The Ferrari California and California T had a true identity problem, mainly because they were missing the muscular design of the other Ferrari cars. Finally Ferrari got it right with the Portofino, especially in this color combination. The Portofino is an aggressively-styled car with a two-box fastback configuration that adds extra sleekness to its silhouette, lending it a sportier character.
As is always the case in Ferrari, the aerodynamic development process involved every single area of the car and its development, from the initial layout choices to the management of the flows involved in heat dissipation, and the definition of every single detail of the underbody and bodywork. The Aerodynamics department and Ferrari Design collaborated on a day-to-day basis on the latter in particular.
The development process focused principally on aerodynamic efficiency with a particular emphasis on cutting drag which is pivotal to both pure performance, and on keeping fuel consumption and emissions down. This goal proved challenging as Ferrari’s engineers had to guarantee improved engine heat dissipation (as power output was boosted by 40 cv) which could have resulted in an increase in Cd over the previous model. Nonetheless, they managed not just to dissipate the increased heat energy without increasing radiator dimensions but also to achieve a drag (Cd) figure of 0.312 – an improvement of 6% over the previous model.
A subtle interplay and juxtaposition of concave and convex surfaces lends a sense of three-dimensionality to the body, yet also creates an impression of great naturalness which can be seen in the way the flows needed to increase aerodynamic efficiency were optimised.
