Monoposto – inspired by Ferrari’s Monza SP1

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THE CAR

Having sculpted the two-seat Ferrari Monza SP2-inspired Barchetta Reale in Belgian Black, it seemed a natural extension of the series to cast in aluminum the Monza SP1 single-seater inspired Monoposto.

 

 

Ferrari uses the Barchetta term liberally when describing its latest heritage-inspired, open-cockpit Monza SP1 and SP2 projects. Debuting at the 2018 Paris Salon, the styling of the silver Monza SP1 monoposto, and closely related black two-seat SP2, captured the attention of the world. The first time I saw the pair, I knew I’d sculpt at least one of them. Could Ferrari’s announcement be true that these extreme “concept cars” would actually see limited production?

 

It was true, and they did. And I sculpted both.

 

 

The SP Monzas are best thought of as re-skinned 812 Superfast chassis with sleek carbon fiber composite bodies. That would make them front-engine, V12-powered rocket-ships. The most striking part of the Flavio Manzoni supervised design is the rather complete absence of a substantive windshield…..not unlike the original post-war barchettas. Of course, there is also no roof.

Nevertheless, the Monza SP1 and SP2 are intended primarily as road cars to be used in nice weather. Like any Ferrari, they can also acquit themselves handily at the track.

At roughly $1.75 million USD retail, the 499 applicants lucky enough to be benighted as the buyers are unlikely to thrash them too hard on-track. The SP Monza is sure to be a great investment for the lucky 499. Many SPs will see little beyond garage-queen duty.

 

The SP Monza are also good business for Ferrari….re-skin the 812 and multiply the price of admission 4 fold. At the same time, such models keep the Prancing Horse mystique on the boil. (See also past limited production Ferrari 288, F40, F50, Enzo, FXX, LaFerrari, etc.).

The SP Monza design cues are a mix of modern 812 Ferrari, and 1950s barchetta. Flavio Manzoni has supervised every Ferrari road-car released since 2010, so his design language is a known and respected entity. The 1950s Ferrari barchettas were all front-engined, so that style includes a rather rear-ward placed driver, looking out over a long, flat-topped engine compartment.

 

The headrests / rollover bars are housed in the prominent fairings aft of the occupants’ heads. These fairings were de rigueur for 1950’s barchettas.

The sides of the modern Monza body have a coke-bottle contour, with plunging rear-to-front character lines, body seams and creases. These all give the appearance of rake to the body. The front end pulls inspiration heavily from modern Ferraris (not a bad thing), while the rear is rather classic and smooth — simplicity itself.

 

THE CASTING

One of the upsides of stone sculptures, in my opinion, is that they provide a proper “original art piece” from which a mold and subsequent castings can be derived. The lost wax method entails a multitude of steps, so I apologize if I lose you along the way with my explanation.

The first step was to pull a female silicon mold from the male marble SP2 piece. Next, pour wax into the female SP2 silicon mold, to give a wax male SP2. Add and subtract wax from the male SP2 wax to the shape of an SP1 male. Sprue said SP1 male wax in preparation for casting. Encase sprued SP1 wax in 8-10 coats of sand slurry to create a ceramic-like shell encasing the wax. “Burn out” SP1 male wax with sustained heat, leaving female SP1 ceramic. Pour molten aluminum into female SP1 ceramic shell. Once cooled, break away ceramic shell with hammer to leave the aluminum male SP1. Finish the aluminum male surfaces.

The result is I can create more SP1 or SP2 inspired aluminum castings. No more than 9 of each would be created. Finishing in any color available with automotive paint is also possible.

To represent the yellow stripes and roll-bar fairing of the Paris Salon SP1, I had my graphic designer colleague Mick reproduce the pattern of an Australian jasper called Mookaite, (see the Mookaite band in En Francais sculpture). I reasoned that if my stone art pieces often have metal adornments, then my metal art pieces should in turn often have stone-related adornments.