Ferrari F450 Test Mule Spied Up Close During Winter Testing

Further spy images of the forthcoming Ferrari F450 have emerged. The test mule was shot while testing in Sweden in conditions which are not ideal for a rear-wheel-driven Ferrari. Nevertheless, ice-cold circumstances are part of the development process if reliability under any kind of weather is to be claimed.

Boasting over 500hp the F450 is even rumoured to have a higher power output than the 520hp F430 Scuderia. Ferrari will use the same double-clutch gearbox from the California for the F450 to double-up with the envisaged 4.5-litre V8. How the global financial difficulty has affected the scarlet marque will be seen in the F450 through possible technologies like a road car version of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems).

The mule in these pictures may be disguised as an F430 but the differences are easy to spot; wider fenders, the air scoops and that centrally-mounted exhaust pipe give the guessing game away.

Ferrari has apparently codenamed the car F142 and it is expected to make its first public showing at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2009. Deliveries would then commence just over a year from now.