The Ferrari F80 continues the company's tradition of using supercars to showcase tech

This is the much anticipated Ferrari F80, the seasonal reveal of the Italian manufacturer’s long lineage of flagship, limited-edition sports cars that heralds new design and technology before it cascades down into the rest of the range. Just like the recent McLaren W1, the F80 is not just a technical tour-de-force, but an instant collectible and fast-appreciating asset.

As we noted when the McLaren was revealed earlier this month, the world of supercars is one of superlatives, where being lighter, faster, and more powerful is a prerequisite for any new debut. Ferrari will build 799 examples of the F80 and ownership is reserved for a very exclusive club, usually those who have dug deep and spent freely with the brand in the past.

It’s a world of strictly limited editions, helping stimulate demand and keep value up. This condition was originally governed by racing rules – the legendary Ferrari GTO from 1984 began life as the road-going version of a car designed for a specific race series, with the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) requiring 200 examples be built for homologation purposes. In the event, a few more were built to accommodate demand, but the idea of fixing a production number helped burnish the image.

Just three years later, the Ferrari F40 was announced. Originally 400 examples were planned; nearly triple that were eventually built. Again, the 2002 Ferrari Enzo was announced as a run of 399 cars, with another hundred built by the time production ended in 2004.

You can hardly blame Ferrari for wanting to accommodate so many eager buyers, especially when the car starts at around £3.1m. Providing you’ve passed the potential ownership test and have access to the funds, what will F80 ownership have in store for 799 lucky enthusiasts?

At the heart of the new car is a V6 mated to a hybrid system. The total power output of 1200hp makes this the most powerful road-going Ferrari ever made (that all-important superlative), with performance figures to back it up. The F80 will get to 100km/h (62mph) in 2.15 seconds, and double that 5.75 seconds. It will then stop from 200km/h in less than 100 metres. Maximum speed is 350km/h (217mph). To achieve all this, and give the machine ‘uncompromising levels of usability on the road, where it can be driven with ease,’ the technology deployed is fearsome.

To accommodate all this within the low-slung, mid-engine layout, the F80 has had to take on a very technical aesthetic, with squared-off, vertical aero elements, fearsome grilles and splitters and a massive active rear wing. Inside, the layout is completely driver-centric, accentuated by the different coloured seat fabrics. Ferrari admits this gives the car a ‘single-seater feel’, adding that the F80 is an ‘architecture that we would call “1+”’.

There are visual echoes of the recently released Ferrari 12Cilindri, even though the F80 has a very different technical set up, with the same blacked-out headlight band and notched vents and ducts. That’s about as far as the connection goes, because the rest of the F80’s DNA comes straight from the track. In particular, there are straight lifts from Ferrari’s 499P Le Mans car, particularly with the engine and powertrain components, as well as plenty of learnings from Formula 1.

Whereas McLaren’s latest foray into the supercar arena is powered by a hybrid V8, Ferrari reckons it can charge another million quid while taking away two cylinders, such is the power of the brand. Flavio Manzoni and his design team have gone all out to make the F80 look as futuristic as possible, from its butterfly doors and blacked out body panels to the race-inspired steering wheel.

The F80 manages to set itself apart from the pack without sacrificing elegant proportions and visual drama. It’s not a classically beautiful shape like some of its forebears, but that’s unlikely to hamper its claim to supercar supremacy, at least for the time being.

Ferrari F80, Ferrari.com, @Ferrari