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Ferrari P80/C one-off built for 330 P3/P4, 1966 Dino 206 S fanatic

For more than four long years, one person has kept a major secret with Ferrari. The company and the client were working on a project that Ferrari calls its "most extreme one-off design ever." Inspired by the 330 P3/P4 and the 1966 Dino 206 S, the P80/C is a new-age take on a track-focused sports prototype. Typically for these types of specialty builds, Ferrari does as they've done in the past and reshapes a new exterior over an existing car from the for-sale lineup. But because it is a track car, Ferrari used the 488 GT3 as a starting point, and made "radical changes" to the equipment from there. It not only has a slightly longer (about two inches) wheelbase than the 488 GTB, but it also has a cab-forward design rather than the 488 GTB's centrally located cabin. Ferrari says this allowed for more creative freedom and played a major part in how the design took shape. Flavio Manzoni and the Ferrari Styling Center set out to make what they described as a "Hero Car." The client's direction was to make a "modern sports prototype" with design cues from the 330 P3/P4 and the 1966 Dino 206 S. These two cars carry significance in Ferrari's design history, as they impressed on the track but also influenced future road cars such as the Dino 206/246 GT. With heavy involvement from the client during the process, Ferrari has been working on this car since 2015, the longest the company has ever spent on developing a one-off. Starting from the ground up, aerodynamics played a major part in the appearance of the P80/C. A gigantic front splitter, which is specific to this car, snuggles the ground and extends beyond the dimensions of the body. Visually, it carries on along the flanks with aero skirts, and circles around the rear with a bulky exaggerated diffuser. The lower kit is left in exposed carbon fiber, creating a two-piece look that's separate from the Rosso Vero body paint. Ferrari says only pieces that were strictly functional were highlighted with bare carbon and that the car has a five percent aerodynamic improvement over the 488 GT3. For the designers, the P80/C was a safe space of opportunity and experimentation. It is a track car that does not fall under racing regulations, but it's also a customer production car that is not forced into road-ready restrictions.

Ferrari's 986-hp mid-engine hybrid supercar stays bundled up in spy shots

With less than a week to go until its debut for VIP clients, Ferrari remains engaged in testing its hybrid V8 supercar. As these spy shots show, the Italian carmaker still insists on giving nothing away. The photographer wasn't able to figure out any more details, noting only that the camo panels were decorated with yellow triangles warning of electric shocks. The last intel we got came from Auto, Motor und Sport, the German magazine predicting 1,000 PS (metric horsepower), which is 986 of our ponies. That grunt would come from the 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 borrowed from the F8 Tributo, and three electric motors — two on the front axles, one in the gearbox. All-wheel drive and instant torque would get the coupe from zero to 62 miles per hour in no more than 2 seconds, and cornering prowess will increase thanks to e-motor torque vectoring. Another stroll through the FerrariChat forum says power might be more than the 1,000 CV (cheveaux — metric horsepower again, but in French) indicated even on Ferrari's invitation to the launch event. A member wrote, "The current numbers doing the rounds are 1,050 — 1,100," bettors guessing 720 hp from the V8, roughly 200 combined horses from the front axle motors, and anywhere from 150 to 180 hp from the gearbox unit. That would be 1,080 hp at most, which is 1,095 CV. The looks are inscrutable. It's clear the door handles are in a different place, above the shoulder line, the front brakes calipers are mighty, and the headlights reveal some severe lines. The motorcycle rider who chased the coupe through the hills above Maranello said he saw squared taillights, but allowed that it could have been the shape of the camouflage openings. A Ferrari owners group from France visited the factory and apparently saw the complete bodywork for the hybrid coupe codenamed F173, describing the car as "wide and flat" with "huge rounded intakes" like half circles, a red body and a black glasshouse. On a side note, they also saw the 812 Spider bodywork, and said it's beautiful. Finally, another FC poster wrote that "the name has been already decided and there are very few chances that it will be changed. It will remind us of a Ferrari model launched years ago and also an actual car, a fast one." Depending on when Ferrari plans a public debut, we have anywhere from six days to three weeks left to play with this puzzle.

Maranello cracks down on rent-a-Ferrari rackets

A crackdown by policy makers in Maranello, Italy, means that visitors to Ferrari's headquarters and museum can't as easily experience the brand's famously sonorous engines for themselves. Several businesses in the city had rented the Prancing Horse's sports cars to tourists for brief drives, but the screaming powerplants got on locals' nerves enough to force new rules to curtail these joyrides. According to CNBC citing an Associated Press report, the various rental businesses had 37 Ferraris and offered a variety of packages to tourists. For example, a 10-minute drive in a F430 Spider was as inexpensive as 80 euros ($87 at current rates). The drivers wanted to get the most from their brief time at the wheel and often sped around the city. While there were no major accidents from the vehicles, the local cops still pulled over 450 of these folks through the first nine months of 2015. The new legislation in Maranello and Fiorano limits the times the test drives can happen and bans the companies from luring customers outside of the Ferrari museum. "We have lost 80 percent of business," the owner of one of these firms said in the report. The rental agencies already challenged the measures in court but lost. It doesn't offer quite the same experience, but Ferrari fans can still get the occasional earful from the brand's engines by staking out the Fiorano test track. We often see the company's future and sometimes classic models there making wonderful noises. Related Video: News Source: CNBCImage Credit: Marco Vasini / AP Photo Government/Legal Ferrari Driving Safety Performance Supercars test drive maranello