Ferrari is considering twin-turbo V8 power for its successor to the Enzo supercar–an admission sure to send shock waves through the ranks of V12 Enzo owners even though the new car isn't due until 2012.
Ferrari GT technical director Roberto Fedeli confirmed that the Italian sports-car maker is investigating both V12 and V8 options for its Enzo successor but insisted that Ferrari was no longer interested in power wars.
The decision to approve development of an all-new V8–the first such Ferrari supercar engine since the F40–will be a philosophical rather than an engineering one.
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“For us, it's not just a question of power. We have to choose whether we maintain the shape of the weight-to-power curve of the Enzo with more power or with less weight,” Fedeli said. “If we do a [2200-pound] car with the same weight-to-power ratio as the FXX, then you want to save the maximum weight. The best packaging for that kind of car is an eight-cylinder turbo. That would have to be an all-new V8.”
It means Ferrari is running parallel V8 and V12 development programs on the next Enzo-style supercar, though neither has been allocated an official internal code number.
“The FXX is to test some innovations that we have in our minds [for the next car],” said Fedeli. “We have one to one and a half years to choose the solution before we start the car.”
