Homestyle GM Nicholas Burrowes takes the new Ferrari 12Cilindri for a spin, literally – on spikes, on ice.
Some days are once-in-a-lifetime. This was one of them. Driving any Ferrari is a special occasion, but when it happens to be on ice at the Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds (SHPG) near Cardrona, with a surprise line up of freshly built 12Cilindris, a new level of experience is unlocked.
I slept restlessly – part excited energy, part aware of the 6:30am departure into the cold dark air at Millbrook Resort. Alas, recent rain followed by frost had deemed the ice track almost unusable on foot, let alone directing a rear-wheel-drive V12 with the throttle. The start time shifted to early afternoon while the Downforce team prepared the track – snow-making and regrading after the weather, which was a feat in itself.
With a more relaxed start to the day we boarded the Esperienza Ferrari bus and moved to The Shed at Cloudy Bay on Lake Dunstan for a leisurely private lunch of shared plates, fuelling up for the afternoon ahead. Helicopters transferred us quickly to the ice; the short direct flight giving us an elevated view of the lack of snow the season had produced for 2025. This is where the SHPG shines: with its own snow making on site, it is operational all winter for auto and tyre brands to come south for testing during the Northern Hemisphere Summer. This is a high-security location, the kind where your phone and cameras all go in a lock box – adding another layer of immersion and bringing full focus to the driving at hand.
It was now a blue-bird day and arriving at the drive location I was expecting to likely see one 12Cilindri amongst other models. Instead I was awed to see seven 12Cilindri lined up, the colours dialled up to full saturation against the snow. Given the MSRP for one of these is over $700,000 (closer to $800,000 for the Spider), a real sense of the gravitas and investment made in this event washed over me.
With little fuss, we were paired up and handed our 12Cilindri – finished in Giallo Montecarlo, a glowing sunburst gold. The only rules: turn the ESC off and try and discipline the 820HP running to the rear-wheel-drive while sideways. In a bid to give an ice-driving-amateur like me a chance, 300 metal spikes were drilled into each special snow tyre, which at least made me feel more in control.
The 12Cilindri itself is a grand touring masterpiece, lifting nostalgic design cues and proportions from the classic late 60s Ferrari 365 Daytona – the long bonnet housing the V12, short rear, and black hood band paying homage. Don’t be fooled though, the interior is a modern-tech-stacked setup with multiple digital displays and the lush finishing you would expect. While driving a marque of this calibre and price tag can feel intimidating, the 12Cilindri’s cockpit is surprisingly approachable – comfortable, highly driveable, with light, direct steering.
The Downforce team gave us a lesson in drift control, and of course made slaloming through the cones look effortlessly loose, but highly controlled. For the uninitiated a light dab of the throttle saw the tyres light up the ice and step the rear out in a second – a delicate technique was needed, and minimising the 9,500rpm red line was key. On asphalt the 12Cilindri hits 100kph in under 3 seconds, fair to say no chance of that time here. But it didn’t matter, this was a driving environment like no other where you get to drift a Ferrari with no risk of stacking it into a gutter or lamppost – pure unadulterated fun in the prancing stallion.
With the later start to the day, we were still driving at twilight, Ferrari headlights beaming and gliding, with a glorious soft rosy hue rising from the alps around us to finish the day on a high note. Exhausted but exhilarated, we boarded the Esperienza bus at sundown to return to Arrowtown for an aptly Italian dinner and drinks at Aosta – another epicurean flourish to the day.
As our phones were handed back it was a strange sensation to not have captured the usual hundred photos and videos. It was just as well Ferrari had their own crew shooting on the ice, or no one would have believed I’d spent 48 hours with seven Ferrari 12Cilindris, on spikes, on ice.
Words Nicholas Burrowes
Photography Courtesy of Ferrari
Earlier this year, Nicholas Burrowes also joined Toyota on a trail-driving experience through the Southern Alps. [Read the story here.]
