It takes a brave and rich man to chop up a Ferrari F12, but it appears that’s exactly what Ferrari obsessive Sam Li has done to create the Veloqx Fangio. A glimpse of the interior betrays its Ferrari origins, but the front-engined GT features radically different bodywork with a quartet of exhaust tailpipes stacked together like a rocket launcher beneath the rear window, a huge crescent-shaped rear wing, and a rear diffuser so gigantic it could double as a starting gate for dog racing on its days off.
If the awkward first part of that Veloqx
Fangio name, which sounds like bollocks to us, rings any bells at all, it’ll be
because the UK-based Veloqx racing team claimed victory at the 12 Hours of
Sebring, and placed second at Le Mans, with an Audi R8 endurance car back in
2004. As for the second part, it’s called Fangio in honour of 1950s Grand Prix
ace Juan Manuel Fangio. According to Autosport, Li has trademarked the Fangio
name for both road and race cars, which must irk Horacio Pagani, who claimed
that the five-time F1 champion offered him guidance and inspiration to build
his original Zonda supercar before passing away in 1995.
Veloqx hasn’t released any details about
the car, but Li has previously said he intends to return to the track in 2025
with a Ferrari V12-powered machine, and will offer a small run of road going
versions. Readers with card-counting-grade memories may recall we wrote about
this car in May last year, illustrating the story with a rear three-quarter
shot showing the unusual rear spoiler, though at the time we believed it was an
upcoming Ferrari special project. Front shot taken at Bahrain International
Circuit was then released in August, showing the radically refashioned front
bodywork and ultra-slim LED headlights, but images and footage from a recent
outing at Abu Dhabi’s national track give us our first chance to see the car up
close and in detail.
It’s unclear whether the Fangio was built
from a standard F12 Berlinetta or the low volume TdF, or if Veloqx has made any
significant changes to the running gear. But we de know that Li has expressed a
desire to race using clean fuels. The F12 finished production in 2017 and
featured a 6.3-liter naturally aspirated V12 that developed 730 hp in
standard tune, and 769 hp for the the TdF. Li is clearly a fan of the
F12, having previously commissioned Ferrari’s Special Project’s department to
build him a unique barchetta called the the F12 TRS that drew inspiration from
the original Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa.
