I f the average car company asked its customers to act as a guinea pigs when developing its new products and what's more, pay for the privilege, its showrooms would soon echo with the sounds of sobbing salesmen.
Not so Ferrari, which came up with the ploy of getting a group of incredibly wealthy 'Client Test-Drivers' to help it develop its next generation of supercars, using the track-only FXX as a test mule.
Launched in 2005, the FXX was placed in the hands of 20 or so very lucky owners plus one seven times F1 world champion, going by the name of Michael Schumacher. During 14 group test sessions and 14 individual ones over the past two years, the cars covered 35,000km between them. The result is the FXX Evoluzione, a 'kit' of upgrades to the already fearsome standard car. Power from the 6.3-litre V12, naturally, is up, from 790bhp to 860bhp while gearshifts now take just 60ms, down by a quarter over the standard car.
Fortunately the driver also now benefits from nine different traction control settings (not including 'off' for the truly skilled or foolhardy) while the Bridgestone tyres and carbon ceramic Brembo brakes now last longer thanks to suspension tweaks. Driver feedback also led to extensive aerodynamic changes including a new rear diffuser, increasing rear axle downforce by 25%. All this has helped the Evoluzione shave two seconds from the FXX's already impressive lap time of one minute 18 seconds at Ferrari's Fiorano test track. Not homologated for road use, the Evoluzione package includes entry to 12 international track events over the next two years plus the end of season Ferrari World Series.
Source: Click me