Jeremy Clarkson Says Ferrari 812 Superfast Is Too Much
It’s not only too big, but it’s also much too powerful, says Clarkson.
Ferrari’s newest grand tourer to feature a monstrous V12 is the 812 Superfast. As the name suggests, it is, well, super fast. Too fast, recommends world-renowned motoring expert Jeremy Clarkson. If you’re in as much disbelief at that statement as we are, it’s exactly what he wrote in his review of the car in The Sunday Times.
Much of this has to do with the same issue he took with the 812’s successor, the F12. Namely, saying “You didn’t drive this car [the F12]. On roads like that, in the rain, you hung on for dear life and whimpered like a dog… Some questioned my petrolhead credentials when I returned and, after some medication, said the F12 was a car with too much power.”
So what did Ferrari do? They went back to the drawing board and made a car with an even more powerful V12.
This, Clarkson suggests, is exactly opposite of what they should be doing. But he also suspects Ferrari knows it isn’t selling cars to enthusiasts any more. Instead, Ferrari is catering to the customer who wants “the biggest, the brashest, the fastest and the noisiest, and for them a Superfast is ideal.”
If someone were to desire a rapid highway companion, the Bentley Continental would be the obvious choice and if driving dynamics and precision were desired, there’s countless other choices.
Ultimately, when people stop thinking about Ferrari as the ultimate form of road car with motorsport DNA intertwined in its very being, the company would essentially be losing its soul.
Clarkson sums it up nicely; “As a thing, the Superfast is as brilliant as an Astute-class attack sub. Which is to say, very brilliant indeed. But it is too big and too powerful and too flashily expensive for those who simply want a very nice grand tourer.”
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