![DOE-DEE-CHEE-CHILL-IN-DREE [Italian, noun, '12 cylinders']](https://cdn.magzter.com/1422869468/1717571970/articles/aw25rsjN41719571907022/DOEDEECHEECHILLINDREE-ITALIAN-NOUN-12-CYLINDERS.jpg "DOE-DEE-CHEE-CHILL-IN-DREE [Italian, noun, '12 cylinders']")
Just occasionally, something's lost in translation between poison tipped Italian and well-meaning King's English. I'm standing alongside the new Ferrari in a Maranello studio. I ask Flavio Manzoni, the man who heads up the design department, if it's possible to spec the black 'mask' bisecting its nose, the black roof section and the twin black aero flaps at the back in overall body colour. Manzoni rounds on me with derision. "If you ask to have them not in black... you walk on my body." I think that's an approximation of 'over my dead body'. I'll take that as a no then.
Some ideas translate more literally than others. You thought the 812 Superfast's name was a bit obvious. Its successor the latest in a storied lineage of front-engined super tourers stretching back through F12, 599, 575 and 550 through the 365 GTB/4 and beyond into Ferrari's 1940s infancy - is named after its V12 engine. It is simply the 'Twelve Cylinder'. Whoops, the laser eyes are burrowing into my skull again. You're supposed to address it as 'Dodici Cilindri'.
Obviously Italians are the undisputed world champions of making car related nouns sound poetic. Quattroporte. Testarossa. Scuderia and Competizione. But there's something more nostalgic at play here, a sense that if Ferrari doesn't celebrate the V12 now, it's not a given it'll get another golden opportunity. Later this year we'll be presented with the first electric-only Ferrari. There are already two hybrids in the range, and downsized turbocharged engines have proliferated across the family. Meanwhile Bentley and Mercedes have abandoned their 12-cylinder engines. Nothing is sacred.
Denne historien er fra July 2024-utgaven av BBC Top Gear UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra July 2024-utgaven av BBC Top Gear UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
HEAD TO HEAD VANTAGE vs 911 TURBO
For as long as we can remember the Porsche 911 has been the default best sports car money can buy. Does the new Aston Vantage represent a changing of the guard?
BOSS LEVEL:PART TWO
In a world exclusive, three makers of the world's most powerful hypercars are cordially invited... to drive each other's creations
THE THEORY 0F EVOLUTION
Ridged bladder seats, an inflating steering wheel and an AI track day coach... has Lotus hit on the supercar's future, or gone mad?
Koenigsegg Jesko Attack
The Jesko Attack drives like a conventional supercar. Brakes like one, turns like one, grips like one. But it doesn't accelerate like one.
STIC LAPS are back!
It's a 1.75-mile figure of eight on an old Canadian Air Force base just south of Guildford. Hardly Monza, or the Mulsanne straight, and never in a million years - you'd think a place that would become one of the most sought after performance benchmarks in the motoring world.
URBAN OUTWITTERS
Does the solution to city motoring lie in designs from the past with powertrains from the future? TopGear goes in search of answers... at rush hour
FUTURE FERRARIS
If you thought Ferrar's past was colourful, wait until you see what it's cooking up next. The future's bright, the future's rosso
DIRTY DOZEN
Ferrari's new super GT makes no secrets about what's under the bonnet, but can it swallow five countries in just a few hours? Better get on with it...
MYTH BUSTER
\"ADAPTIVE DAMPERS ALWAYS NEED TO ADAPT\"
The S2000 from a parallel universe
Meet Evasive Motorsports’ Honda S2000R, the car the Japanese firm should have built itself
