New Ferrari 296 GTB: Five things we love
Ferrari’s first V6 road car in almost 50 years won’t wear the Dino badge but will pack 610kW of hybrid powerItaly’s prancing horse brand has controversially shied away from the legendary Dino nameplate for the new Ferrari 296 GTB, which was revealed overnight as Ferrari’s first mainstream electrified model and its first V6 production car since 1974.
Knowing it was flouting a groundswell of public support for its classic 1950s badge, Ferrari instead poured its brainpower into building a 610kW V6 plug-in hybrid supercar with a 25km pure-electric range.
That’s a full 80kW more gristle than the Ferrari F8 Tributo and the 296 GTB laps the Fiorano race circuit in just 1:21 – only two seconds slower than the new Assetto Fiorano version of the limited-edition SF90 Stradale hybrid hypercar.
Revealed just weeks after McLaren’s first hybrid supercar, the all-new Artura V6, the Ferrari 296 GTB looks to open up a new world of buyers at the bottom end of the Ferrari range, without losing much speed.
Ferrari claims the 296 GTB will run to 100km/h in 2.9 seconds, 200km/h in 7.3sec and a top speed beyond 330km/h.
It slams out 393kW of power from its 2992cc V6 and adds in another 122kW and 315Nm of torque from a dual-rotor, axial-flux e-motor squeezed between the V6 and the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.
But Ferrari isn’t hiding the F163 V6 behind the e-motor’s skirts, claiming an astonishing 221 Italian horsepower (131.2kW) per litre and an 8500rpm redline from its new engine.
With a 7.45kWh lithium-ion battery built into the floor, the 296 GTB is also capable of 25km of pure EV driving range as well, at up to 135km/h.
It has done all this while keeping the weight down to 1470kg, with an electrification package that adds just 54.3mm to the entire powertrain length.
The Ferrari 296 GTB will overlap the F8 Tributo (itself a facelift of the 488) until all of the V8’s pre-orders have been filled in 2022, and will then take over the F8 Tributo’s positioning as its core sports car.
At that point the Ferrari line-up will comprise the Portofino V8, the Roma V8, the 296 GTB, the SF90 Stradale and Assetto Fiorano V8 models and the 812 coupe and convertible V12s. And, of course, the upcoming Purosangue crossover.
Like the new McLaren Artura, the 296 GTB retains its rear-drive set-up, which helps retains a rear-biased (59.5 per cent) weight distribution.
There are two real ‘Dino’ lineages at Ferrari, though. The first is a range of 1950s and ’60s racing cars, while the second refers to the delicate beauty of the first 1967 206 Dino road car, and its 246 and 308 successors.
The Ferrari 296 GTB will hit European showrooms in the first quarter of next year, with prices starting at €269,000, or €302,000 for the track-pack Assetto Fiorano specification.
So you expect it to arrive in Australia by the end of next year, with prices starting close to $500,000.
Powertrain
The Prancing Horse has always prided itself on its engines above all else and it’s not so different now.
Like the McLaren Artura, the 296 GTB’s V6 runs an unusual 120-degree vee angle. Unlike McLaren, Ferrari has history with a 120-degree vee angle in a V6, using it to take its first Formula 1 constructor’s title in 1961 and it did it again with the turbocharged 126 C2 F1 car in 1982.
But rather than dwelling on having a V6 in a Ferrari, the engineers are instead calling it their ‘baby V12’ due to its aural characteristics matching up to the glorious V12 in the 812 Superfast.
The clean-sheet engine is all-aluminium and the wide vee-angle was chosen almost entirely to lower the centre of gravity.
Finally, Ferrari moves to a hot-vee layout, bringing the two IHI turbochargers inside the vee angle to again lower the centre of gravity.
Spinning at up to 180,000rpm, the monoscroll turbochargers are counter-rotating, with 11 per cent less rotational inertia than in the F8 Tributo’s V8, and Ferrari claims a 24 per cent rise in turbo efficiency.
There’s a lot to take in here.
Ferrari tried to protect the sound level from the F163 by giving it similar harmony of high-frequency notes to the naturally aspirated V12, which is a big claim.
It uses a LOT of the technology Ferrari developed for the SF90 in the V6 layout, including the central spark plug and the 350-bar fuel-injection pressure.
The V6’s crankshaft is made from nitride steel, forged from a rough ingot and then twisted and subjected to nitriding heat treatments.
The plenum chamber has finally moved from the centre of the vee to the side of the cylinder-heads, and they’re integrated in a light thermoplastic housing with the throttle valve.
Electrics
Again, there are plenty of SF90 Stradale lessons scattered around the 296 GTB, albeit at a far lower price and without the driven front axle.
The Ferrari 296 GTB is always a rear-driver, with its rear-mounted electric motor joining forces with the transmission via a clutch pack.
The 296 GTB has four driving modes via an upgraded Manettino switch that now encompasses eDrive, Hybrid, Performance and Qualify modes. Each mode has differing levels of power input and extraction from the electric motor.
Aerodynamics
The Ferrari 296 GTB becomes the Prancing Horse’s first mainline model to offer active aerodynamics, which is a bigger step at Ferrari than might first seem the case.
It has long shied away from aero devices that add drag, preferring to channel underbody air through downforce-inducing channels, though that changed with the La Ferrari and the SF90 Stradale.
An active rear spoiler integrates into the rear bumper, generating a claimed 36kg of downforce at 250km/h on the Assetto Fiorano track pack, but 100kg on the standard road version.
There are design ideas that link the 296 GTB to road and race Ferraris of the past, while moving it on from the F8 Tributo.
While there are clear hints of Roma in the nose of the car, Ferrari insists its inspirations go much further back, to the 1963 250 LM, while the wrap-around windscreen is a re-imagining of the P80/C one-off car.
The aerodynamicists have done their work in cooling, too, with hot air being sent underneath the car so cool air could more easily find its way into the rear-mounted intercoolers.
Chassis
Ferrari didn’t take aim at the F8 Tributo for the 296 GTB’s chassis. It aimed above the V8’s impressive handling envelope.
Like Porsche has done with its 911 GT3 Touring, though, Ferrari has concentrated more on driver engagement than absolute outright cornering speed for the 296 GTB.
It has a new Transition Manager Actuator to allow the car to change between its powerplants, a new anti-lock brake system that shrinks the travel of the brake pedal and a six-way Dynamic Chassis Sensor that Ferrari claims to be a world first.
Ferrari now measures acceleration and speed across three axes, so it could dump the yaw-rate sensor for the ABS for quicker and more accurate reactions, and it now claims an 8.8 per cent reduction in stopping distance from 200km/h.
There’s a shorter wheelbase than the F8 Tributo, too, even with the addition of the e-motor, and the new car weighs only 35kg more than the car it will cannibalise.
Interior
Built around the new digital design concepts of the SF90 Stradale, the Ferrari 296 GTB breaks from the slightly busy F8 Tributo interior to deliver a clean, clear cabin layout.
There’s a driver-focused curve to the dashboard and it houses the steering wheel and the digital instrument cluster, with capacitive-touch controls and a head-up display.
The rest looks minimalist, with the exception of the chromed gear selector panel that looks a bit contrived to meet historic ideas.
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