Faster Ferrari SF90 Takes XX Models On The Road For The First Time

Ferrari has taken its higher-powered, faster-cornering XX model series to the road

for the first time with the launch of the SF90 XX and more than 1100 horsepower.

Shown for the first time in Maranello today, the SF90 Stradale plug-in hybrid has been rebooted to become the SF90 XX Stradale and SF90 XX Spider, so the extra performance will come in both roofed and roofless versions of the Ferrari flagship.

The special series SF90s will start at just (!) 770,000 euros for the coupe and 850,000 euros (US$926,746) for the retractable hardtop convertible.

But before anybody gets excited, all 799 Ferrari SF90 XX Stradales and 599 SF90 XX Spiders have already been spoken for.

Ferrari has had XX versions of its top models before, but they have been track-only cars, and extreme enough that most customers were happy to keep them at Maranello and drive them on special occasions.

The special series versions of the flagship are expected to deliver another $1.3 billion in revenue to Ferrari’s bottom line between 2024 and 2026, when they may spread to more than one model.

One major philosophical change has been the switch to a fixed, protruding rear wing, because Ferrari has long preferred to gather its downforce from beneath the car, leaving the upper body sculpting free of ornaments.

It’s the first fixed wing for a Ferrari road car since the F50 in 1995, with Ferrari claiming it helps the SF90 XX to 315kg of downforce at 155mph.

It gathers more downforce from the front through its new S-ducts, which channel hot air from the radiators and over the bodywork, giving it a claimed downforce improvement of 20% at the 199mph top speed.

The spring rates are stiffened, too, lowering the roll of the body by a claimed 10%, and Ferrari has also used the aero tweaks to bring more cold air into the engine, boostin gits performance by 17hp.

The 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V8 alone brings 200hp per liter to the fight, and the three electric motors have 14hp more than the standard units, giving the car a total of 1016hp and 593 lb ft of torque.

It now also has a qualifying mode, to bring more performance from the electric motors (one for each front wheel and one for the rear) out of corners, which also overboosts the engine’s redline from 8000rpm to 83000rpm.

Its most aggressive mode pushes the SF90 XX Stradale to 100km/h in 2.3 seconds and to 200km/h in 6.5 seconds, while the convertible takes 0.2 seconds more to hit 200km/h.

The exhaust, brakes and suspension have all been heavily reworked, giving a “significant” cut to the lap time at Ferrari’s Fiorano circuit, where the SF90 Stradale officially holds the lap record for production cars at 1:19.0.

“It has all the technical features we normally use for a track-only XX car” Ferrari’s marketing and commercial head Enrico Galliera said.

Its weight reduction program pulls 10kg out of the SF90 XX Stradale, getting down to 1570kg, while the Spider can be pulled down to 1660kg.