Passion
Inside Out
Photographs: Mattia Balsamini
Every Ferrari is a special car, but some can be more special than others.
The possibilities are almost endless. Different trim materials, textures, paint finishes and colours can all be combined to create a truly unique vehicle, one that is utterly different from any other on the road.
Not surprisingly, that can be a rather daunting prospect, so to help guide customers along the path they wish to follow, Ferrari has sub-divided Tailor Made into three Collections: Scuderia, Classica, and Inedita.
There's more to Tailor Made than colour choices and the F8 Tributo was chosen to demonstrate what can be achieved
The boundaries aren’t set in stone, and different elements can be taken from different Collections, but taking them as starting points will help a customer achieve a balanced and harmonious whole.
There’s much more to Tailor Made than colour choices, however. And, to demonstrate what can be achieved, Ferrari has created its own interpretation of a Tailor Made car: the F8 Tributo pictured here.
The 3.9-litre, twin-turbo V8 that is at the heart of the F8 Tributo has won the prestigious International Engine of the Year Award no fewer than four years running. To celebrate that unique achievement, the engine was the inspiration for the Tailor Made modifications that have been made to the car; most noticeably to the interior, as Silvia Cavallaro, head of Colour & Trim at Ferrari, describes.
The 3.9-litre, twin turbo V8 engine was the inspiration for the Tailor Made modifications, most notably the interior
“The red crackle finish on the engine’s inlet manifolds is echoed by a similar texture applied to the red leather that appears in the cockpit,” she explains. “It’s created by a specially developed, pressurised mechanical treatment and you can find it on the seats, door cards, door pulls, lower dashboard and the floor-mat inserts, complemented by black Nero leather and Alcantara carpet.
“The seats themselves are unique, too. Normally, one can only customise the outer bolsters, but for this very special car we changed the seat inserts too, using the same crackle red leather finish with the addition of racing stripes. Continuing the racy theme, Grigio Nart and carbon fibre give a matt rather than a glossy finish.
“For the same reason, the exterior paint is Rosso Corsa Opaco – the matt version of the classic Ferrari Racing Red – and the roof and window pillars are painted matt black, or, to be more specific, Nero DS 1250 Opaco.
The exterior paint is Rossa Corsa Opaco - the matt version of the classic Ferrari Racing Red
To prevent the overall effect from being too heavy, the alloy wheels are finished not in black but in Grigio Corsa, which helps preserve their detail, whilst the exterior carbon fibre is glossy, to complement the matt version used for the interior.”
Sounds complicated? Fortunately, every customer who makes an appointment with the Tailor Made Programme has the services of two designers at their disposal: one to advise the client on potential choices, the other to realise in real time those options on a computer. Many Ferrari customers like to visit the company’s physical and spiritual home at Maranello, but there are also Tailor Made hubs in New York and Shanghai.
This democratic aspect of the Tailor Made Programme is reflected too in the types of Ferrari that are chosen for modification. Whilst the limited edition cars – the Monza SP1 and SP2, for example – are obvious candidates for further personalisation, every one of the current Ferrari range is eligible for the Tailor Made treatment, and a surprising variety of models are selected by their owners. It’s an exclusive club, but also one that’s open to everyone.