First Drive: Ferrari Testa Rossa J Review

While I'll never say never, there are many things I doubt I’ll have the chance to do in my lifetime. Travel to the moon is one, abseil down Big Ben is a second. Another is drive a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa. An exceptionally rare and valuable motor vehicle, the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa won Le Mans three times, first in 1958, then in 1960 and again in 1961, with the likes of Phil Hill, four-time winner Olivier Gendebien and four-time class-winner Paul Frère at the wheel. I would be somewhat under-qualified, then…

All of that said, however, I can say I have driven this, a Ferrari Testa Rossa J, a scaled tribute to the original racer and the result of another glorious collaboration between UK-based The Little Car Company and the big dog that is Ferrari. Only 299 will be built, and it’s also the first Ferrari to have been built outside of Maranello. Definitely not a big deal at all then…

Like the Bugatti Baby II we drove before, the Testa Rossa J has been scaled down to 75 per cent of that of the original. The result is a vehicle suitable for individuals of various ages, hence the ‘J’, which stands for junior, in the name. Although entirely electric it is as Ferrari as you would imagine for any machine carrying the Prancing Horse. The bodywork is hand-crafted from aluminium, the paint comes directly from Ferrari, and everything sits on a chassis created from the drawings kept by Ferrari Classiche of the originals.

One interesting update for the EV is the exhaust, or rather lack of. It make a lot of sense not to include a fake exhaust pipe on a scaled-electric car – that would look ridiculous. But without one running from the engine, behind the front wheels and out towards the rear the designers noticed the Testa Rossa J’s profile looked a little off, like it was riding too high. Cleverly, they dropped the seating position and painted this lowered section black, both giving the driver a more hunkered down and connected feel and correcting what was a slightly off look from the outside.

It is a stunning car – and you do have to call it that, a ‘car’. To call it a toy wouldn’t do it justice. Moreover, unless there’s something to offer some perspective and scale, it looks every bit the Le Mans-winning sportscar.

Out has gone the outdated 3.0-litre Colombo V12 and in comes electricity. There’s a 48V electric motor paired to three batteries for a total of 12kW and 90km or so of range, with power, like the original, going to the rear wheels. To keep all that silent fury in check there are four drive modes, each allowing a gradual progression through the Testa Rossa J’s performance and accessible via a Manettino dial on the dashboard – just as you’d find in an 812 Superfast. At the gentle end of the performance spectrum is Novice, with 1kW of power and a 20km/h top speed. From there you move into Comfort – 4kW and a top speed of 45km/h – Sport – 10kW and up to 60km/h – and finally Race, with 12kW and “over” 60km/h flat-out. Novice mode is jolly lovely, and Comfort nice and relaxing, but Sport and Race is where the most fun is to be had. Let me assure you, 60km/h in a car so diddy is as exhilarating as you can imagine. Plus, with instant torque the pick-up can take you by surprise, even if it is a relatively modest 12kW.

The Testa Rossa J isn’t really about speed, though, it’s about the driving experience. To give this car the best chance of performing well, The Little Car company has thrown everything it can at it hardware wise. So there are Brembo disc brakes, Bilstein dampers, Eibach springs, 12-inch wheels shod in Pirelli tyres and, as you’d expect, no power steering because there really is no need for it. Although the set-up was completed in the UK, Ferrari’s test driver Raffaele de Simone really has done laps of Fiorano in this car to make sure it handle the way a Ferrari should. The result is yet another scaled-down wonder that drives like a real car. The brakes are tremendous, the pedal feel fantastic; the steering communicates exactly what the tyres are doing, giving you the confidence to steam into corners, to ride kerbs, to lift off and get the rear end moving around. It’s hilarious fun.

Unlike the original there’s no manual gearbox but everything else in the cabin is as it should be, with the aforementioned Nardi wooden steering wheel (fitted with the smallest quick-release system ever fitted to a Ferrari), excellently finished leather seats (using the same leather as modern Ferraris, in case you were wondering) with the same piping design, and a dash near-identical to that of the Le Mans hero. I say ‘near-identical’ because of course there’s no need for a fuel dial or a tachometer in an EV. Instead you’ll find a speedometer where the the tach once was, and a gauge for the battery instead of fuel level. There are also buttons to move between drive and reverse, a couple for the lights and another for the horn, plus a fly-off handbrake to the left-hand-side of the driver.

Again, it’s the details that bring the car to life. The pedals are from a 458 Speciale, for example  and, although not standard, you can have wheels of the same Borrani style as the full-sized original. Far from being a one-size-fits-all device, order a car and you’ll be treated to a world of possibilities. As well as the wheels you can chose from 14 original 250 Testa Rossa racing liveries, a number of other non-original liveries that are “in keeping with Ferrari style”, and 53 Ferrari body colours.

It’s worth noting the batteries, three separate units placed next to each other in the engine compartment, weigh around 8kg each and take mere moments to pull out and replace with fully-charged units waiting in the wings. It’s incredibly easy to do, which is good, really, because in most cases you’ll want to keep driving until the batteries die.

There’s one detail I’ve hesitated to mention until now: the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa J will cost you €93,000, excluding taxes, shipping and other optional features. That is an awful lot of money and there are certainly four-wheeled experiences around that’ll cost you a whole heap less. But, like the Baby II, it’s an experience, and to those who can afford it it’s hard to say it isn’t worth it. I spent my time behind the wheel unable to stop giggling, flying sideways across a damp track with a huge grin on my face – it actually took until the batteries went flat for me to get out and leave. What’s more, it’s a fair chunk less expensive than an original…