Named in honor of the company’s’ founder, the Enzo is one of a limited series of road cars including the 288 GTO, F40 and F50. These cars represent Ferrari’s continuing desire to produce the most exclusive and technologically advanced road car. Branding race-derived technology to road cars is not a new idea, especially to Ferrari. Up until the late fifties, Ferrari’s road and racing cars were practically the same product. Since that time, safety regulations, manufacturing costs and practicality have distinctly spilt the cars we race, from the cars we drive daily. The goal of the Enzo was to bridge this gap.
Built in Maranello and tested around Fiorano by both Michael Schumacher and Dario Benuzzi, the Enzo was built from a wealth of talent within Ferrari. Internally, the project was know as the FX, which cost Ferrari 20 million euros to develop.
At the heart of the Enzo is an all-new, mid-mounted 6.0L V12 with a redline of 8,200 rpm, and made 651 hp at 7800 rpm and 657 Nm at 5500 rpm. This propelled the car to 100 mph (160 kph) in 6.6 seconds, and onwards to the 1/4 mile in around 11 seconds. The Enzo Ferrari utilized paddle shifters with shift lights mounted on the top of the steering wheel indicating the optimal time to change gears.
With an initial production run of 350 Enzos, four hundred were built in either red, yellow or black, or a custom color if the customer’s relationship with the firm was strong enough. The extra fifty cars brought in $28.8 million USD (24.4 million euros) for Ferrari, with each car being sold at a $554 00 USD (487,700 EU) profit. With these figures, Ferrari has proven they not only can sell half million dollar cars, they can yield quite a profit margin from them too.
Photo Source: RM Sotheby’s
