Car of the Day - Ferrari GG50

Car of the Day - Ferrari GG50 by Giorgetto Giugiaro & ItalDesign

Ferrari was the chosen Marque for Giorgetto Giugiaro to use as a base for a personal present to himself to celebrate his 50 years in car design.

“I decided to sculpture a Ferrari to the memory of that great adventure and enjoy it with my family”. says Giorgetto Giugiaro.

So the GG50 was born as relatively practical personal transport for Giugiaro and his family. His brief to himself was to provide outstanding ergonomics and ample space on board. Using the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti as a base, retaining the mechanicals but the shortening the car by 9 cm. The Ferrari GG50 features a fastback tail with a hatchback lid. The rear seatbacks can be folded down to create, thanks to the new fuel tank, a flat trunk platform one meter and 40 centimeters deep.

The GG50’s inception started in September 2004 at the Paris Motorshow, when Giorgetto Giugiaro spoke with Luca di Montezemolo about his desire to build a special on the based on the 612. Montezemolo agreed, with two provisoes; no restrictions would be posed on creative-thinking, the vehicle must be perfectly in keeping with the Ferrari tradition and transmit a sensation of compactness.

Giugiaro commenced work on the project in February 2005, sketching entirely by hand - a practice followed over the last 50 years - the physical design of the vehicle in 1:10 scale from four orthogonal views, marking out the side, nose, tail and bird’s view: all sketched in 2H lead pencil on tracing paper using a universal chalkboard. This two-dimensional rendering is typical of Giugiaro’s method and is today pursued by Fabrizio Giugiaro, Italdesign Giugiaro Styling Area Director. According to this procedure, the rendering is translated into math surfaces in order to proceed to a 3D validation of the project by means of 1:1 scale dynamic visualization in the Italdesign-Giugiaro Virtual Reality Design Center. Once the VR green light was given, seeing onset was full-scale plaster model milling, as duly completed in April. Along with the 1.1 scale mock-up put in place to test out the ergonomics and ease-of-access interior concepts, starting to see construction at the beginning of June was the running prototype.

In the 612, the fuel tank is positioned vertically, behind the rear seating. For the Ferrari GG50, Italdesign engineers were asked by Giugiaro to position the new 95-liter fuel tank entirely below the trunk platform line. With the rear seatbacks folded down, the redesigned fuel tank layout translates into a flat trunk platform one meter and 40 centimeters deep. Compared to the 240-liter loading capacity of the Scaglietti, the loading capacity offered by the GG50 stretches to 270 liters and with the rear seatbacks folded, increases to 500 liters.

The GG50 appears to have a standard boot hinged under the rear window. However, the rear window lifts up along with the trunklid. The trunk and rear window flow to a photochromic roof, which creates a seamless transparent surface.

ItalDesign retained the basic interior of the Scaglietti. However Giugiaro and his son Fabrizio eliminated the closed-in feeling in the back by sloping the rear window at the side. Great attention was given to driver ergonomics with regard to the paddleshift meaning the right hand no longer needs to be used to operate a transmission on a central tunnel console. certain Controls once found by tradition on the left-hand side, such as the lights and handbrake were moved. The instrumentation remains the same, however the dashboard is new. Fitted inside the central console, whether between the front or rear seats, are two storage boxes. Large glovebox are fitted inside the door panels which have a horizontal natural beech insert. Covered in beige leather, the seats use the structural frames found in the production car.

The car was first displayed at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show.

Rod