Ferrari SF90 XX Stradale 2024 review – flat-out in the 1016bhp road-legal XX

Fiorano. Crucible of the Scuderia’s racing efforts and the place where countless legendary road cars have been put through their paces. The most famous test track of them all has been central to Ferrari’s activities for more than half a century. Tifoso or not, it is sacred ground. 

Arriving at the gates is always a goosebumps moment. Getting beyond security is always a challenge – even when you’re an invited guest attending an international media event they are as welcoming as US Immigration – but once inside you can’t help but lose yourself in the specialness of this place. 

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It’s tidier than in the old days, the track and its surroundings developed and groomed for an increasingly customer-facing role. Still, if you manage to slip away from the media scrum and find a quiet space in the old courtyard, you can picture Villeneuve, Berger or Schumacher scuffing around with overalls casually rolled down while their mechanics make some set-up changes. Or perhaps feel the spectral presence of the Old Man, sitting in his office listening to the wail of a solitary Grand Prix car carried through his office window on the warm Modenese breeze. 

It’s all too easy to over-romanticise anything to do with Ferrari, but with good reason. There’s certainly no doubting the power of the fairy dust it sprinkles over Maranello’s most special cars. Cars like the SF90 XX. 

It’s a spectacular and somewhat curious beast. Until now Ferrari’s XX programme has been dedicated to track-only specials: rolling laboratories built in tiny numbers and sold for vast sums, their owners treated like royalty and inducted into an ultra-exclusive group of ‘client test drivers’ who participate in special XX-only track events held around the world. SF90 XX customers get none of these privileges.

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Based on the 986bhp (1000 PS) hybrid series-production supercar flagship, this XX version of the SF90 wears all-new high-downforce bodywork, receives a modest gain in power (17bhp from the 4-litre twin-turbo V8 and 13bhp from the battery-electric hybrid system) and boasts a suite of latest-gen electronics controlling the powertrain, suspension, active aerodynamics and braking systems to maximise its capabilities on-track while retaining road legality. 

As such it’s Ferrari’s most aggressively focused road car since the F40 and F50, something the company is keen to reference in its press material and is echoed in the XX Stradale’s prominent fixed rear wing – the first since those hallowed special-series models. It doesn’t have the same aesthetic impact here, but in the age of active aero, sticking a big plank on the tail of your supercar makes an explicit statement. 

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As its name suggests, the SF90 XX borrows heavily from the super-exclusive XX programme. The new XX Stradale may not confer the same ego-massaging status enjoyed by owners of the non-homologated FXX, 599XX and FXX K (and subsequent Evo versions of each), but it borrows from the same ethos of extracting maximum performance. 

There is so much technology packed into the SF90 XX Stradale it’s only possible to scratch the surface here. Suffice to say the suite of fully integrated electronic control systems are the most sophisticated and comprehensive yet, at least as far as street-legal Ferraris are concerned. 

More obvious are the nose-to-tail changes made to the SF90’s bodywork. The results are hugely effective, in terms of aesthetics (it looks sensational), aerodynamics and thermal management. Doubling the maximum achievable downforce of the standard SF90, the XX develops 530kg at 155mph. 

The fixed rear wing works in conjunction with a moveable section of the regular SF90’s rear deck. Known as the ‘shut-off Gurney’, it adjusts according to the car’s speed to reduce drag or increase downforce. To balance the increase in rear downforce there are two S-ducts at the front, which manage underbody airflow. There’s also a larger front splitter and a redesigned front radiator, which vents through the front bonnet in true race-car style. Meanwhile, the various slots, gills and vents peppering the bodywork serve to relieve the build-up of lift-inducing air pressure, feed cool air or extract hot air. Indeed, the electric-motor power gains achieved in XX guise are entirely down to improvements in thermal management.

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Now the bad news. Despite this being the first road-legal XX Ferrari, the launch doesn’t include road driving. To be fair, time spent on the road would impact the number of laps we have to explore the full performance at Fiorano. And, being late in the year, there’s also the spectre of wintry weather up on the hills. It’s a blow, but beggars can’t be choosers. Hopefully there will be a next time…

As consolation drives go, pointing the nose of a 1016bhp, track-honed Ferrari onto a deserted Fiorano with two sessions to attempt to follow a ‘ghost car’ piloted by factory test driver Raffa de Simone is about as good as it gets in this job. 

The door feels light as you swing it open and slide yourself behind the wheel. The interior is sparingly trimmed, with bare floors and plenty of exposed carbonfibre. The fixed-back seat adjusts manually on runners, sliding freely as you pull yourself into position and settle down to business. There’s a two-stage start procedure, the first Engine Start switch bringing the EV systems to life, but relying on a further push of the ‘eManettino’ to fire the V8. Both are lifeless haptic switches rather than physical buttons, so there’s a lack of occasion to the ritual, but the end result is special enough. 

Harnesses pulled tight across lap and shoulders, all that remains is to dab the brake pedal, pull the right-hand paddle and gently squeeze the throttle to follow Raffa out onto the circuit. Deep breath, quick wipe of moist hands on my jeans and a silent word with myself not to get too carried away. Raffa doesn’t gas it from the start, but time is short, so you’ve basically got a lap to gather your wits before he ratchets up the pace. It’s the most intense getting-to-know-you process in the business, and one of the reasons why these Fiorano tests give you such a buzz. 

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The XX rises immediately to the occasion, setting the tone with a more vocal engine note and a cockpit that makes a nod to track specials of the past. It’s business-like without being excessively raw, and much more exuberant than the rather subdued SF90.

Reflecting the uniqueness of the all-wheel-drive hybrid powertrain, which sees the 786bhp twin-turbocharged V8 and one electric motor driving the rear axle and a further pair of electric motors driving the front axle (the e-motors collectively delivering 230bhp), there’s that eManettino that offers a range of increasingly aggressive powertrain modes as well as the regular dynamic manettino familiar from Ferrari’s other street cars.

The XX’s dynamics may be digitally controlled, but it’s a surprisingly tactile machine from the off. The gearshift has been tweaked so that it feels much more punchy. Not exaggerated in the manner of an old-school Lamborghini paddleshift, but pleasingly mechanical. It transforms the character of the car, encouraging you to play your part rather than let the admittedly superb gearbox-control systems do their thing.

Chassis-wise the XX disguises its all-wheel-drive set-up convincingly, the front axle’s smart torque-vectoring assisting with traction without corrupting the balance, which feels rear-drive in almost every situation. There’s a choice of adaptive or passive damping. We’re running on the former, but Raffa tells me his car is on the passive kit. According to him (and he should know!) there’s no difference in lap time, but he has a slight preference for the feel of the passive suspension on track, and it’s also 9kg lighter. The significance of these two things will become apparent later.

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The XX’s roll rate is reduced by ten per cent but there’s still enough roll to easily read the build-up in lateral load, and while the steering is highly responsive it’s not hyper-sensitive, so you don’t take long to get yourself dialled in. Once you do, the XX can be placed with uncanny precision. As you’d imagine with all that downforce, it excels through Fiorano’s quickest corners. The right-left-right that follows the tightest hairpin reveals immense grip and appetite to change direction, combined with a giddy sense of the car poised just at the brink of oversteer. It’s working hard beneath you, but it feels supernatural. Crucially, you feel very much part of the process: the harder you push, the more critical your inputs become. Clumsy hands would drop it, no question, but the challenge of working towards its limits is highly rewarding. 

Braking is equally impressive, the latest ABS Evo electronics estimating and exploiting the available longitudinal grip at each wheel. Active in every dynamic mode from Race upwards, it wrings more from the tyres than any previous Ferrari. This is especially impressive at the point of turn-in, for it allows you to brake deep into the corner, aggressively slowing and rotating the car without destabilising it to the point where you feel spooked. 

It goes without saying that the XX is a rocket sled from apex to corner exit. Never more so than in Qualify mode, with a new ‘extra boost’ function that deploys additional battery power for short bursts in the corner exit phase. Once you’ve got it stopped and turned, the XX explodes onto the straight, nose lifting and tail squatting more than you might expect, but never feeling like the body lacks control. 

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You know there’s more than just the turbocharged V8 propelling you, but the way the instant electric torque and rapidly building ICE power meld into one monumental accelerative bearhug is something to behold. When you’re dealing with over 1000bhp, the XX’s extra 30bhp, though welcome, is neither here nor there. Likewise, the hard-won weight savings (35kg gross, reduced to just 10kg net once the added weight of the fixed rear wing, larger front splitter, etc, is accounted for) which equate to a dry weight of 1560kg. At this level it’s a game of marginal gains, not giant leaps, with aerodynamics and electronics effecting the greater transformation.

As part of the XX launch, we’re to get a glimpse behind the veil and witness the setting of what Ferrari predicts will be a new street car lap record around Fiorano. This place has hosted more than its fair share of theatricality over the decades, and it’s fun to hang out in the garage while Raffa gets his game face on, but there’s no way Ferrari’s famed control freakery would allow the media to witness anything other than a successful attempt. 

I’m not sure how many others noticed, but during an earlier one-to-one opportunity to compare personal lap data with a lap set by Raffa, I spotted a 1:17-something in the corner of a screen otherwise scrawled with brightly coloured throttle, brake and steering traces. It didn’t fully register at the time, but later when Raffa returns to the pits having nailed a 1:17.3, the penny drops. Whether he was pushing into the unknown, or simply doing his best to repeat or better a time he’d already achieved without the added pressure of a media audience, matters little. 

What does count is that the XX lapped Fiorano 1.7sec faster than the regular SF90 upon which it is based, and 1.4sec versus the SF90 with Assetto Fiorano package. Given the very modest gains in power, that’s super-impressive. How does that compare with other fast Fezzas? The LaFerrari set a 1:19.7. The 458 Speciale managed a 1:23.5. And what of the F50 and F40? How does 1:27.0 and 1:29.6 grab you? No, the stopwatch doesn’t measure feel or fun, but the fact that an XX would lap an F40 in fewer than six laps is a graphic illustration of its blistering pace. 

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Of course, the big unanswered question is whether the XX Stradale works on the road. It’s impossible to be definitive, but my sense is that it should work just fine, with the usual weather/temperature/tyre provisos. We’ve had a rocky relationship with the regular SF90, favourable launch impressions contradicted by a terrible showing on that 2021’s eCoty, so we know how different the car can feel if its tyres aren’t switched on. 

And yes, before you say it, our most recent  eCoty champ, the 992 GT3 RS, coped just fine on cold, wet roads with aggressive summer tyres. All I’ll say is that a 1000bhp supercar juggling ICE and battery power between front and rear axles clearly has more to manage than a rear-drive sports car with 500bhp of pure ICE.

In many ways, introducing the XX approach to a street model is Ferrari’s answer to Porsche’s RSs. It certainly goes further than any Scuderia/Pista. And, while the focus has been on track, the XX’s more vocal engine, punchier gearshifts and racy cockpit make it an event at any speed. Given much of its performance is likely to remain untapped on the road that’s just as well, but much like the Alpine A110 R, which was billed as a track car but actually excels on the road, so the XX feels like it could be a spectacular street car.

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Price and rivals

If there’s one thing that exceeds Ferrari’s ability to make fast cars faster, it’s the company’s apparently limitless capacity to make money. Until Lamborghini launched the 1001bhp Revuelto, Ferrari had the top-tier sub-hypercar supercar market to itself. Now the SF90 XX creates another niche, pushing the supercar pricing threshold ever closer to £1m while still leaving plenty of headroom for a true successor to the LaFerrari.

The SF90 XX is available in both Stradale (coupe) and Spider versions: the former costing £673,584 and limited to a run of 799 cars, the latter costing £744,000 and limited to 599 units. Predictably, all are sold. Yet more proof I should have studied harder at school. 

Ferrari SF90 XX Stradale specs

This story was first featured in evo issue 318.