Rory Reid reviews the Ferrari 812 Superfast in one of his first proper drives since the lockdown. It’s time to savour the speed, noise and beauty delivered by Ferrari’s greatest ever V12.
More than 21 states are also seeing surges in cases and hospitalizations this month and his biggest threat this country has faced for decades and this country as far as the virus is concerned here it is the last few months have been tough most of us have had to change the way we work imprisoned by our own four walls logged out but the fog is beginning
To lift and some of our freedoms have begun to return and one freedom that i didn’t know how much i missed was being here behind the wheel just me the car the road no thoughts no baggage just miles and miles of tarmac and freedom and right now i can’t think of a better car to escape him than this this is the ferrari 812 superfast the top of the ferrari food
Chain is the successor to the f12 a two-seater grand tourer that delivers outrageous speed over long distances a car designed to help you escape from the mundane from new and old realities to embark on journeys where spectacular becomes the norm the show is of course the engine naturally aspirated v12 monster one of the last of a dying breed six and a half liters
Of fury know following the hurt here no turbos loose supercharges just petrol and ambient air being turned into flames and those claims into power the power is just outrageous it makes 800 metric horsepower hence the name and yet before you ask it is superfast nought to 60 2 into 2.9 seconds 211 miles an hour flat-out so it starts strong and it finishes strong but
It’s the bit in the middle that’s most impressive the engine makes 718 newton meters of torque around 7,000 rpm by that number it’s kind of meaningless because it feels strong absolutely everywhere it’s stepping out in a straight line it’s a twist in a red shark i’ll tell you what this drive was meant to be an escape well good escape from the escape i’m tapping
Out for a minute it’s just relentless it’s not just the way this car drives there is a diversion its design it’s also a huge departure from the mundane it follows the same formula as previous ferrari berlin ettus sharing a resemblance with its predecessor the f12 but drink in the details and there are plenty of them the way the front lights are integrated into
The design of the vents on the bonnet the sculpted sides that suck high-pressure air from the wheel arches channeling it along the doors the suspended splitter that increases the diffuser surface working like the wing of a biplane the subtle spoiler and that long almost never-ending bonnet in fact it’s mostly bonnet isn’t it there’s so much bonnet in fact that
They’ve actually added a darker section towards the windscreen to try and disguise just how long it is and then there’s a steering wheel look how much distance there is between the steering wheel and the number plate you basically sit in the back of the car now if you’re thinking that the engine lives towards the front of the car then you’d be mistaken because
Technically this is a front mid-engine car and just look at it almost like a human heart with veins and arteries sending life-giving power via a 7-speed gearbox to the rear wheels you could lift it out of the engine bay mount it on any wall in any contemporary art gallery in the world and it wouldn’t look out of place there’s a famous quote actually enzo ferrari
Once said that when you buy a ferrari you pay for the engine and he throws in the rest for free if that’s true then actually 300 grand right there the cabin is maybe less exotic but feel special all the same minimalist racy stylish the steering wheel is a tactile delight with hard cold carbon fiber at the top and bottom with integrated shift lights and leather
At the sides the thing is literally covered in buttons as well there are no storks here at all his buttons for your indicator buttons for your lights suspension engine starts voice control phone there’s a little scroll wheel for your windscreen wipers and then the most famous ferrari switch of all the manettino which lets you cycle through the various driving
Modes is wet essential for bits of today sport race c t– off and then r.i.p and what’s cool is that even though it is very driver focused and makes you feel like an f1 driver they haven’t neglected the passenger because over here in the passenger compartment you have a separate screen that shows whoever you’re riding shotgun with how many gs you’re pulling how
Many revs the engine is doing and then on top of that you’ve got the coolest glovebox noise ever listen to this it’s so beautiful unnecessary but beautiful and then there are mod cons like apple carplay there’s a pair of usb ports a cup holder it’s just a really nice place to spend time i suppose we shouldn’t be that surprised this car is a gt when we talk
About escaping that’s exactly what this car was built for to travel long distances in comfort and in that respect the aol super fast is actually reasonably good but it’s not quite perfect there are a couple of problems first and foremost it’s just not that refined and when you’re cruising the engine revs too high on the motorway the suspensions a little bit on
The hard side the gearbox is a little bit clunky around town there’s too much tire noise and even though it has quite a large fuel tank around 90 ish litres don’t expect that petrol to last very long but we can disregard its failings as a gt because as a supercar the superfast is phenomenal i really can’t understand just how stupidest extension it is you plant your
Foot and the thing just spins up immediately lights on the steering wheel flashing like a christmas tree it actually won it is absolutely addictive it’s a drug there is no point whatsoever where you need full throttle in this car because you just won’t find a road big enough straight enough or legal enough it’s there as well too the wheel feels overly responsive
At times in part due to the all-wheel steering system giving up the feeling of an extremely short wheelbase it means the a12 has a somewhat violent direction change measured calculator inputs get the best from this car i mentioned the firm suspension earlier and that’s one of the key things that means you’ve gotta be really really on your toes at all times in
This car it causes you to lose and then regain traction so quickly at one point you could have all the grip in the world or the traction in the world and then that suspension will just lift the football and suddenly you will start spinning you gotta be on top of your game of all the times in this car that’s what i love about big v12 ferraris they’re wild untamed
You’re not the boss you’re a fleshy cog in the machine by all means yeah i play your part but but she is gonna do what the machine is gonna do the internal combustion engine has got so many flaws it’s on its way out of course we know that but when we look back history is going to show that this is the engine that made the last stand that didn’t want to give
Up that wanted to hang on for one last run this is the engine that knew it was going out but this is the engine that’s going out with a bang even if this is the last we see of an engine like this we should cherish it just like we should cherish all the good times these things we take for granted might not be around forever so it’s important that we cherish and
Appreciate every special moment a lot of us use driving as a diversion a way to escape our problems and yet even on those drives our problems still find a way to creep back into our heads you know your bank balance your wife your mortgage your taxman but not in this with the eight twelve super fast you’ve got to hit this car every ounce of your cerebral capacity
This is the car that you drive and completely forget the outside world this is a car where nothing else matters this is a car where the only thing that’s important is you the road and the miles and miles of freedom you
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Ferrari 812 Superfast Review: The Greatest Escape | 4K By AutoTraderliveBroadcastDetails{isLiveNowfalsestartTimestamp2020-06-19T130011+0000endTimestamp2020-06-19T131340+0000}