DREAM MACHINE

Unveiled in the metal in Hong Kong and Singapore recently, Ferrari’s new 296 GTB points the way forward for Maranello, writes Jon Wall.

- Jon Wall

It’s not often I feature in these pages a car I haven’t driven, but the new Ferrari 296 GTB, which was unveiled in Hong Kong and Singapore recently before being whisked away to be exhibited somewhere else, represents such a quantum leap for the brand that it simply can’t be ignored. It is, in almost every respect, completely new; it’s extraordinarily beautiful for a modern-day, midengine supercar; it promises to deliver a driving experience that verges on the phenomenal, and as far as Ferrari itself is concerned it’s the physical embodiment of the next stage in the brand’s future.

But before we look forward, let’s go back about three or four years, to when word began to seep out from Maranello that the factory was developing a V6 power unit for a road car. Many assumed the engine would find its way into a 21st-century successor to the fabled Dino, the company’s lovely mid-engine sports car of the late 1960s, which was cheaper, more compact and lighter than the full-fat Ferraris of the time. Powered not by a V12 but a small-capacity V6, it didn’t even carry a single Ferrari badge (except a hidden plate within the door), though it was regarded by almost everyone as the real, pure-blooded thing.