Pininfarina's Ultra-rare Ferrari P4/5: "Sex on Wheels"

By Feann Torr - 1/Aug/2006

Turin, Italy — There are certain alpha-numerics that really grab our attention, such as 362km/h, V12, and 3.55s. To anyone who may be reading this article that doesn't have an interest in cars, you're probably shaking your head in complete bemusement. Understandable. But for the car lovers out there, these numbers represent the upper echelons of motor vehicle performance, and in this instance they signify the top speed, engine type and 0-100km/h time of what could be one of the most exclusive exotic cars ever built.

Enter the Ferrari P4/5.

It's a shame that only one of these spectacular vehicles will be built, as it looks simply stunning and has the kind of power that would scare the Pentagon. Not surprisingly, the Italian styling maestros at Pininfarina are behind the P4/5 model, which will make its public debut at the exclusive Pebble Beach Concours d’Elégance on the west coast of the United States, in California. 

Pininfarina built the special car for Ferrari buff James Glickenhaus, an American collector who is said to have paid more than $3 million for the vehicle. Andrea Pininfarina, the big chief at the much admired Italian styling house, said, "This project represents an exciting challenge, i.e. trying to meet the customer's requests in the best way possible without deteriorating the company's approach based on stylishness and innovation."

Rolling on 20-inch alloy rims at all corners, which, it is explained, were "milled from the block up to and including the aluminum and special steel in-sight hinges," the car has a truly arresting visual style. While the gigantic wheels are shod with significantly wider rear tyres - 255/35 ZR20s up front and 335/30 ZR20s at the rear to cope with the 350+ km/h speeds - taken as a whole the vehicle is hard to ignore.

Pininfarina used the Ferrari Enzo as a starting point for the extra special exotic car, which it says was not just built to look pretty, but was also designed to be a real performance car that the driver would enjoy captaining.

"The car has been designed, engineered and built entirely by Pininfarina, bringing to life something that, just a few months earlier, was just a dream and creating a sort of symbiosis between the customer and Pininfarina along the path leading to definition of this astonishing model," noted the Italian company, adding that it used CAS modeling to help finalise the exterior styling. 

Something like 200 new components were created for the P4/5, some design related and some styling related, such as the vertically sprouting exhaust pipes and jet fighter inspired canopy. Other neat touches include the xenon headlight clusters that incorporate what the company calls "an innovative system of yellow and white LEDs". That last one doesn't sound very innovative, but hey, if we tried building a custom exotic machine like this, methinks we'd be lucky to get the lights to work at all.

The P4/5 design has a more curvaceous profile than the Enzo upon which it is based, giving it a retro racer demeanor, and somehow it just seems to work. Pininfarina describes the new look as having a "soft muscular touch", but as the owner may find out if he stacks it, the only thing the body will do is shatter into very sharp little shards, as the entire is made from super light carbon fibre. The nose gets a fancy new look, incorporating a bevy of rectangular air dams in the front apron, followed by the new headlight treatment.Ken Okuyama, an integral part of the Italian company and the guy in charge of styling at Pininfarina, stated, "The entire vehicle expresses elegance and fluidity with the clear-cut, uncluttered lines that are typical of Pininfarina's style."

We've got no arguments there with Okuyama-san, as this car is the business. The mid-section of the rare Ferrari features that jet fighter-like canopy (or "single-shell windscreen" in Pinin-speak), while the driver and his passenger access the interior via two butterfly-type vertically hinging doors. If you follow the car round to the rear, the fun doesn't stop, with the 485kW V12 engine on display through a translucent rear window that doubles as an engine cover, and is also home to one of my all-time favourite design cues -- the ceramic-coated vertical exhaust tips: sex on wheels. The massive rear diffuser is a statement to those following that the P4/5 is not to be trifled with, and the only sour point to the car's overall design are the naff-looking brake light clusters: LED's they may be, but '60s racer style doesn't seem to integrate quite as well in this respect.

The design is also highly efficient at cutting through the air; you don't need a wind tunnel to tell you that. Just one look at the sleek design suggests that this quasi Ferrari is capable of cheating the wind. The Italian custom car builder and styling house revealed that during its design the P4/5 was extensively scrutinised at its dedicated aero test centre in Turin (the Pininfarina Aerodynamic and Aero acoustic Research Center of Grugliasco) to ensure it was stable at high speeds while still delivering an unmistakable presence on the road.

As well as the head-turning visual statement, the Ferrari P4/5 also makes a big statement on the drag strip, firing from 0-100km/h in 3.55 seconds - about the time it takes to mouth the words "Jesus Mary Joseph!" Indeed, the Ferrari P4/5 inherits all the big-bang performance of the Ferrari Enzo, most notably that high revving 6.0-litre V12 that slams a whopping 485kW of power or660 ponies to the ground, via the suitably fat rear wheels, which is about enough energy to power a small Swedish village for 18 months. This 485kW of power hits the skids @ 7800rpm, and the engine won't protest until it hits the 8200rpm redline. 

Peak torque isn't quite as mesmerising, but is still copious enough to provide the car with a bullet-like maximum velocity: it develops 657Nm of torque @ 5500rpm, which gives it a top speed of 225mph, or about 362km/h. There's no denying the custom built Ferrari has inordinate levels of power and torque, but it's kerb weight of just 1200kg (2645 lb) is another key factor to its stunning performance, and the carbon fibre tub goes a long way to keeping the P4/5's overall weight in check.

Andrea Pininfarina is clearly pleased with the performance of his company, and why not? Whenever a coupe convertible or something a bit special is required by an automaker - some large, some small - Pininfarina is often the 'go-to' contractor. "Pininfarina has been a strong stakeholder on the automotive scene for many years," notedAndrea Pininfarina, "as confirmed by the five new productions launched between the end of 2005 and 2006: Alfa Romeo Spider, Mitsubishi Colt CZC and Ford Focus CC for which we also followed up design and development, and Alfa Romeo Brera and Volvo C70 which we also engineered. 

"The Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina and the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti “K” by Pininfarina – built for Mr. Kalikow and presented in April at Villa d’Este Concours d’Elegance - give us a chance to demonstrate our excellent creativity, making our know-how available to special customers in order to provide a real personal experience that goes well beyond simply the possibility of designing their own car." 

Pininfarina SpA has yet again proved that it can build one-off specials as well as mass produced automobiles, and let's face it, James Glickenhaus is going to be one of the most envied men in America as the sole owner of this stunning vehicle. Jay Leno won't be pleased...