In addition to its road cars and track cars, Ferrari makes special one-off performance vehicles for its most loyal clients. As a special project, it’s built a number of unique cars like the Ferrari SP12 for Eric Clapton or Ferrari P4/5 commissioned by James Glickenhaus. Perhaps the best and most recent example is the KC23 which ran up the Hill at Goodwood this week.
The KC23 is based on the Ferrari 488 GT3, although it looks radically different. Equipped with butterfly doors, its styling is a combination of the Vision Gran Turismo and 499P endurance hypercar that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. The silver metallic finish is more than just a paint color. Called Gold Mercury, it features liquid metal embedded into four layers of paintwork, giving the car an almost mirror-like sheen.
In addition to the butterfly doors and unique paint, the KC23 uses motorized air intakes and body panels, which open and close depending on the engine’s operating temperature. The rear wing is removable, so it can be installed during track days when additional downforce is needed, or removed when parked in the garage, to admire the car’s pure form.
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Even though the car was developed at the specification of an anonymous benefactor, Ferrari insists that the KC23 is a “tantalizing glimpse” of the future direction of Ferrari’s design language. But while future Ferraris may crib off the KC23’s exterior design, it’s unlikely they will do so with the interior, which is stripped down to a pair of bucket seats, a full roll cage, and a race-spec steering wheel with a series of controls like a Formula One car.
During its run in the Goodwood Hillclimb, the Ferrari KC23’s driver battled the track’s wet conditions and balanced the need to keep the one-off car from plunging into the hay bales with the desire to put on a good show. Fortunately, they succeeded on both counts. With the gloom reflecting off the shimmering paint, the KC23 sped up the course, the V8 engine snarling.
