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Overview

The Ferrari 550 Maranello was a GT (grand tourer) car built by the Italian car maker Ferrari Spa. The Ferrari 550 Maranello was the replacement model for the Ferrari F512M and its self was replaced by the Ferrari 575M Maranello. Ferrari produced the 550 Maranello between 1996 and 2001. The 550 Maranello comes from engine displacement 5.5 liter and the Maranello city where Ferrari has it's headquarter.

The Ferrari 5550 Maranello was designed by Pininfarina and had two body styles, a 2 seater berlinetta (coupe) and a 2 seater barchetta (Convertible). The body was styled to be fast and sinuous, its dihedrons stretching the soft surfaces of the sheet metal, creating strong impressions from every angle. The lines are clean and functional, not smoothed or tapered: the car's physical presence underlines its performance.

Variants

Both the berlinetta and the barchetta models featured the same 5.5 liter 65 degree V12 with 10.8:1 compression ratio. The engine was highly potent producing no less than 486 hp @ 7000 rpm and a massive torque of 420 lb/ft @ 5000 rpm. The engine was matted to a six speed manual with ratios of 3.15 for first gear, 2.17 for second gear, 1.56 for third gear, 1.18 for fourth gear, 0.93 for fifth gear, 0.75 for sixth gear, no automatic was available.

Like on the old Ferrari Daytona, the Ferrari 550 Maranello had its engine mounted the front with the traction at the rear. Never the less the performances of the 550 Maranello were very good, the car can reach 60 miles per hour in a fast 4.2 seconds and could travel a quarter of a mile from a standstill start in just 12.5 seconds; the top speed at which it could get is just 1 mph short of 200 mph physiological limit. As for the fuel consumption the 550 Maranello returned on average 12.3 miles to the gallon (23 liters per 100 km).

The 550 Maranello has four independent suspensions with a transverse parallelogram structure and triangular arms, aluminum gas dampers with coaxial coil springs, and anti-roll bars front and rear. The suspensions incorporate a driver adjustable system to vary dumper settings, trough an electronic unit that controls the electric motors on each damper. Damping logic changes within each setting depending on speed, vertical acceleration, steering angle, throttle opening, and brake pressure.

Ferrari developed the braking system of the 550 Maranello with Brembo, applying similar methods from Formula 1 to the 4-piston calipers on 13" front and 12.2" rear rotors. The system also featured a four channel ABS ncorporating electronic proportioning offering ideal performance in deceleration above 0.5 G. The 550 Maranello rides on single piece cast magnesium alloy five spoke Speedline wheels, them to styled by Pininfarina. The front wheels measure 8.5 x 18" and the rear 10.5 x 18" as dictated by braking requirements. The front wheels were dressed with 255/40 ZR 18 tire and the rear wheels were dressed with much wider 295/35 ZR 18 tires.

As for the steering, the Ferrari 550 Maranello and Barchetta featured a ZF speed-sensitive rack and pinion steering system that varies assistance in relation to speed. The car also featured a unique driver-adjustable dynamic stability control system, that depending on the selected mode, intervenes by cutting off the torque delivered by the engine, or, coordinated by the ABS system, braking the two rear wheels independently.

As for the dimensions both the coupe and the convertible measured 179.3 inch (4554 mm) in length, 76.18 inch (1934 mm) in width and a maximum 50.27 inch (1276 mm) in height. The wheelbase measured 98.43 inch (2500 mm), front track was a little wider the rear track measuring 64.25 inch (1631 mm), 1.81 inch (45 mm) more. Total weight of the car including fluids was 3726 lbs (1676 kg)

Additional Information

The 5.5 L V12 engine won the "over 4 litre" class of the "International Engine of the Year" award for two years in a row in 2000 and in 2001.

At the 2000 Turin Motor Show, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Pininfarina, they presented the Ferrari Rossa, a concept car based on the Ferrari 550 Maranello.

In 2009 Zagato and Pininfarina celebrated 90th year of collaboration, and to commemorate it they presented the Ferrari GTZ. The car was based on the Ferrari 550 Barchetta. Only five units were ever made and each one was sold for no less than US$1.6 million ( 1 million/€1.1 million).

The Ferrari 550 was also present on the racing scene. Several private teams developed 550s for use in various series. First racing 550 was built for Red Racing to comply with FIA sporting regulations and was first raced in the FFSA GT Championship in France from the end of 1999 until the end of 2000.