Remember when NFTs were all the rage? Well here’s Ferrari’s digital offering…
This is the Ferrari F76, a purely digital car created to show what the brand’s future could look like – both in terms of design and technology.
The F76 is an NFT and if you’re not sure what that is then we’ll explain. An NFT or ‘non-fungible token’ is a digital asset that can’t be copied and as such they’ve become a source of investment for some (though most have no monetary value whatsoever). Ferrari hasn’t said how much the F76 NFT is or if you can even trade it.
Designed over a period of three years (a time period which begins to explain why Ferrari have now dabbled in seemingly unfashionable NFTs), the F76 NFT is only available to members of Ferrari’s Hyperclub, which support the firm’s Le Mans Hypercar programme.
Under a ‘new design manifesto’ led by Flavio Manzoni, Ferrari’s Chief Design Officer, the F76 ‘aims to prefigure the shapes of Ferraris of the future’, according to Ferrari. Besides the incredibly low-slung proportions of the F76 there are some interesting details too. There are two individual cockpits or ‘fuselages’, wheel arches that somehow blend into the windshield, a set of very thin LED lights front and rear – horizontally positioned to accentuate width. The front lights are retractable too.
Strangely, there are two steering wheels as well – though they look more like aeroplane-style yokes to us. Using drive-by-wire technology, the steering wheel and even the brake pedals are synchronised, ‘allowing both occupants to experience and share sensations in real time’.
Ferrari hasn’t said if the F76 is an EV or a petrol-powered car, though we suspect that despite the futuristic styling, those two triangular openings in front of that decked rear spoiler are actually exhaust shrouds.
The F76 name pays tribute to Ferrari’s first triumph at Le Mans, achieved by Luigi Chinetti with Lord Selsdon at the wheel of the 166 MM barchetta in 1949 – 76 years ago. With such an illustrious history to play with, if interest was high for the F76 we’d expect more NFTs in Ferrari’s future.
