Italian kisses: Ferrari SF90 XX Stradale and Spider are road-going track warriors
Until now, Ferrari’s XX Programme has only produced track cars that you can’t take on the road.
The logic here is that without all the compromises that arise when you homologate a road-legal car, engineers are able to purpose-design track cars that can be taken to the very limit.
But now the Italian sportscar maker has conceived a pair of ‘XX’ cars that are perfectly road legal.
The new Ferrari SF90 XX Stradale and Spider aim to take Ferrari’s plug-in hybrid (PHEV) package to new extremes and although they are the firm’s first road-legal XX cars, they won’t be a dime a dozen, with Ferrari planning to build just 799 of the hard-top Stradale versions and 599 open-top Spiders.
The pair are based on the SF90 Stradale and Spider PHEV sports cars that were first revealed in 2019, but they gain additional ponies and a specially-honed chassis.
According to Ferrari, the new XX cars are good for a system output of 758kW, which is 22kW more than the regular versions offer. That’s enough to hurtle the tin-top Stradale from 0-100km/h in an astounding 2.3 seconds, according to factory claims, making it two tenths of a second quicker than the standard SF.
Like the latter, the SF90 XX editions have a 586kW, mid-mounted 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol engine that pairs with three electric motors. Two of these are mounted on the front axle while the other is positioned between the engine and gearbox at the back.
Ferrari engineers also spent a good deal of time honing the soundtrack, implementing a hot tube system to transmit the combustion pulsations into the cabin. Ferrari says the use of innovative materials has improved the acoustic clarity of the system, resulting in a “wonderfully rich explosion of iconic Ferrari V8 sound”.
Got goosebumps yet?
Given that the Ferrari SF90 Stradale and Spider were built for extreme track driving, considerable effort was also expended on perfecting the aerodynamic package and chassis.
The end result, says Ferrari, is its most aerodynamically efficient road car ever, apparently comparable only to the LaFerrari. For instance, the XX is said to deliver double the maximum downforce of the SF90 Stradale, thereby boosting grip levels and enabling faster lap times.
Its signature aerodynamic component is the fixed rear wing, inspired by the XX Programme race cars. The car also has a unique, larger, front splitter designed to generate a highly energised tube of air flow under the car, which is then exploited by the redesigned underbody section.
“The focus with the SF90 XX Stradale’s development was to produce the most high-performance Ferrari road car ever that also delivered maximum fun behind the wheel, whilst fully retaining all of the functionalities of the SF90 Stradale’s hybrid powertrain,” Ferrari enthused.
“Usability of performance was especially important, particularly in terms of the electric mode’s ability to deliver surprisingly high performance driving both in typically urban settings and in out-of-town trips – in fact, the top speed in eDrive mode is 135km/h.”