An exclusive extract from our new book – LEGO® Technic™ Ferrari Daytona SP3: The Sense of Perfection

This year, we’re releasing a one-of-a-kind book that celebrates the brand-new (and super special) LEGO® Technic™ Ferrari Daytona SP3 model – and trust us, Ferrari fans will want to get their hands on a copy.

Packed with inside stories and expert knowledge straight from Maranello (Ferrari HQ) and Billund (the LEGO Group HQ), our new book is the result of a powerful collaboration where fans can go behind the scenes, meet members of the Ferrari design team and discover how we made our newest LEGO model from the LEGO Technic Ultimate Car Concept.

If you weren’t excited enough already, enjoy an extract from our interview with Carlo Palazzani, Head of Sports Car Exterior Design at Ferrari:

What are the main stages of the design process?

The first phase is research. When working out the signature characteristics of the Daytona SP3, our main reference was the unique construction layout of classic competition cars, where the cabin looks like a bubble, set harmoniously into a sinuous, sculptural form. Once the cornerstones of the design are in place, and we have the technical-aerodynamic principles and dimensions from the technical departments, we can start to consider styling elements.

There can be a lot of radical and visionary ideas at this stage, and a lot of sketching by hand. Drawing is still considered hugely important in Ferrari, and the fluid, intuitive representation of ideas is the foundation of all our designs. There is a direct connection between brain and hand that is vital, especially when designers are beginning their creative process. When the best ideas have been singled out, we move on to advanced graphics software.

Our 3D modelers are very significant figures in the process, and work very closely and meticulously with the designers to guarantee that the integrity of their vision is preserved while complying with the technical constraints. The 3D models are honed and perfected until they are at a genuinely meaningful stage, at which point we move on to physical modeling.

The CAD [computer-aided design] data is sent to our on-site workshop, where our expert model makers will mill a clay model that is complete in every detail and true to life-size. When they have translated the most complex nuances of the surface treatment into clay, their work is sent to the paint department where the characteristics of the real thing are even more perfectly represented.

That is a long way from being the end of the process, but that is our first chance to see the design contextualized in the real world, long before a prototype makes it on to a test track.

How difficult is it to balance the styling ambitions with the performance requirements?

It is definitely a very delicate phase of the development of any Ferrari. It is the pivotal moment when art and technology meet, and it is essential for the designers to work in synergy with the technical departments, particularly aerodynamics.

The designer has to understand the engineering thought process underpinning the car, and the marriage of their understanding and creativity must produce a unique and iconic shape.

That is essential for any Ferrari. If a designer can translate the sophisticated engineering solutions hidden beneath a car’s ‘skin’ into a few pencil strokes, then they are doing a good job.

What other essentials must a Ferrari embody?

There are many, including innovation in performance and drivability. But the two others I will mention are the proportions – which we hone to the tiniest detail and around which we meticulously craft the design concept – and Ferrari’s unique language of surfaces.

Those instantly recognizable transitions between concave and convex surfaces, and the simultaneously fluid and monolithic forms are among our most distinctive signatures.

If you’d love to read on, then why not treat yourself to LEGO Technic Ferrari Daytona SP3: The Sense of Perfection?

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