With a time of 9.7 seconds in the quarter-mile at 150 mph and a time of 2.4 seconds from 0 to 60 mph, the Ferrari 296GTB is the fastest rear-wheel-drive car we’ve ever tested. Its 130-foot, 70-mph stop is only three feet longer than the best one we’ve seen on a 2019 C7 Corvette ZR1. The plug-in hybrid has a drivetrain with an electric motor with 165 horsepower and a 3.0-liter V-6 engine with 654 horsepower, for 819 horsepower. Welcome to the Testing Hub for Invoice Pricing. This is where we will focus on the test data. You can see how we test here. Since 1956, we’ve been pushing cars to their limits to get facts to back up what we say. A curious witness asked, “What does it have for an engine?” as the Ferrari 296GTB was getting ready for testing. People almost groaned when we told them it had a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 engine connected to an electric motor. An electric Ferrari V-6? I’m not interested. They might have changed their minds after seeing it go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.4 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 9.7 seconds, faster than any other rear-wheel-drive car we’ve seen. Extreme power The 296 is named after the vast 2992 cc V-6 engine that powers it. We know that 2992 cubic centimeters equals 3.0 liters, so why not 306? In simple terms: China. Ferrari wanted to stress that this engine is just below the tax level, which means that 3.0-liter machines can’t be beaten. The onlooker should have been interested in the 120-degree bank angle, which makes this V-6 fire like a V-12. Amazing things happen when the eight-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox shifts at 8500 rpm. With two turbochargers fitting nicely in that wide vee, the engine can make a total of 654 horsepower, which is about 219 horsepower per liter. That wasn’t enough, though, so there is a 165-hp axial flow synchronous AC electric motor in the middle of the engine and gearbox. It is plugged into a 6.0-kWh battery pack, more significant than a standard hybrid battery, so it can only run on electricity for a few kilometers. This car’s real purpose is to ensure that the other 165 electric horses are always ready to sneak in and bring the total output up to 819 horsepower. The EPA says it has a range of 8 miles. Order to Launch Because of the 296’s engine, we had to change our test plan twice. As with any plug-in car, we tested the power to get the most out of the electricity. The second one was done with the 296’s traction-control system, which checks how the test surface slides in mind. We stopped going east-west-east-west to save time and did all the eastbound runs before returning to do the westbound ones. While the steps for launching the car are accessible, there is one confusing twist. When ready, put the bike in manual mode, press the brake, and open the engine. When the ready light turns on, and the rpm hits 3000, you let off the stop. Strangely, you don’t physically upshift even though you put the system into manual mode to arm it. The launch control takes care of that. Let’s get to the point As we did more runs similarly, the system improved at dealing with the start-point friction. The third pass was when the system got better the most, so that’s when we got the data for our best runs. The fact that the runs going the other way were fast immediately showed that this was not the case. Our test asphalt is more uniform than we thought it would be. It was amazing how well the 296GTB did in the end for any car, let alone one with 819 horsepower that had to be sent through 305/35ZR-20 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R tires. The GTB can go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.4 seconds, faster than the Lamborghini Huracan STO and the McLaren Artura, which took 2.6 seconds. In second place, the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS came 2.8 seconds behind. The Ferrari is nearly a double faster than the McLaren and Lamborghini, going from 0 to 100 mph in 4.7 seconds. It is also two seconds faster than the Porsche. But after that, the gaps get more extensive. A quarter mile in 10.3 seconds at 140 mph is the second-fastest Artura. At 150 mph, it is 9.7 seconds behind the 296GTB. Those are the brakes This meant we didn’t have to worry about running acceleration first and saving power. Although it may not be instantly apparent, the 296GTB has regenerative solid braking. This is because the brake pedal works regenerative and friction brakes equally well. Lastly, when the car slowed down, the battery regained some of the electricity that it had used during the acceleration run. This caused the battery charge to drop steadily. Ferrari has experience with race cars designed to store and use energy in a single lap. This car’s regeneration system only uses the motor-connected back drive tires. This means that the 15.7-inch ventilated and drilled carbon-ceramic rotors, 10-piston front calipers, and grip of the 245/35ZR-20 Cup 2R front tires are still very important for stopping the car. The 296GTB also has an active aerodynamic device that rises between the taillights to create drag and downforce. I won’t call it an air brake, though, because the timing of its release didn’t look like it was meant to only work as one. It’s still impossible for this car’s friction brakes to handle its 3532-pound weight. Because of this, the Ferrari may have one of the shortest stopping distances of any car we’ve tried. It stems from 70 mph in just 130 feet, a little better than the Porsche Cayman GT4 RS’s stopping distance. The Ferrari has a stopping distance of 245 feet, while the Porsche has a score of 242 feet. This is likely because the Ferrari is heavier and has more velocity. The Ferrari SF90 Stradale has the fastest time from 0 to 60 mph, taking just 2.0 seconds. This is possible thanks to its all-wheel drive and 386 horsepower. It used to be that the SF90 had a 0.4-second lead over the 296GTB at 60 mph, but now its trap speed is only 148 mph, which is two mph slower. In the end, the 296 reached 190 mph in 17.8 seconds, but we ran out of room and had to call it a day.
