Ferrari supercar's secret buyer

By ALASTAIR SLOANE motoring editor

Ferrari won't name the New Zealander who will shell out about $2 million next year for the Enzo, the supercar Formula One champion Michael Schumacher calls the "closest thing to a road-going race car".

"You know I can't do that," said Mark Darrow, the managing director of Ferrari importer Continental Car Services Ltd. "It's part of the exclusive arrangement we have with our customers. We respect and protect our customers' rights to privacy. That's something that Tim [Bailey, chairman and founder of the company] has always done."

Darrow wouldn't talk exact price, either. "It will be around $2 million - that's as close as I'm prepared to go."

In Britain, the price is estimated at £420,000 ($1.34 million), in Australia $A1.8 million ($2.06 million).

The industry has been buzzing this week about the identity of the buyer. But as one senior executive in the megabucks segment said: "It's being kept very quiet - haven't heard a thing."

The last supercar to land in New Zealand with a similar price tag was the McLaren F1 bought by retail investor Sir Roger Bhatnagar in the mid-1990s.

The Enzo is named after the founder of the Prancing Horse marque and will arrive in the first half of next year. Production will begin in January.

Its entry into the country will be low-key, the way Bailey likes it. There might be two selected presentations - one to journalists and one to the Ferrari club - before the car is whisked away. Don't expect the owner to drive it to the shops. It will be garaged and kept under wraps. It is one of only 349 being built - all left-hand-drive - and is already high on private collectors' lists.

International demand for the Enzo exceeded supply. Ferrari in Britain took 75 orders - it will get 25 cars. Ferrari Australia ordered eight - there was talk this week that it would get only two.

Even Ferrari grand prix hero Schumacher, who provided input on the Enzo's handling, isn't sure if he is in the queue. "Apparently they are all sold out, but I'm on to the president [Ferrari's Luca Cordero di Montezmolo] about that one."

New Zealand's solitary Enzo wasn't easy to nail down, either, said Darrow. "Tim and I spent some time at the factory in Italy and were extremely lucky to get it. Negotiations went all the way up to Montezmolo."

The car is officially called the Enzo Ferrari but is referred to at the factory in Modena as the Enzo. At one stage it was known as the FX, a moniker still on protective covers on the production line. It was built to celebrate Ferrari's domination of Formula One and its start to the new millennium and follows the 288 GTO, F40 and F50 as a supercar benchmark.

It weighs 1365kg. The bodyshell is carbon-fibre and aluminium honeycomb. An aerodynamic underbody eliminates the need for a rear spoiler.

Double-wishbone suspension front and rear works with continuously adaptive dampers to keep the Bridgestone Potenza tyres glued to the road.

The anti-lock Brembo brakes on the 19-inch alloy wheels are a mix of carbon-fibre and ceramics.

The cabin is Formula One, from the special seats and safety harnesses to the array of lights and controls and driver's alloy pedals.

The gear changes are made using paddles behind the steering wheel, again just like Schumacher's car. Driver and passenger enter and exit the car via scissor-type doors hinged at the front and lifting a section of the roof.

And the engine? A 6-litre quad-cam V12 producing 485kW (660bhp) at 7800rpm and 657Nm of torque at 5500rpm and driving the rear wheels through the six-speed sequential gearbox. Top speed is around 350km/h. Zero to 100 km/h takes 3.6 seconds and on to 200km/h in 9.5 seconds. Zero to 200km/h and back to zero again takes 14.2 seconds.

Said Schumacher: "The Enzo is the first road car I've really been involved in. I drove the hybrid about 18 months ago and then every one or two months after that.

"I only really bothered myself with technical issues like gearshifts, how the traction control works, brake performance, how the steering loads up - that sort of thing. But it's definitely as close to a race car as I have ever come in a road car."

What about driving it? "There are two ways," said Schumacher.

"With the traction control on or with it off. It's got a hell of a lot of power and if you don't know how to drive, I really suggest you do switch it on."

The Enzo will come in a choice of three colours: red, black, yellow. What colour is the New Zealand one? "It's up to the owner," said Darrow.