FERRARI WILL start delivering its new 612 Scaglietti to the United States in September.

Bleeding edge
From its founding, Ferrari has distinguished itself from most other carmakers by focusing primarily on racing. “Racing is the passion that drives Ferrari,” says Andrew Shaffer, product manager for the 612 Scaglietti. “The only reason Ferrari ever produced road cars was to finance its racing operations.” Indeed, Ferrari’s recent competitive record is a tribute to the company’s racing heritage. Between 1999 and 2003, Ferrari won five consecutive Formula 1 Constructors championships, an unprecedented winning streak for a single company.

THE FERRARI racing spirit is alive and well in the 612.

The adage one hears often from Ferrari people typifies the company engineering mentality: “You can’t win if you don’t finish.” Certainly that has been true of Ferrari’s recent track record. As this issue of Worth went to press, the Formula 1 racer piloted by Michael Schumacher, Ferrari’s top driver, has not suffered a mechanical failure in 43 consecutive races, one of the sport’s longest durability streaks and a testament to Ferrari’s capabilities under the most punishing conditions.

Because of this racing focus, Ferrari’s development program has pioneered or refined a number of innovations for the street. These have included turbocharging, the five-speed gearbox, the development of intercoolers, the creation of hairpin valve springs, the design of powerful but relatively small and light 12-cylinder engines, and engines that significantly lower a car’s center of gravity, improving stability and handling.

True to founder Enzo Ferrari’s belief in promoting new developments, the 612 Scaglietti offers a host of new features. It is the first Ferrari 12-cylinder car to have its body and chassis sculpted entirely of aluminum. The car is named in honor of Sergio Scaglietti, the coachbuilder from Modena who is famous for his ability to fabricate with aluminum, which is more difficult to shape than steel. The exceptional aerodynamics of the light, extremely rigid structure, designed by Pininfarina, shows the finesse that comes from the 3,500 hours of development, nearly half of which were spent in wind-
tunnel testing.

THE SCALLOPED sides of the 612 are reminiscent of a Ferrari design from 1954.

Another major innovation is the placement of the car’s drivetrain components. The Scaglietti’s 5.75-liter, normally aspirated, V-12, front-mounted engine sits surprisingly far behind the front axle. Ferrari’s goal is to dramatically lower the center of gravity and move it rearward. Because the engine rests so far toward the aft, Ferrari adopted a transaxle architecture that shifts the gearbox to the back along with the differential. As a result, the 612 Scaglietti has a 46:54 rear-weight bias.

According to Shaffer, this slight bias, while admittedly unusual, is near ideal for a front-engine coupe; in fact, it emulates the weight bias in Ferrari Formula 1 racing cars. “The ideal weight distribution is not 50:50,” says Shaffer. “The 612 is front-engined, but akin to a mid-engine car. You get better handling and traction benefits with more weight over the rear wheels.”

The 612 Scaglietti is also the first Ferrari street car to boast a stability and traction control system. Unlike the stability control systems in other cars, the Ferrari structure, which was developed for Formula 1 racing, is not a binary on-or-off system. It features a sport mode to enable more spirited driving, but with all the protective mechanisms still engaged.

Performance Investment
In many ways, the 612 Scaglietti represented a departure from the coupe that preceded it, the 456 GT, introduced in 1993. Besides the all-aluminum body, lower center of gravity and innovative weight distribution, the 612 Scaglietti is longer (by 5.5 inches), wider by 4 inches and taller than the 456 GT. The 612’s wheelbase is almost 14 inches longer than the 456’s. Its length (193 inches) makes the 612 the longest Ferrari ever made. This gives the car more room inside, although it would be an exaggeration to call the backseat roomy.

More significant for performance, approximately 85 percent of the 612’s mass sits inside the 116-inch wheelbase, compared with just 70 percent for the 456. Thanks to its aluminum body and chassis, however, the 612—no lightweight at 4,100 pounds—is nevertheless a couple of hundred pounds lighter than the 456. The aluminum construction also translates to tighter handling with less body roll. The lower center of gravity and novel weight distribution also give the 612 better balance during hard braking and acceleration.

The 612 shows Ferrari’s passion for performance in the several features derived from the company’s recently introduced, limited-edition Enzo Ferrari. The Enzo is the newest of the barely-street-legal Ferraris to transfer bleeding-edge racing technology to the road. Like the Enzo, the 612 makes use of a sequential six-speed manual transmission with an electrohydraulically actuated clutch, a Ferrari Formula 1 racing innovation. You shift the car by flicking with your fingertips little paddles mounted just behind the steering wheel. As with a Formula 1 car, there is no clutch to depress with your left foot and no need to take your foot off the gas. This state-of-the-art transmission shifts gears within 150 milliseconds. “There is no race driver on the planet who can shift gears that fast,” boasts Shaffer.

Another feature lifted from the Enzo and from Ferrari’s recent racing technology is a fully active suspension. Six accelerometers constantly monitor the car’s speed and attitude and adjust the valving of the shock absorbers. This helps keep the tires in optimal contact with the road.

VALUE JUDGMENT The $250,000 Ferrari Scaglietti, unveiled last December, is a design and engineering marvel that encompasses and integrates Ferrari’s many innovations, both on the racetrack and off. The company will make only 350 Scagliettis each year, and this rarity will support what is expected to be a robust aftermarket value, perhaps even in the range of the legendary Enzo.

The heart of the 612 is the engine, which has double overhead camshafts and four valves for each of its 12 cylinders. Much of the engine assembly is crafted by hand. As with the powerplant for Ferrari racing cars, the 612’s engine is painstakingly manufactured to very tight tolerances. Here is one example of the craftsmanship: Before the ball bearings are installed in the valve guides, the bearings are dipped in liquid nitrogen. This freezes them and forces them to contract a miniscule amount. After they are installed and return to room temperature, they expand, creating an exceptionally snug fit.

When revved to its 7,250 rpm redline, the engine produces 540 hp, over 100 hp more than the engine in the predecessor 456 GT. The Scaglietti’s engine generates 434 ft lbs of torque at 5,250 rpm. Although the 612 is a much longer car than its predecessor, the company reports that it accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds, reaches a quarter-mile in 12.3 seconds and hits a top speed of more than 196 mph.

Visually, the 612 Scaglietti is wonderful to observe, even when it is standing still. The car is surprisingly wide and creates a stable stance. Topped by an elegantly long hood, the front fenders smoothly integrate the headlights, and the sides curve gently over the rear wheel wells and into a backside with two dual exhaust pipes and two dual taillights reminiscent of the Enzo. The subtly scalloped sides are reminiscent of the famous 375MM that Ferrari exhibited at the Paris Auto Show in 1954.

In the 1950s, Enzo Ferrari was friends with Italian film director Roberto Rossellini and his soon-to-be bride, actress Ingrid Bergman. At Rossellini’s request, Ferrari and Scaglietti custom designed a version of the 375MM as a wedding gift for Bergman. That car had the same scalloped sides that are a design signature of the 612 Scaglietti. Unfortunately, Rossellini and Bergman divorced before the car was delivered, and Rossellini kept the car. But, in a tribute to Rossellini and Bergman’s triste romance, Ferrari offers the 612 Scaglietti in a light champagne color it named  “Ingrid gray.”

Rarity aside, the car is so different from and superior to its four-passenger predecessors in so many ways, both in its design and in its operating technologies, that it promises to be a collectors’ item in the making.

Such engineering finesse is encouraging news for those who will purchase the car as an investment. Many Ferrari models have sold for astonishing prices at auction years after their introduction. In 1990, a 1963 GTO, one of only 39 made, sold for a record $17 million. A similar appetite has developed for the Enzo super car. Only 399 of the Enzos were made, selling for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $652,000. They rarely come up for sale, yet, when they do, they have sold in the neighborhood of $1.3 million, notes Thomas duPont, publisher of the DuPont Registry. Recently, says duPont, an Enzo was totaled in an accident. Nevertheless, the dam-aged car sold on eBay for around $250,000.

Historically, Ferraris that seat four have not netted resale values as high at the company’s two-seat sports cars. But the 612 Scaglietti has a combination of attributes—the sleek aluminum body, the F1 transmission, a relatively small production run and stunning performance—that may earn it the checkered flag with investors. “This car is like driving a work of art,” says Richard Sirota, a real estate investor who buys and races vintage cars. “It’s all about the passion and the driving. But I would say yes, [as an investment] this car has a good chance of outperforming other four-seat Ferraris.”