice mode allows just bhp and a mph top speed If you’re a billionaire buying for little Nikita you can ensure he’s not going to hurt himself Comfort mode takes you to bhp and mph Steady on
Sport ups that to bhp and mph And for us today the LCC technicians have unlocked Race mode for the full bhp mph fury Authentically for a Fifties racer there’s no airbag no roll bar and no seatbelt Buono
Fiorano is a serious test track The pit garage is festooned with multiple TV screens showing a live feed of each corner Sensors within the surface relay gigabits of realtime data for engineers to analyse and the circuit is usually booked up for activities a year in advance I have a couple of hours to sneak out get the photography and video done and make history
I’m just relieved to get moving It’s in the shade and my race suit which like the car is two sizes too small for me is sodden with sweat The pit crew warns me that track temperature is º approaching the level Ferrari would cancel a session for overheating the tyres
It only takes half a lap to get a feel for the kg TRJ It’s easily the most accomplished Little Car to drive yet the underbonnet triple battery pack good for miles of range swappable in three minutes gives a proper front-mid-engined balance Very modern Ferrari The steering kicks and jiggles joyously though I have to adopt the birthing position for the turn six lefthand hairpin to stop my right hand bashing into my left leg at the apex The TRJ’s swift enough to dry out my throat and contact lenses but disappointingly it lacks the oomph to unstick the rear
Happily the brakes only act on the back axle so you’ll flail sideways with a hard stop Not to worry the pedal is well modulated and reassuring The brakes even contribute a bit of regeneration back into the batteries Impressive
I need to get my laps on the board
time is a cruel mistress I amble around on a warmup lap weaving some heat into the tyres when in Rome right? and concentrate on carrying maximum momentum out of the final corner All Fiorano lap times are set from a flying start makes you wonder why Ferrari bothers with launch control really I’m over the line on the limiter at an indicated kph and leave the confidence brake into turn one as late as I dare There’s a momentary shudder of understeer before the TRJ obliges
It’s easy flat through the Maggotts and Beckettsstyle esses and I manage just a slight lift into the switchback righthander to preserve speed for the climb up onto the flyover where the car feels sluggish Over the hump it scythes down the hill leaning hard on the squealing front left tyre
Don’t brake Don’t brake BRAKE! Learning from my clumsy earlier attempts at the hairpin I lean my torso right over the patriotic kerbing to carve a tighter line then activate personal DRS also known as ‘ducking’ and pick a line though the sinewy second complex
Sometimes there’s a speed limit out of the final turn The factory is no longer a rural outpost now surrounded by the swelling Maranello Residents of flats overlooking the pit straight complain about the noise so Ferrari kindly limits cars to trundling past their neighbours before gunning it under the bridge No such inconvenience in this whispering interloper Flat to the line the first semiofficial electric Ferrari stops the clock at mins © secs
It’s not that Ferrari is taking this seriously but one of the guys offers to adjust the TRJ’s tyre pressures We’ve got enough range for another lap but motor temp is critical What would Enzo do?
This time I’m neater braver and faster Slashing three seconds from my personal best the first electric lap record at Fiorano is mins ©secs That’s a mere min secs slower than an SF© the current road legal lap champion Box box box
Can’t imagine my benchmark will last very long Will the first grownup eFerrari be half as much fun as a threequarter scale homage? One wonders But have faith I mean look at their track record