Designing a brand new Ferrari is a not a job for the fainthearted as the expectations are enormous, both from the Maranello bosses and the Prancing Horse-loving public.
Few designers have had the opportunity to design a new Ferrari but Frank Stephenson is one of them. In 2002, he was appointed the design director of Ferrari and Maserati, at a time when the Trident brand was under the full control of Ferrari.
One of the most challenging projects Stephenson undertook was to design the successor to the Ferrari 360 Modena. The man himself recounts in the second episode of his “How I designed…” web series that the brief was very clear. He and his team had to design a nicer evolution of the 360 Modena.
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It wasn’t easy, though Stephenson knew where to begin. As he confesses in the video, he always thought the 360 Modena was a bit too soft and not as hard-edged as it could have been. As a result, he set out to make the Ferrari F430 a little more dynamic and aggressive.
He found inspiration in Ferrari’s past for the most defining element of the F430 which was the dual grille. More specifically, it was the 1961 Ferrari 156 F1 ‘Sharknose’ that gave Stephenson the idea for the ‘nostrils’ that made up the front grille. Other interesting design elements were the double round taillights which Frank kept but moved up and out of the surface of the rear end for a 3D effect.
Check out the video to get a full picture of Frank Stephenson’s creative process that led to the shape of the Ferrari F430.