Similar to every other automaker out there, Ferrari also benchmarks its cars against the competition. The one and only carparazzo Varryx has recently filmed the Prancing Horse's employees testing a Neunelfer and a Macca at its factory, the culprits being a 992-gen 911 GT3 RS and a blue-painted Artura.
As you're well aware, both of them feature six-cylinder lumps. The Porker uses a naturally-aspirated boxer with a displacement of 4.0 liters, while McLaren's plug-in hybrid supercar boasts a 3.0-liter V6 of the twin-turbo variety. Care to guess which of the Italian marque's current production vehicles also rocks a six pack?
That would be the 296 series, which presently comprises the GTB coupe and GTS convertible. Similar to the British supercar, the Fezza uses a narrow-angle V6 with a displacement of 3.0 rather than 2.9 liters. With the cylinder banks angled at 120 degrees, both McLaren and Ferrari created more room for all of the other bits and pieces that go into an engine bay.
In addition to nestling the spinny lads in the valley created by the cylinder banks, the 120-degree setup also enables a lower center of gravity than a traditional V6. Think 90 degrees for the Alfa Romeo 690T and Maserati Nettuno, which are both derived from the Ferrari F154 twin-turbo V8 engine family. The Ford EcoBoost V6, meanwhile, is a 60-degree lump.
Both of these competing manufacturers could have designed 120-degree sixers, but a flat engine would have ventured too much into Porsche's turf. The German automaker from Zuffenhausen started with a flat-4 engine in the 356, then leveled up to a flat-6 in 1963 with the debut of the 911. Prior to this, Ferdinand Porsche the OG took inspiration from Tatra's V570 prototypes for the rear-mounted flattie in the Beetle, albeit with two extra pots compared to the V570.
The question is, which car is Ferrari benchmarking against the 992 GT3 RS and Artura? Chances are that car hasn't been revealed yet. Due to the track-focused characteristics of the GT3 RS and the plug-in hybrid element of the Artura, it's likely that Maranello's favorite son is working on a more hardcore 296.
We also have to remember that Ferrari has been spied testing a Le Mans prototype-inspired hypercar, which features the V6 of the 296 series and 499P racecar that won Le Mans. Codenamed F250, the newcomer features high-voltage stickers, confirming hybrid assistance for the extremely power-dense engine.
For the time being, the F163 in the first Ferrari-branded V6 production model offers 663 ps or 654 horsepower from 2,992 cc. The M630 of the Artura, meanwhile, belts out 585 ps or 577 horsepower. Combined, the numbers are 830 ps for the 296 and 680 ps for the British rival, as in 819 and 671 hp.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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