Ferrari’s Special Version cars push the performance of its production models to new extremes. Some, such as the 488 Pista and 812 Competizione, have earned a rightful place in the Prancing Horse’s recent pantheon. However, Ferrari’s XX Programme offers a select group of expert client drivers extreme cars that are not homologated for the road, to drive on the very limit on the track. One such model is the FXX-K EVO.
Ferrari has now leveraged these two different spheres of experience to create a Special Version that draws on the programme’s concepts to make it effectively a road-legal XX: the SF90 XX Stradale. Its performance has been raised to impressive new heights by an additional 30 cv, specific software logics and the use of radical new aero solutions, not least a fixed rear wing, the first to appear on a road-going Ferrari since the days of the F50.
Styling-wise, the SF90 XX Stradale incorporates the engineering principles that underpin the SF90 Stradale and pushes them to new levels. In terms of its concept, this is to all intents and purposes an XX car: its characteristics, the fruit of a more incisive, radical language, are thus even more extreme still.
The SF90 XX Stradale’s styling cues are designed to highlight its thoroughbred performance characteristics whilst still retaining the pure lines and forms of its predecessor. There is no doubt that one of the most distinctive characteristics of the SF90 XX Stradale’s design is its rear wing. The tail volume, which has been specifically redesigned with aero in mind, is now sleeker, giving it the long-tail silhouette typical of racing cars.
The SF90 XX Stradale has also inherited the SF9O Stradale’s signature PHEV layout, in which the V8 internal combustion engine is augmented by three electric motors, two on the front axle and one between the engine and gearbox. This configuration allows the car to unleash a maximum of 1030 cv (+30 cv more than the SF90 Stradale), setting a whole new performance benchmark for Ferrari.
To make the V8’s sound even fuller and richer, the ducts of the hot tube system that transmit the combustion pulsations into the cabin were optimised. The SF90 XX Stradale delivers the most efficient aerodynamic performance of any road-going car in Ferrari’s history: in fact, it delivers double the maximum downforce of the SF90 Stradale. Its signature element is the fixed rear wing, which was thoroughly researched, tested and developed on the track-ready XXs. In terms of vehicle dynamics, the two most important new additions are the ABS ‘evo’, which guarantees even better performance and improved repeatability of braking performance in the dry, and the extra boost logic, on its debut outing, which improves lap times by delivering a short power boost on corner exit.