DOSSIER: 2023 FERRARI DAYTONA SP3

LIKE A ROCK. LIKE A ROCKET.

- MIKE GUY

THINK OF THE FERRARI Daytona SP3 as a rock. Of course, it is not a rock. Nor does it share many of the characteristics of rocks. Though it is heavy by rock standards, at 3274 pounds dry, it is light by the standards of most modern sports cars. It is not craggy like a granite boulder, or ill-tempered yet lighthearted like Marvel Comics' The Thing. But as he sits in the brutal Belgian heat, about 50 or so miles from Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, the SP3's senior designer, Jason Furtado, keeps insisting the Daytona SP3's exterior is inspired by a particular sasso. That means stone in Italian. In this instance, a sleek one is used for skipping across water.

It's a weird comparison, but it makes sense. "I think about the SP3 as a car with many layers," explains Furtado, who worked for three years under Ferrari chief designer Flavio Manzoni to mold the lines of this $2.3 million stunner. There are layers to the car itself, much like the strata in sedimentary rocks. It is functional-the worn edges make a skipping stone hydrodynamic and a car aerodynamic. It has a subtlety to it-on the SP3 there are no wing elements and very little ostentation beyond overwhelming, knee-buckling physical presence.

"The best Ferrari designs have just two lines," Furtado says. "A straight one and a curve that runs along it. This is the best Ferrari design."