What's this then?

This is the Ferrari FXX K and that is what you get when Ferrari's designers are told to go and turn the LaFerrari hybrid hypercar into a racing weapon, only one that has no rulebook.

No rulebook? What do you mean?

Well, real racing cars have to be designed under strict limits. You can't just let designers go off and do what they want - if they did the cost of going racing would quickly spiral out of all control and speeds would go up too high for safety measures to cope.

Away from official-sanctioned racing series though, there are no restrictions - only what the designers can imagine and what the customers will pay for and in both cases, that's a lot. So, the FXX K (the K stands for the KERS electric boost of the hybrid system) runs a 6.2-litre V12 petrol engine with 860hp, backed up by an electric motor with 190hp, making for a total of 1,050hp and a torque figure that Ferrari says is "in excess of 900Nm."

So, it's not going to be slow then.

No, Indeed not. Ferrari hasn't issued any official performance figures yet, but we guess that the final numbers will start with an 'F' and finish in a 'K'. As for costs, well probably best not to ask. The FXX K will only be sold through Ferrari's Clienti Corse programme. Customers will (a) have to be loaded and (b) won't actually get to keep the car at home. Instead, Ferrari keeps and stores the car (which is officially designated as a rolling prototype) and will deliver it, together with a small army of technicians and mechanics, to wherever the customer wants to use it.

There are no silencers on the engine, which should make for some aural excitement, while the KERS system has a unique four-mode Manettino switch on the centre console: Qualify, for maximum performance within a limited number of laps; Long Run to optimise performance consistency; Manual Boost for instant maximum torque delivery; and Fast Charge, for a fast recharge of the car's battery. Sebastian Vettel, eat your heart out. Even the anti-lock brake system is adjustable.

On the outside, the front spoiler and splitter are lower and bigger than on the road-going LaFerrari and there are full underbelly aerodynamics including a whacking great diffuser, to Hoover (TM) the car to the tarmac. Up top there are massive vertical fins at either side of the engine with small wings on top. All of that adds up to between 30 per cent and 50 per cent better downforce than the old FXX depending on what mode you're running the car in. Ferrari claims there's as much as 540kg of downward push at 200km/h.

Keeping all of it between the kerbs are bespoke Pirelli slicks and there's a full telemetry system so that you can see exactly what the car was doing milliseconds before you put it upside down in a gravel trap.

When can I have one?

You probably can't. Unless you're Nick Mason, in which case can we have your new album and an autograph please? Ferrari will, as is its usual style, be carefully screening and hand-picking its customers for this one.