Ferrari dishes out more details on the new Roma coupe
Take a dive into more of the details on the latest Prancing Horse.
Ferrari 's been kind to its fans outside of Formula One this year. The Italian firm showed off not one, not two but five new cars this year alone. The final of the five is what you see here, the Ferrari Roma coupe that debuted last month.
After an unveiling light on details, the company has provided more of them in a Thursday announcement. Specifically, we learn a lot more about the car's aerodynamics, design inspiration and its dynamics. Ferrari revealed there's still a turbocharged 3.9-liter V8 under the hood, shared with the Portofino convertible. An eight-speed dual-clutch transmission sends power to the rear wheels and there's 611 horsepower on tap with 561 pound-feet of torque.
Weight reduction was a key area Ferrari engineers worked on, and the Roma benefits from the latest chassis developments; the company said 70% of the components are new to the model. To speak with numbers, the car is 440 pounds lighter than a Portofino.
Complementing the analog engineering is a suite of refined digital technology. The latest version of the company's dynamic control system works with things like the electronic stability control to deliver smoother slip. Handling and grip benefit from this, and Ferrari Dynamic Enhancer is onboard to adjust brake pressure on the wheels in Race mode. Again, the car will let its hair down a bit more, but in a more controlled fashion.
When it's time for the Roma to cut through the wind, the coupe's aero bits work their magic. Highlighting it all is a new spoiler that deploys at high speeds to maintain the downforce required, but also provide low drag as needed. The latter sees the wing stay flush with the rear, which Ferrari believes also preserves the design's elegance. At its max, there's 209 more pounds of downforce available compared to the Portofino.
On the design front, Ferrari better explained its ethos, which is originally said is meant to recall a "pleasurable way of life" in Rome during the 1950s and '60s. Basically, the firm wanted to celebrate the look of front-engined grand tourers from the 1960s. This led to a minimalist kind of look without any "decorations" at the front in the form of excess air inlets and the like. "Purity" is the word Ferrari used to describe the overall look.
Moving inward, the cabin lets go of some of the driver-focused appeal to create a sense of two spaces: one for the driver and one for the passenger. There was a goal to almost make the passenger more of a co-pilot, rather than just someone along for the ride. In another nod to the past, some of the driver controls reside on a metal plate in the center console -- a clever reference to the gated manual transmissions of the past.
We'll see the first Romas hit the streets sometime next year.
