Ferrari 575 GTRS
edo competition presented a plan to re-create a GTC for the road. It, like most of the cars currently at Edo, belongs to a man who built a solar panel empire. He decided to keep it, but bring it up to date in Edo’s special was. The GTC inspiration wasn’t a hard sell – the customer loved the idea. Only the man with the money wanted a convertible. A racer to his core, Edo shakes his head when he talks about the removable hardtop the stereo speaker hidden away as best he could in aerodynamic humps behind the seats. Neither were his choice, and sacrificing the structural rigidity of a closed car clearly painted him, but as they say, the customer is always right.
After the roof had been removed, Edo began crafting the race car style bodywork. Ferrari might not have enjoyed much on-track success with the 575 GTC, but it did spend significant time in the wind-tunnel developing it. There was just one problem, according to Karabegovic “The parts just didn’t fit, and anyway they were made from plastic”, he says. “ So we had to use them as inspiration and then make everything from new, in a stronger material that would handle street use and daily life.”
That stronger material was aluminum, and all of the new panels – which is everything besides the doors – were handcrafted. Not surprisingly, it was neither a quick nor easy process. For example, each of the louvers in the hood took at least four hours, and there are 20 of them. The front and rear fenders have swelled by 6.3 and 7 inches, respectively, which meant a lot of precision metalwork. Those louvers, incidentally are there for two purposes: cooling the heavily breathed-on engine and channeling air for downforce. Other aerodynamic touches include the huge diffuser (with its clearly visible fasteners) at the rear, a flat undertray and a new front spoiler. Aesthetically, the end result is an unusual mix of GTC, Superamerica and some oldschool American muscle. In some senses, it’s clearly a dated design, a throwback to an earlier age. The new, topless profile mixes in a taste of Chorvette and Testarossa, and there’s the slightest whiff of Viper up front. In person, however, the car is strangely appealing; It’s unique and purposeful, as well as completely at odds with today’s smooth, organic-looking cars.
Particularly the lightweight sport seats and six-point harnesses. New Alcantara trim on the dash, center console and doors has certainly freshened up the cockpit, as have reworked door panels. And, of course, there’s the ignition key. I fire the engine, and revel in the audacious noise a the big V12 rocks on its mounts and the thunderous tone of pent-up venom greets every blip of the throttle. Forget everything else: In its heart, this is a raw, ear-bleeding, old school racer.
For the GTC, Ferrari increased its V12’s displacement to six liters, achieving 600 bhp the old fashioned way. For this car, Edo left the 5.7-liter displacement alone, and while the exact recipe is a secret, a reinforced cylinder head, new camshafts, titanium valve springs and a higher compression ratio are in the mix. The result, some 150 of the projects total 1,000 man-hours of work later, is 600 bhp at 7,800 rpm – although the engine an reportedly rev to 9,000 – and 457 ib-ft of torque at 5,5000 rpm. Karabegovic says the car will blast through 60 mph in less than four seconds, and that it won’t run out of steam until it has hit 209 mph.
It’s a good thing, too since Edo fitted the car with seriously stiff suspenders: There’s no roll, no pitch, nothing, this Ferrari sits 60mm lower than stock, and transmits every nuance of the road surface to its driver. The new suspension work has removed all of the 575M’s GT pretense – this car is pure Competizione. That means the latest super sticky Continental V-Max rubber wrapped around lightweight wheels. It also means adjustable anti-roll bars and shock damping, as well as bigger brakes: 380mm front discs with six-piston calipers and 350 mm rear discs with fourpot calipers, compared to the stocker’s 330mm and 310mm discs and four-piston clampers. At 3,414 pounds, the modified car even weighs less than the original’s 3,815 and the next update, fitting the carbon ceramic brakes from an FXX should knock off another 100 pounds.
Karabegovic has set his sights on a similarly hard-core 599 GTB Fiorano, fitted with a blown (!) 6.3 liter version of the FXX powerplant. He’s already done the hard part, building and installing the engine; now he just need to rip out the interior and go to work on the chassis. If this 575 is anything to go by, Edo will surely have another winner on its hands.
