What's the news?
The last thing the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta needed was more power and less weight, but that's precisely what Maranello has given it in this new special edition, called the F12tdf. Those initials stand for Tour de France, but we're not talking the cycle race here - this awesome Fezza has been built to celebrate the marque's dominance of the automobile event of the 1950s and '60s, including its four consecutive annual victories in the 1956 250 GT Berlinetta.
Exterior
The F12tdf is said to be twice as aerodynamically efficient as the Berlinetta model, with its big, fat body capable of generating 230kg of downforce at 200km/h - 107kg more than the 'regular' F12. That's because the F12tdf's exterior is an aerodynamic piece of art. The front bumper has a scooped lower section and features a splitter, dive planes, floor wings and louvres to boost downforce. There's a redesigned 'Aerobridge' on the front flanks and at the rear, louvres above the rear wheel suck air from the inner wheel arch to push the F12 further into the tarmac.
The rear spoiler is 60mm longer and 30mm higher than before, while the rear screen has a more upright rake to extend the surface area over which the spoiler can generate downforce. Even the rear diffuser has three active flaps.
Such comprehensive aerodynamic tweaks mean every single body panel on the F12 has had to be revised for the tdf. It also benefits from wider front and rear tracks, bare carbon fibre in the Aerobridge and lightweight five-twin-spoke alloys which have the narrowest section possible to reduce unsprung weight. Net result? The F12tdf is said to be 110kg lighter than a comparable F12 Berlinetta and if you fit further, optional lightweight accessories, the dry weight of the car dips to just 1,415kg overall.
Interior
A stripped and focused cabin here, showing off lots of carbon fibre housings for the instruments and ancillary gauge pods. The door panels are made of a single carbon fibre shell, the glovebox has been junked for a squab of knee padding and the seats are clad in Alcantara, rather than leather. Patterned aluminium takes the place of floor mats, all in the name of shaving more weight from the F12tdf.
Mechanicals
The glorious 6.3-litre normally aspirated V12 from the Berlinetta is carried over but race-inspired mechanical tappets and variable geometry intake trumpets liberate even more power. The peak number is 40hp up on the 740hp of the Berlinetta, the F12tdf boasting a colossal 780hp at 8,500rpm, while torque climbs 15Nm from 690- to 705Nm at 6,750rpm; 80 per cent of that is available from as little as 2,500rpm. The tdf has a redline set at 8,900rpm. Good lord.
A faster shifting F1 DCT transmission with 6 per cent shorter ratios is fitted, while wider 275-section front tyres (up from 255) allow for more grip from the front axle. Ferrari says this would, alone, have led to more oversteer and therefore a more challenging drive for the uninitiated, so it has fitted its Virtual Short Wheelbase to compensate - VSW is essentially an active rear axle, allowing the back wheels to pivot around a vertical axis. This four-wheel steering means the car is both more agile at lower speeds and more stable at higher velocity. Win-win, we think you call that.
Capable of 0-100km/h in a mere 2.9 scintillating seconds and 0-200km/h in a barely believable 7.9 seconds, the F12tdf can lap Fiorano in 1m 21s - the only road car quicker round there is the LaFerrari hyper-hybrid. Its top speed is more than 340km/h and its one-piece Extreme Design brakes mean it can stop from 100km/h in just 30.5 metres; 200-0km/h takes 121m.
If you really must know, the F12tdf can achieve 15.4 litres/100km (18.3mpg) combined and emits 360g/km CO2. Weight is distributed 46:54 front-to-rear.
Anything else?
Only 799 examples of the F12tdf will be built and you can bet your bottom euro that it will be considerably more than the €322,000 required for a regular F12. But for a track-ready, road-legal missile like this, that almost seems like a bargain...