The SF90 XX Stradale Is Ferrari's First XX Road Car
Ferrari brought us to its Fiorano test track in Italy for the unveiling of the new SF90 Stradale XX, which seemed like a very obvious place to debut its latest XX model. However, when the lucky elite who managed to get an allocated slot for this new special do take delivery, they will be able to do something no previous XX buyer has: legally drive it on the street.
This is, on the face of it, confusing. From the first Enzo-derived FXX in 2005 the purpose of the XX program has been to create track-based monsters unconstrained by the need to satisfy the dull niceties of road-going homologation. The pattern was shared by the 599XX in 2010 and then the LaFerrari-based FXX K in 2017. All were intended for use at Ferrari’s own private track events, XX owners paying to effectively become test drivers and the company promising that feedback would be used to hone future models. But the SF90 XX Stradale – and its Spider sister – will be the sort of commonplace Ferraris you can take grocery shopping.
The new SF90 XX will also be much more affordable. We don’t have U.S. pricing yet, but in Europe the SF90 XX Stradale Coupe is set to start at €770,000 before options, but including a 22 percent sales tax. Remove that surcharge and it becomes a mere €630,000 - $690,000 at current exchange rates – with the Spider being €850,000 with tax or €710,000 without. No doubt it will be possible to pile on bespoke options to take costs closer to seven figures, but when the FXX was new it cost $2.1m, the 599 XX was $1.5m and the FXX K was $2.6m. Both SF90 XX variants are relative bargains, even if they will be much less exclusive than any of their predecessors: Ferrari is going to make 799 Coupes and 599 Spiders. All have been pre-allocated to customers.
So what are buyers getting? In terms of performance, only fractional gains from the existing SF90. The XX’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 gets new pistons and a more efficient cooling system, but power has only risen by 17hp to 786hp. The three electric motors are unchanged – one powering each front wheel to allow for torque vectoring, while a third sits between the engine and eight-speed twin-clutch transmission at the back. These can deliver a combined peak of 229hp – 12hp more than in the regular SF90 thanks to improved cooling. While modest, the improvements do mean the XX’s combined 1015hp peak output is now ahead of the 1001hp of the forthcoming Lamborghini Revuelto.
Weight savings are similarly slight. Both XX variants are 22lbs lighter than their standard sisters according to Ferrari, although that figure requires the specification of the optional race seats, the lightest Ferrari has ever constructed. But the claimed dry weight of 3440lbs for the Coupe and 3660lbs for the Spider qualifies neither as lightweights thanks to the need to carry the mass of the hybrid system and its 8kWh battery pack (which can still give an EV-only range of up to 15 miles.)
The most significant changes are aerodynamic, most obviously with the arrival of the sizeable wing mounted high at the back of the car. Fitting this caused some heated internal debate, Ferrari execs admit, as the company has not hung a fixed wing on a road car since the F50. But it was necessary to meet the XX’s targets for enhanced downforce and also – let’s be honest here – to add the visual drama that clearly distinguishes the senior SF90 from the junior one. Together with a new front splitter, and the same moveable active Gurney flap as the regular SF90, it has dramatically increased aero assistance. Ferrari is being coy about the total peak, but says the XX makes 1170lbs of downforce at 155mph – an increase of 310lbs over what the SF90 makes at the same speed. The Spider’s aerodynamic performance is identical with its retractable hardtop up.
Ferrari has a mastery of driver-flattering technology, and the SF90 XX will have more than any of its predecessors, with a traction management that chief development driver Raffaele de Simone says is designed to help the car operate in the grey area between grip and slip, with the latest version of Ferrari’s Side Slip control system to manage oversteer in the punchier dynamic modes. It also gains an enhanced version of the ABS Evo system that made its debut on the 296GTB, this using the by-wire management to adjust force at each wheel under hard braking to maintain stability and help the car turn. There is also a new extra boost function, which depletes the battery pack to maximize track performance when the powertrain is in its most aggressive Qualifying mode. Sadly this gets done automatically and without one of those cool push-to-pass buttons.
The existing SF90 Stradale is already faster around a lap of Fiorano than the LaFerrari that previously sat atop the table of Ferrari’s road cars. There is no doubt that this turned-up version will soon prove the fastest ever. The question is whether the use of XX branding for one street car will lead to its use on others.
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