This LaFerrari is enough to get this notorious chef hairs standing up!
Gordon Ramsay is perhaps the most famous chef in the world. He owns dozens of highly successful restaurants from L.A to London and at his professional height, boasted 16 Michelin stars, a privilege awarded to only the finest of restaurants. That is quite the career on its own but Ramsay hasn’t just pleased our stomachs, he won our hearts, well, at least for some as Gordon is very much a Marmite personality. Regardless, the TV chef became a family favourite, who came for his crassness and outspokenness but stayed for his loveable personality.
Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta
Not that it’s a right of passage for celebrities to own flashy cars but when fame brings tremendous wealth, owning flashy cars is often a natural progression. Ramsay is no different, his collection of cars are almost as impressive as his assortment of knives. He owns a McLaren Senna, a Porche 918 Spyder and a Monza SP2 but his favourite might be the astonishing Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta, the car, “is on a different level,” he says.
The LaFerrari or F150, is one of Ferrari’s most remarkable productions, with its revolutionary hybrid drive system and F1 inspired technology known as the HY-KERS system. The F150 is a hypercar that was designed to be the closest production car they could legally get to their Formula 1 car. The F150 uses track car inspired aerodynamics and is powered by a 6.3 litre V-12 engine that is combined with two electric motors, one that powers the wheels and one that drives the ancillaries.
“every time I sit in this in this incredible car, it gives me chills,”
The F1 inspired car generates a whopping 963 horsepower, or as Gordon characteristically puts it, “with nearly 1,000 brake horsepower, f**k me its fast.” That is a lot of power, enough to stand the hairs on the feared chef Ramsay’s back,”every time I sit in this in this incredible car, it gives me chills,” he says. At a top speed of 349 km/h, the F150 is the fastest road production car Ferrari have ever conceived. According to the designers, the hyper-car is the perfect combination of form and function.
The production of the Laferrari started in 2013 and ran until 2016 when the open-top Aperta was introduced, which came with an optional carbon fibre top. It was produced in succession to the Ferrari Enzo and also was Ferrari’s last sports car fitted with a mid-mounted 12-cylinder engine. The LaFerrari was created in celebration of the manufacturer’s 70th anniversary and only 200 were made, with a further 9 made for the anniversary party. The cars certainly are rare models and expensive too, going for over a million dollars. The Italian powerhouse certainly went all out for this edition, even by naming it rather awkwardly, LaFerrari, or the Italian translation, ‘The Ferrari’, which doesn’t really roll off the tongue with its full title.
In classic fashion, the company talked up it’s 70th anniversary car which no doubt, certainly looked like a Ferrari. The company have long had a reputation for creating visual explosions with their cars and the Aperta is no anomaly. It is striking with its aerodynamic and muscular angles and iconic racing red, it is truly a Ferrari. It was also the first car not to be collaboratively designed with Pininfarina, which became the first departure since 1973 when Ferrari exclusively designed the Dino.
The LaFerrari is a true sports car and highlights the innovation in the industry as manufacturer’s steer towards electric power. Only about 10 percent of the engine is powered with its electric motor but the car’s F1 and electric inspired technology is remarkable nonetheless, creating a watermark for a bright and electric racing future.
