Ferrari SP38 - A glimpse of Ferrari's future design language?

I think Marcel knows more then me!
I would tend to believe him
That link is from Car and Driver. It might of been his dealership the car was sold through

 

It looks like a bigger Ferrari ate a smaller Ferrari. Especially from the back. I don't like it.

 

SP38 is a Special Project car based on a stock Ferrari 488 GTB. It was built by the factory special team under the direction of Flavio Manzoni. It was ordered initially through official Swiss dealership Niki Hasler AG of Basel, Switzerland, for a female resident in Zug, Switzerland. This lady wanted something with an F40 rear wing, sort of, because she turned 40 last year. The car was to be completed in 2017 but it was delayed due to various re-designs. It was finally completed a couple days ago and the lady owner (her first name is Deborah) is now a client of Kessel Auto AG in Lugano, Switzerland, hence the Kessel name sticker on the rear. This SP38 was shown for the first time to the public today 26 May 2018 at the Concours d'Elégance of Villa d'Este in Cernobbio (near Como), Italy. See my thread in vintage about the Ferraris at Villa d'Este.
No, the car is NOT owned by Ronnie Kessel.
It is owned by Mrs Deborah M. who owns quite a collection of Ferraris and also races a blue FXXK and a 599 XX (ex-Peter Mann) and all sorts of other comp Ferraris.

Marcel Massini

 

Some pix from today.

Marcel Massini

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And there you have it!
Thank you Marcel for sharing your knowledge and inside info

 

Marcel, do you have more info about the colour? The media info just says "newly conceived 3-layer rosso". Looks fine but not disticnt enough from all the other 3-layer reds, IMO.

 

After watching some more pictures of the deborah and the J50, and since Marcel said the development started some years ago, I became sure the Deborah is closely related to the J50, in fact that's a J50 coupé with some body modifications especially on the rear

 

Color is Rosso Deborah, a special three layer red metallic.
Originally planned to be named Rosso Louboutin (shoes) but apparently because of some potential legal issues this name was not used.
SP38 project started in early 2016.

Marcel Massini

 

The front end looks vaguely familiar..

 

38 it’s number of special project realized ?

Thank you for your informations and photos

 

I still don't know how the intercoolers can be feeded by enough fresh air: are there air intakes in the car underbody?

 

Thank you very much, Marcel.

Is Deborah the owner's name?

ciao

 

Agree about similarities with J50, especially the slim, horizontal headlights and the scoop sited in the upper portion of the doors.

Less like the J50 and more like the Sergio are the rear hunches. Also, the visor type windshield and cut out of the rear quarter windows have a distinct Ford GT look to them which is a bit disappointing from an originality point of view even though this is not the first SP to have the visor windscreen.

As for the OP question about this being the future design language, I believe it is quite the opposite-- this is a one-off with distinct features (also to justify likely enormous cost) and won't be repeated, especially the rear window blinders. Having said this, although I don't expect that some features will show up on production cars I'm not so sure about future SPs as this car had quite a few influences from previous SPs.

 

Mrs D Mayer, who own a great collection of Fcars and FXX-K #8

 

That would also explain the link with Kessel, since Mrs Deborah Mayer is a driver with Kessel Racing.

 

Approx what I commmented, more like the end of a series than inspiration for next series, after iterations on 458 MM, J50, SP38.

 

I think it is beautiful.
I applaud clients who have the passion and the financial means to do these projects. They push the Factory to be more creative and I wouldn't be surprised if we all don't benefit somehow as designers and engineers get excited by modifications that work.
It improves the breed.
Thank you Deborah!

 

Guys, any estimations about the cost ?

 

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When I first saw pictures I didn't like it. The more pictures I saw the more I like the overall styling. The wheels especially look superb and seem to be cross of F50 and 512M in general style.

Rear visibility must be a severe problem though...