Stunning new Ferrari F80 arrives to resume hypercar head-to-head with McLaren

Enrico Galliera, Ferrari’s chief marketing and communications officer explained: “Any element that we think can provide a competitive advantage, we want to develop in-house. If we buy components from the market, we need to adapt it, but if we do it, we can make it exactly as we want it.” Despite all this new electrical hardware in comparison to the LaFerrari, it weighs around 40kg less, coming in at 1,525kg dry. 

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Performance figures are typically immense, with the F80 dispatching 0-62mph in 2.15 seconds, hitting 124mph in 5.75 seconds and topping out at a limited 217mph.

It’s impossible not to compare these figures with those of McLaren’s new W1, which itself has only just been revealed. The British car packs even more power, with 1,284bhp from a 4.0-litre V8 engine paired to its own complex hybrid system. 

However, the W1 trails on acceleration, taking 2.7 seconds to hit 62mph, due largely to the fact it has just two driven wheels. The 124mph sprint is completed in 5.8 seconds, though, suggesting that the McLaren claws back time when up and running. 

But the F80’s new powertrain is only part of the story, as the chassis and aero technology is equally transformative. Underpinning the whole car is a mixed material structure made up from a carbon fibre cell around the cockpit and upper part of the engine compartment, with aluminium subframes carrying most of the front and rear suspension. 

The suspension itself is in a pushrod set-up on stunning 3D-printed suspension arms, and features a cutting-edge fully active roll control system from Multimatic. This works by using  four more electric motors mounted on the suspension arms to cancel out lateral body movement, as well as control dive and pitch. This is especially useful for the F80, as its aero package is capable of producing a huge 1,050kg of downforce at 124mph, changing the load requirements at each corner depending on speed. 

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