Open Fire: it’s Ferrari’s F60 America

Treble espresso? Ice-cold shower? The Greatest Shoutings Of Jeremy Clarkson piped at 140 decibels? Whatever your preferred method of blowing out the cobwebs, of waking up to face the day, it’ll inevitably pale into insignificance beside this.

This is the Ferrari F60 America, effectively the open-top version of the insane F12 and quite possibly the most invigorating wake-up call on Planet Earth.

The fixed-roof F12, after all, is pretty much as invigorating as a supercar can be, with its screaming, 8700rpm 6.3-litre V12 firing no fewer than 730 horses to the rear wheels, storming the two-seater north past 200mph. “You can’t even sneeze when you drive this car,” winced Clarkson when he tested the F12 in Scotland. “Because if you did … well, they’d have to hose you off the road.”

So just imagine how synapse-crackling that experience will feel without a roof for protection. The F60 America – named in celebration of Ferrari marking six decades of selling cars in the USA – trades in the F12’s hard hat for a lightweight fabric roof useable, we’re told, at speeds of up to 80mph. Which means if you want to go faster (which you will), it’s an open-air ticket only.

A rather rapid open-air ticket at that. The F60 will get from 0-62mph in 3.1 seconds, exactly the same as the F12. And though Ferrari hasn’t released a figure for top speed, we’ve no doubt it’ll punch past 200mph, albeit perhaps not as far as the F12’s 211mph v-max.

But the F60 America is actually rather more than just a de-roofed F12. There’s fresh aluminium bodywork, too, with deeper side strakes, extra bonnet holes and more pronounced winglets.

Those leather-clad roll hoops are backed by carbon fibre ‘buttresses’ that stretch out over the rear deck, helping to smooth airflow around the F60’s rigorously aero-designed back end.

Ferrari, of course, has a history of special edition open-topped cars for the American market, stretching right back to the 275 GTS NART Spider of 1967, created after US importer Luigi Chinetti requested something a little… breezier for his Stateside clients.

Like that 275, the F60 America will be limited to a production run of just 10 units. All have been spoken for, and though Ferrari’s giving no hint on price, you can safely assume it to fall into the ‘eye-watering’ category. The standard F12, after all, weighs in at £240,000 before options: the ultra-limited nature of the F60 will see its price tag skyrocket far north of that figure.

Source: www.topgear.com