Hyper Drivers

“I was the one who dreamed of being Ferrari.” (Enzo Ferrari)

This quote, by the Prancing Horse’s founder, is certainly one of his most celebrated. And from 1947 to today his company has always remained faithful to that dream. A vision that has led the Prancing Horse to become one of the best-known brands in the world, instilling a passion that has no equal. Every model that rolls out of the Maranello factory carries the essence of Enzo’s dream, and experiencing it, whether by admiring it or actually driving it, evokes indescribable emotions.

Imagine yourself stepping into the cockpit of a car derived from the very machine that this year won Le Mans, further bolstering last year’s legendary victory at the centenary of the world’s most prestigious endurance race. Imagine doing it not as an official Ferrari driver, but as the proud owner of one of the few, rare models ever produced. Picture the thrill of being able to drive it on some of the world’s most spectacular tracks as a participant of a specially tailored, purposely developed programme.

In other words, imagine being one of the owners of a Ferrari 499P Modificata taking part in one of the Sport Prototipi Clienti events. Such an ambitious and visionary programme for non-competitive racing activities involving sport prototypes has never been undertaken by any company in history. In general terms, you would wait until the end of a racing model’s life cycle before initiating a client-targeted project based on it. Yet Ferrari is renowned for always pushing the boundaries of what is achievable. In this particular instance, the Corse Clienti department has demonstrated its ability to innovate with initiatives such as F1 Clienti and the XX Programme that – time and again – create imitators. And it is precisely these two initiatives that inspired Sport Prototipi Clienti, unveiled during the Finali Mondiali at Mugello in 2023.

“As you might expect, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans generated incredible enthusiasm among our clients and an unprecedented number of requests to drive the 499P,” says Antonello Coletta, Global Head of Ferrari Endurance and Corse Clienti. “We wondered what we could do to respond to this great interest. A few months later we unveiled the 499P Modificata and on the first weekend of March this year we attended the first Sport Prototipi Clienti event, having already delivered the first models of the car.”

The epitome of the highest technology and expertise of an entire company, offered exclusively to a select group of Ferrari clients. Once again, it was the team under Federica Santoro, responsible for the XX and Monoposto Heritage Programmes, that spearheaded this endeavour. “The nature of the event, the specific clientele, and the essence of the initiative allowed us to fully leverage the synergies, locations, and, above all, the expertise gained from the F1 Clienti and XX Programme. Our organisation attends to every aspect, both on and off the track, ensuring that our clients can enjoy the sheer pleasure of driving extraordinary cars with complete peace of mind and in total safety.”

The 499P Modificata models enable their owners to fulfill a dream: driving a slightly modified version of the car that propelled Ferrari back to the top position on the world’s most illustrious endurance race podium, 58 years after its previous victory, before repeating the feat this year.

To enable this dream, the entire Sport Prototipi Clienti organisation works tirelessly. Technicians, engineers, telemetry experts and tyre specialists prepare the car under the watchful eye of Filippo Petrucci, Head of the XX and Monoposto Heritage Programmes and Corso Pilota Workshop. They can also rely on the guidance of Olivier Beretta, the Ferrari ‘ambassador driver’ who played an essential role in the development of the 499P Modificata.