Drifting Horses Ferrari F12 TDF - LaFerrari - LaFerrari Aperta

After a day spent mostly sideways behind 36 cylinders and 3 of the best performing Ferraris of the last 10 years there is no chance you’ll fell asleep. The high pitched, wonderfully sonorous sound of the three cars raging up the corners of the Giau Pass still rings savagely in my head, making any attempt to put myself to rest, futile. Ferraris are addictive and each time I happen to be in one, I always find myself restraining my inner 5-year-old-self from constantly screaming with excitement. I reckon that the following statement is very unprofessional for a journalist, but I believe that every production road car should aspire to be a Ferrari: they always seem to be the best for performance, excitement and sheer driving pleasure. Honestly, hAow can I not be excited and drawn to blindly admiring Ferraris when I amdriving up one of the best mountain roads in Italy with an F12 tdf, a LaFerrari, and one LaFerrari Aperta? That could have possibly been the best day of 2017! 

Behind the wheel of these three fire spitting machines was the legendary Powerslidelover, a talented Ferrari enthusiast and collector who has made drifting his precious machines, a remarkable lifestyle. We can thank him for the countless videos on YouTube and Instagram: without his burnouts in his black LaFerrari, life could be more boring. 
Originally, the idea for this escape was that to go out with only the Tdf, but things got a little out of hand, as we ended up very sideways with a stunning array of fine Italian machinery.
Taking off from a crowded Cortina in the coolest convoy in Italy in that very moment, we made our way up the Dolomites on the Giau Pass: if Buddha was alive in 2017 he would know exactly what attaining real Nirvana was like. 

Having driven the LaFerrari last year in Sardinia, I was more than intrigued to be in an F12 Tdf more than anything else. A front engined V12 Ferrari is a special car per se, let alone a limited edition and track-tuned version: if there has ever been a car which fulfills every promise by simply looking at it, I think the tdf is what comes to my mind. If you’re a Ferrari geek and have a taste for automotive technology, you’ll find that such a car is a playground for your nerdiness. 780 bhp, four wheel steering, active induction trumpets, aerodynamic appendices (which include a different rake of the windshield and many functional winglets) and that glorious noise. It is not, however, a machine made for everyone and I am not speaking about the eye-watering price tag: it is not an easy car to drive fast. To quote the great Chris Harris “we need more difficult cars” and I believe that the Tdf is a great carrier of the peculiarities what made cars like the F40, true living legends. Even if it is packed with electronics, you feel everything that’s happening when you roll around, even in the passenger seat. 
It is tuned for maximum aggression and the power delivery shows that brilliantly. It will go sideways at every occasion and despite the agility provided by the four wheel steering, it is one hell of a drifting machine. The response is immediate and aggressive, due to the mechanical tappets, which replaced the hydraulic ones used in the F12 Berlinetta. The stiffer suspension highlight the qualities of the chassis and also thanks to the massive 275 section Pirellis fitted at the front, the tdf enters the corners with an immense level of grip. 

Although we drive all the cars we test, this time we left the driver seat to the one-and-only Powerslidelover: sometimes, it is way more fun to let a professional do the stunts. Sideways at every corner, with the tdf screeching like a winged demon is an experience worth living at least once in your life: behold the man who can exploit such machinery on the road, with the traction control turned off. 
The tdf feels like a proper old school race-prepped V12. The pedigree of the old 275 GTB/4 Competizione and Speciale (of which the tdf plays an hommage through some distinctive styling traits, like the small spoiler in the back) and the 356 Daytona Competizione. It is not as light as the mid-engined V12’s like the LaFerrari, but it is an effective driving weapon. I honestly hope that the future is packed with aspirated V12’s as they’re the definition of a proper enthusiast engine.

Frankly, I am glad I experienced such a masterpiece close to an experienced driver. It was sure a lesson on how to properly drive a car which was made for one purpose only: driving.