The 2003 Ferrari Enzo Hit 60 in 3.3 Seconds, But That’s Not the Wildest Part
An offer we couldn't refuse—and one that we hope we get again.
[This story originally appeared in the August 2003 issue of MotorTrend.] With his upturned, left palm he pointed at his right hand which had a thumb-and-index-finger grip in the rim of the D-shaped steering wheel. He delicately but forcefully manipulated the wheel as a violin player would a bow, shrugged his shoulders, and pleaded for my reaction with a classic Italian, "Eh, eh?" What else could I say but, "Bravo, magnifico!"
An entire section of a race track was blanketed by a plume of white tire smoke as he effortlessly drifted the car around the corner in sprint-car style at about 50 mph. To call this a normal MotorTrend "First Test" would be like calling your very first kiss, a real kiss. This was no ordinary car, nor was he an ordinary driver. It was a $650,000 Enzo Ferrari masterfully piloted by Dario Benuzzi—and I was duly impressed by the serenity of the car and the driver.
This Was No Ordinary First Test
Ferrari are, above all else, an historical manufacturer of racing cars with an incredible stable of street cars, as well. The two sides of the business are inexorably connected to one body like no other company in the world. Every few years, the two arms collaborate and embrace a single ideal. Together, they hand-craft limited-edition automobiles that redefine extreme sports car possibilities: '84 288 GTO, '87 F40, '95 F50, and now the '03 Enzo, of which just 399 will be made, one each day, and all have been purchased ahead of time.
My Enzo thrill ride came at the conclusion of the morning's testing session which began with the group of journalists swarming over two cars: one yellow (for instrumented testing) and one red (for riding impressions observed from the passenger seat while Dario Benuzzi drove). Benuzzi has been the Ferrari test driver of record for 30 years, and nobody knows the cars or the track like him. The yellow car's young driver was Andrea Bertolini. He's quickly making a name for himself in FIA N-GT racing behind the wheel of the #52 JMB Racing 360 Modena. It goes without saying that he too knows his way around the track.
The two cars idled up to operating temperature: $1.3 million worth of 24 cylinders and 96 valves teasing us with their mechanical harmony. A throng of photographers, writers, engineers, technicians, and public relations personnel eagerly clamored for a meeting with Dario, Andrea, the general manager of the Granturismo (GT) products department, Amadeo Felisa. The introductions felt like they took an eternity to those of us unfamiliar with the warm, Italian, greeting ceremony. "When in Rome..." I suppose.
The technicians finally gave the thumbs up. We quickly taped the magnetic GPS antenna to the roof (the Enzo's body is carbon fiber), stuffed the recorder behind the passenger seat, and plugged the power cord into an improvised cigarette lighter (normally, there isn't one). I jotted down a list of testing instructions loosely based on our normal testing regimen and handed the scrap of paper to the test driver. I asked him to also drive, at speed, one hot lap of the entire course so we could record lateral-g loads in various corners and transitions. "Yes yes." With the feather-weight door closed, off he went. Andrea returned not five minutes later.
He indicated he had finished, and already the next magazine representative was attaching his test gear. After I had downloaded the data, I answered the group of eager Ferrari representatives who had gathered around. "First run 3.8; second run 3.5, and third run, 3.3 seconds," referring to the 0-60 mph times of the car, "but he only reached 97.18 mph." That was all he did. The first three acceleration runs of the day (he was improving) and just four minutes of data. One run was on a slight uphill, one downhill.
One run started in a corner exit and finished when he applied brakes for the next corner. I scanned the data to see if I had missed anything after the acceleration, but no—no maximum braking, and no threshold cornering. He did say he had used the Enzo's launch program ("Race" on, "ASR" off) which only allows a driver-selected-rpm clutch-drop from the F1-style gear box—no fancy Formula 1 racing traction control. We'd have to be happy with what we had recorded. In fact, we were in a better position than one of the other magazine's representatives whose luggage and test gear were lost en route to Italy.
As the sun reached its apex, all available track time had been eaten up by the other magazines who had been invited. I got the last ride of the morning with Dario in the red car.
