GLORIOUS TWELVE

Inspired by the glory days of sports prototype racing, the Ferrari Daytona SP3 is a stunning homage with pure V12 power. Prepare to be intoxicated

- ADAM TOWLER

FERRARI'S ICONA RANGE IS ALWAYS AN INTERESTING topic of conversation amongst those of an evo persuasion. The first two offspring of this emergent product lineage were 2018's Monza SP1 and SP2, those windscreen-free, chop-top 812 Superfasts that set out to ape Maranello's sports-racing cars of the 1950s. A wildly exciting way to enjoy a Sunday morning drive? Or a bit self-conscious, perhaps? Certainly, it's fair to say you'd need to be a particularly confident soul to tool around in one.

Shudderingly expensive, in a world where you're asked if you want to buy one and not the other way around, the price is essentially meaningless and removed from any sort of traditional logical comparison with cars of equivalent performance or content; you want one, this is what it costs, you pay. Soon Aston Martin and McLaren tried something very similar, with varying degrees of commercial success it must be said, making this bizarre sub-niche one of the most curious motoring diversions of recent years.

Icona, though, is here to stay, positioned alongside the firm's occasional hypercars within the uppermost canopy of the Maranello tree, and if the first two cars took their inspiration from swashbuckling duels on closed public roads featuring Hawthorn, Collins, and Castelotti, then SP3 takes its inspiration from a different decade. Now we're into the 1960s and Ferrari's titanic battles with first Ford and then Porsche, from the 250P of 1963 right through to the 312PB of 1973 (as described after this test). Most of all, we're talking about arguably its most voluptuous and meaningful winner of all: the virtually priceless P4.