Picture the scene: northwestern France, summer of '65. England has yet to win the World Cup and the Apollo space programme is still four years shy of the moon, but Ferrari? Ruling the globe even in the face of bloodthirsty competition. And its own hobbled prototypes. You see, everyone expected Ford's six GT40s (including two 7.0-litre monsters) to muller the opposition, but in the event, none of them lasted beyond the sixth hour. And when Ferrari's main challengers followed suit later on, it was the NART entry of Masten Gregory, Jochen Rindt, and (depending on who you believe) reserve driver Ed Hugus that triumphed in a car that had qualified almost 13 seconds off the pace. Staggering.
Anyway, imagine looking Old Man Enzo in the eye and telling him - after a seventh victory in eight years - "Ferrari won't win here again". A ludicrous notion. Absurd. But fast forward to the present day and it remains Ferrari's most recent success. All dynasties die, but few endings have been as sudden and everlasting.
Maranello has decided the clock has ticked long enough, and more than half a century later the shifting landscape has given it a chance to kill the stopwatch at last. Chiefly, the FIA has developed a leading World Endurance Championship class that strikes the right balance between engineering freedom and financial restraint. However, you also suspect that FI's cost cap has left the sport's giants with more excess coins in their equally giant pockets than they really know what to do with. What, you thought Red Bull announced that £5 million track toy on a whim?
Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av Top Gear.
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 September 2022-utgaven av Top Gear.
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
