The Ferrari 499P Modificata is a €5.1m, 858bhp observe toy constructed for mortals

Ferrari has introduced a brand new model of its Le Mans-winning hypercar. It’s known as the 499P Modificata, and in a fairly unimaginable flip of occasions it’s not really being constructed for racing drivers.

Allow us to clarify. You know the way Ferrari has its XX and F1 Clienti programmes the place very, very rich Toms, Dicks and Harrys purchase bonkers sports activities automobiles just like the FXXK or outdated Scuderia F1 automobiles, that are then shipped all over the world to totally different racetracks for the house owners to drive? Properly, the 499P Modificata begins a brand new department of precisely that, with the programme set to be often known as Sport Prototipi Clienti. Yep, common folks are going to have the ability to purchase these items. Unimaginable.

We’re instructed the Le Mans Hypercars will share circuits comparable to Suzuka and the Nürburgring with outdated F1 automobiles when the Sport Prototipi Clienti programme kicks off in 2024, which ought to make for fairly the spectacle.

Oh, and since they’re non-competitive observe toys for the insanely rich, Ferrari doesn’t have to fret about these pesky Steadiness of Efficiency laws. Consequently, it has turned up the wick slightly. Yep, it’s taken the 2022 Le Mans 24hrs winner and made it quicker, simply in time for members of most of the people to drive it.

It’s not the 296 GT3-derived 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 that has been modified right here although. As an alternative, it’s the electrical motor on the entrance axle which is now extra highly effective and drives the entrance wheels always. You see, laws for the World Endurance Championship state that the electrical help can solely come into play at speeds of over 190kph, whereas the Modificata is four-wheel drive from a standstill. Whole mixed energy is now an enormous 858bhp, though that full quantity is barely deployed when the motive force makes use of the brand new ‘Push to Go’ button that’s mounted on the again of the steering wheel and lasts for seven seconds at a time. With out that in play you’ll ‘solely’ have 697bhp.

Nonetheless, all the different internals are just about precisely as they have been within the Le Mans winner, so that you get a full carbon monocoque chassis, a seven-speed sequential gearbox, push-rod suspension (which has been tweaked to make the automobile slightly extra pleasant), a correct brake-by-wire system and an F1-derived 800-volt battery pack. You additionally get precisely the identical styling/aero because the ‘customary’ 499P, and we’re instructed the inside solely will get the addition of a digital rear-view mirror and a barely wider seat. Properly, we will’t all be as lean as racing drivers.

One large distinction from the precise race automobile although is the bespoke rubber. Whereas Michelins have been used at Circuit de la Sarthe, these Pirelli slicks have been designed to heat up faster earlier than providing extra “predictable dealing with”. Sounds smart.

Ferrari hasn’t disclosed what number of Modificatas it intends to construct, however we’re instructed that it’s a “strictly limited-series automobile” that’ll be reserved for the model’s “most valued and particular clients”.

They’ll be its deepest pocketed clients too, as a result of every Modificata is ready to price €5.1 million earlier than taxes (round £4.4m). Yikes. That checklist worth does cowl the price of the automobile and two years of the Sport Prototipi Clienti programme although, in addition to all upkeep and your personal engineering workforce at every circuit. Plus, contemplate that that is the present Le Mans champ and it really begins to appear like *whisper it* form of first rate worth.

And sure, we do hate ourselves for saying that about one thing that prices FIVE MILLION EUROS.