Unique Sportcars: Ferrari F430 Calavera

Unique Sportcars is not an attribute of the Ferrari F430 Calavera (Spanish for skull), although, to be honest, it would fit it perfectly). Unique Sportcars is a German tuner who teamed up with others from their own ranks, namely Novitec Rosso and airbrush artist Knud Tiroch. Their goal was to take a Ferrari F430 and turn it into a one of a kind vehicle.

And they did. Actually, they will build only 11 units of the Calavera, the "mother of future design implementations", as Unique Sportcars like to call it. The F430 we will describe below took 11 months to design and build and it's worth every day of that time.

The Novitec Rosso twin supercharged engine fitted on the Calavera develops 707 horsepower and 712 Nm of torque. Enough to make it leap from zero to 100 km/hour in 3.5 seconds and reach 200 km/hour (124 mph) in 10.5 seconds. Longer gear ratios, made available as an option, make the car top at a speed of 348 km/hour (216 mph), up from the 315 km/hour (195 mph) it develops without them.

To cope with those high speeds, Novitec Rosso sport suspension are fitted. The front can be raised by 40 millimeters at the push of a button to pass driveway entries and speed bumps. Once the car reaches a speed of 80 km/h the suspension automatically lowers itself back to normal position, about 35 millimeters lower than the production car.

The Calavera rides on three-piece Novitec Rosso NF3 double-spoke 20-inch wheels, shoed with high-performance Pirelli tires in sizes 235/30 ZR 20 and 325/25 ZR 20.

Unique Sportcars can put one of these cars together in three months. That includes the air brush painting and the interior, created by Knud Tiroch. Unfortunately, prices have not been made public.