Ferrari 812 Superfast

At the intersection of circles in the Venn diagram of Ferrari, Car and Driver, and November 1971 lies a very special sliver of commonality. It was then that C/D organized the very first Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. The entrants were a hodgepodge of vehicles, many of them modified. But the winning car, a Ferrari 365GTB/4 Daytona piloted by the one and only Brock Yates and professional racer Dan Gurney, was bone stock. And the spirit of that Ferrari lives on in the 812 Superfast.

Unlike many other marques, this Ferrari's name is 100 percent literal. The "8" stands for 800 cavalli vapore, Italian for horsepower. Italian horses are a little smaller than the ones bred in Kentucky, so that equates to 789 horsepower in the States. The "12" denotes 12 cylinders, arranged in two banks that are positioned in a perfectly balanced 60-degree V. And "Superfast," well, this car's test numbers speak to that credential.

The engine is one in a long line of V-12s from Ferrari, including the one in that Cannonball pacesetter. In the simplest of terms, this 6.5-liter V-12 is a stroked version of the F12's engine. But, according to Ferrari, it consists of 75 percent new parts, including a system that continuously varies the intake-runner length. Indicated redline is 9000 rpm (although Ferrari says it revs to just 8900). Regardless, given the opportunity, you will explore the upper reaches of engine speed with great frequency. The sound isn't as loud as a 911 GT3's or a McLaren 720's—at wide-open throttle, the 812 emits 91 decibels to the Porsche's 100 and the McLaren's 95—but it's a sound that penetrates the soul. It also reminds you that engineers, when pushed and challenged the way Ferrari's are, can be just as artistic as designers.