Ferrari Testarossa | Icons

12 March 2022 Redazione News, Supercars Lounge

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FERRARI TESTAROSSA

Words Andrea Albertazzi / Photos Ferrari Media

Let’s kick off this new column dedicated to the cars that have marked history with that model that perhaps more than any other is able to make everyone come in agreement. In fact, the Testarossa (literally “red head”) is not only one of the most iconic and representative Ferraris, but the one embodying the lines and qualities that make a car worth hanging on the wall of a young enthusiast to whom reality has not yet snatched the dreams from the heart. In the same way, having almost casually assumed the image of both a sports and a luxury car, it is always the Testarossa that represents the meeting point between heart and brain and that indelibly marks an entire era, catapulting the angular and futuristic lines of the 80s in a limbo of eternal grace.

Ask anyone who doesn’t care about cars, in that case a Ferrari will be red. And there is no Ferrari redder than a Testarossa – even a black one. It is a fact, something universally recognized, but we know well that there is something more. Born in 1984 from the pencil of Pininfarina, the Testarossa should have been the high-performance grand tourer to collect the scepter of the more extreme 512 BB. A sports car designed for a more comfortable cohabitation, for long journeys granted by the wide and comfortable leather seats and a load compartment at the front which, in addition to the space immediately behind the seats, allow to stow more than what the external appearance could make you think. Behind driver and passenger, to make the driving experience something unforgettable, a mid-positioned naturally aspirated 4.9-liter V12 grounding 380 horsepower, which despite delivering respectable performance still for today’s standards, was really able to quickly move you from one point of the map to another.

It is precisely the performance and the way in which the power is delivered which, however, do not define the Testarossa as a pure supercar, but rather the ultimate link between composure and roughness, comfort and speed, practicality and emotions. The primary intention was to produce a high-class sports car that was able to thrill like the 512 BB, but ready to be used more easily, even by less experienced drivers. The result, if we want almost casual or even better providential, was to find a masterpiece that identifies the squared lines and clean cuts typical of the 80s, redefining the very concept of a dream car thanks to an aerodynamics that celebrates the innumerable horizontal slits on the body of thecar, the same ones that once their functional role is over, give way to the aesthetic whim along the entire door up to the front wheel, ultimately defining one of the most distinguishable traits in Ferrari history.

With a rear track 140 mm wider than the front one and an on road imposing presence without resorting to spoilers or appendages, the Testarossa also sports retractable headlights – another iconic trait of that period – and a passenger compartment that today we would define as minimalist, but where in fact there is everything it takes to transform the time spent driving into moments of glory. We are talking about the large leather steering wheel with a thin crown and with the three spokes that join the legendary prancing horse on a yellow background, but also the 5-speed manual gearbox with open grille, while regarding the aforementioned comfort intended for a for cross country purpose, the Testarossa mainly plays on the wide space for shoulders and head of the two occupants, letting the V12 soundtrack to enter the cabin, without however being as intrusive as on the 512 BB.

With a weight of 1,700 kg, the Testarossa grounded its power on the rear wheels by scoring a 0 to 100 kph of just 5.7 seconds and a top speed of 285 per hour, but despite these interesting figures, it was already perceived that this car was much more than something designed for shooting from one traffic light to another. Today, after almost forty years and having definitively proven to pass the test of time, the Testarossa underlines even more that emotional side triggered by that attack of edges and vents, covering the role of icon that it has claimed immediately and that the subsequent evolutions called 512 TR (1992-1994) and F512 M (1994-1996) contributed to further cement. It is legitimate to wonder if the best feats happen by chance, or if the legacy of the Testarossa is one of the “cheapest” ticket to the Olympus of supercars, given that the current tag (around € 110,000) – by just a couple of years – is less than double the price it had once new. Or maybe, in the presence of such an iconic and immortal object, it is more correct not to ask too many questions and do everything to make that childhood dream on the wall to come true. A dream that after almost forty years is still Ferrari red.