Chris Rees
With the new SF90 Spider, Ferrari is taking driving emotion to a completely new, positively stratospheric, level
To drive any Ferrari is to take a journey into an intensely emotional landscape. And with the new SF90 Spider, passion for driving reaches heights that are – very nearly – beyond imagination.
As Ferrari has already proven with the SF90 Stradale – the most powerful Ferrari ever made – each and every trip is a mind-expanding experience. With the new SF90 Spider, you’ll need to recalibrate your every sense, as Head of Product Marketing, Emanuele Carando, confirms: “Everything is engineered to melt the driver and car together: two bodies, one soul, to discover the ultimate essence of pure driving emotion. It’s an experience you will never forget.”
The SF90 Spider offers the unique ability to open up its retractable hard top (RHT), allowing your emotions to be fully amplified by the wind around you, the infinite sky above and, perhaps above all, the pure sound of this exceptional Ferrari.
Chief Technology Officer, Michael Leiters, expands: “If we talk about driving emotions, we have to talk about the sound. Low revs: basses, high revs: soprano. Thrilling metallic sounds. It’s like a symphony. The faster you go, the more volume you want to have. And now we enter in a new dimension. And this is the sound of this new dimension.”
It’s not just the soundtrack that reaches new heights in the SF90 Spider. Ferrari’s ingenious RHT concept means open-air driving can be achieved in a mere 14 seconds, even while on the move. The RHT’s remarkable compactness is beautifully integrated into the overall shape, as Chief Design Officer, Flavio Manzoni, elaborates: “The two rear buttresses sit on a very iconic feature, the flying bridge, an architectural element that gives a forward tension that we call the slingshot effect.”
Despite its light weight, the RHT maximises comfort on board, roof up or down. When you’re open to the elements, huge efforts have been made to ensure the quality of the airflow in the cabin, with an adjustable electric rear window guaranteeing superb comfort even at high speeds.
As ever with Ferrari, aerodynamics are extremely advanced. Among many innovations are the rear active shut-off Gurney and forged wheels with profiles that recall Ferrari F1 methods. Downforce of 390kg at 250km/h is an absolute benchmark among road cars.
Here’s another special sensation: the entire engine bay is fully on show, brilliantly integrating the V8 turbo engine into the design. This immensely powerful 780 cv engine is supplemented by three electric motors (one at the rear and two up front), resulting in an unparalleled combined power output of 1,000 cv. This plug-in hybrid system ensures performance levels unmatched by any other production spider.
Yet the SF90 Spider remains amazingly uncomplicated to drive, adjusting power to suit the conditions. The driver simply selects one of four modes (eDrive, Hybrid, Performance and Qualify) on the eManettino. The all-wheel drive system contributes to astonishing acceleration times of 0-100 km/h in 2.5 seconds and 0-200 km/h in 7.0 seconds.
The two electric motors up front work with an enhanced dynamic control system, eSSC, so that when you steer into a corner the car is ready to help you. Torque Vectoring delivers torque independently to the inside and outside wheels, significantly improving traction out of corners and making it easier and more intuitive to drive on the limit with confidence.
Moving into the cabin, Ferrari’s ‘eyes on the road, hands on the steering wheel’ philosophy is clear to see. You control almost everything without the need to move your hands from the steering wheel, using either the clever touchpad or your voice by simply saying, “Ciao Ferrari”. The central instrument cluster is now entirely digital, with a brilliantly innovative 16-inch curved HD screen.
It may seem impossible to make the emotional experience even richer, but an even more extreme level of sensation is available with the Assetto Fiorano specification. This adds Multimatic dampers (derived from GT racing experience), lightweight parts to reduce overall weight by 21kg, a carbon-fibre rear spoiler and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres, as well as an optional two-tone livery.
We’ll let Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer, Enrico Galliera, sum up the true achievement of the SF90 Spider: “We’ve really gone beyond this time. Beyond imagination, beyond the concept of sports cars, beyond what we normally mean by driving emotions.”