In the United Kingdom, RML Group Ltd. is preparing to launch is reinterpretation – “reinvention” simply takes the notion too far – of a polished-platinum automotive icon, the Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta, which, for legal reasons, is the last time we’ll make that comparison here. Let your eyes tell you what this car is going to be all about when it appears soon, the first press-evaluation example now being readied for an October rollout. Regardless of whatever the licensing niceties are here, this bespoke GT coupe makes heavy use of what is essentially current Ferrari technology, borrowing the platform and most of its associated pieces from the appropriately longitudinal rear-drive 550 Maranello coupe. From there, the RML engineering team is stirring its own cup of consomme.
While retaining the 550 Maranello’s wheelbase and basic suspension mounting locations, RML has undertaken to slightly gentle the Short Wheelbase’s ride motions, given its intended place for long-legs GT motoring, rather than the bared-gums stuff of later Ferrari creations. For one thing, the 550’s active-technology Bilstein shock units have swapped out in favor of slightly softer Ohlins units, with anti-roll bar and coil spring weights also nudged slightly downward in keeping with the new car’s project curb weight, which will be less than the 550’s. The Ferrari steel backbone chassis should also gain stiffness, since the RML coupe will use high-tensile carbon fiber bodywork, as opposed to the 550 Maranello’s aluminum skin. Customer cars are forecast to arrive in the first quarter of 2022.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 