Mark Tisshaw wrote:Three images have been shown, revealing the open-top hypercar's design changes, which include a pair of rear butresses and roll-over hoop.
The biggest difference between the LaFerrari coupé and spider is, of course, the roof. Ferrari’s most recent convertible models, the 488 Spider and California, have been folding hard-tops, but the LaFerrari Spider will come with a removable carbonfibre hard-top and removable soft-top has been chosen, due to the extra weight of a full convertible and the tight packaging of the mid-mounted V12 engine and hybrid system.
Extensive modifications to the car's rigid carbonfibre chassis have been made to ensure torsional strength is retained, and Ferrari says the car's aerodynamics have also been tweaked to give the spider the same drag coefficient as the coupé.
The hybrid system from the LaFerrari coupé, which mixes a naturally aspirated 6.3-litre V12 engine with an electric motor and battery pack for a combined 950bhp, makes it over to the spider version unchanged.
The production run of the LaFerrari Spider is likely to be even shorter than the coupé’s and the price even greater than the £1 million of the coupé. CEO Sergio Marchionne confirmed earlier this year that potential customers had already been shown the car, and now Ferrari has revealed all examples have been sold.
No pricing has been revealed, however Autocar previously heard from one private broker who claimed to be able to source a brand-new LaFerrari Spider for €3.5 million (£2.8m) before taxes for 2017 delivery.
UPDATE
BOGDAN ZOLTAN wrote:Although Ferrari took its flagship hypercar to the next level by removing its roof and naming it the Aperta, it’s still a 963 PS (950 hp) LaFerrari. Only it comes with a bit more attitude now.
According to the carmaker itself, Ferrari’s core values are technological excellence, performance, style, and exclusivity, and the new roofless hypercar ticks all the boxes. Launched to commemorate the company’s 70th anniversary, the LaFerrari Aperta comes with both a soft top and a carbon-fiber hardtop, the latter being optional.
Under the hood, it’s the same 800 PS (789 hp) 6,262cc V12 engine coupled to a 120 kW (161 hp) electric motor that boasts a total output of 963 PS (950 hp), but imagine how it sounds now, with the roof down. Moreover, the powertrain control software has been optimized for increased efficiency, thanks to the expertise gained by Maranello’s with the LaFerrari.
Ferrari says the biggest challenge when designing the car was to produce a convertible that could be on par with the coupe’s performance capabilities. Even the company’s styling center concentrated on retaining as much of the original design as possible.
The result is described as the peak of the synergies between the engineering and development departments, with the Aperta sporting modified elements only above its waistline, creating a carbon-fibre ‘flying bridge’ – in Ferrari’s own words – hunkered into the main volume.
Since the car delivers the same torsional rigidity and beam stiffness characteristics as its closed-top counterpart, its performance figures are somewhat similar. It tops out at speeds over 350 km/h (217 mph), but not before accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in in under 3 seconds and 0 to 200 km/h (124 mph) in 7.1 seconds. Moreover, improvements to the aerodynamic set-up ensure that drag figures are unaffected with the roof open and side windows up. Wait, is that Ferrari’s way of telling us it goes over 350 km/h with the roof down?
They do say that a sophisticated wind-stop system, designed to improve aerodynamic and acoustic comfort, allows occupants to easily carry on a conversation even at high speeds. We’re willing to test it out.
