Ferrari has filed a patent for a side exit exhaust – this is what the design looks like – SlashGear

Long before patents were a thing, Ferrari was experimenting with side exhausts on the track. The 1960 Ferrari 250 TR59/60 was an evolution of the TR59 and itself followed the legendary 1957 Ferrari 335 S Sport Scaglietti, one of the most expensive Ferraris ever sold at auction. It featured factory-fitted side pipes on three of the limited production five-car chassis. Created by Carlo Chiti, the 250TR59/60 left an indelible mark on Ferrari’s racing legacy by winning the 1960 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Sixty years later, Ferrari filed a patent for a new side-exit exhaust configuration. This indicates that the Prancing Horse brand may be considering side exhausts for one of its cars in the future. Whether such a car will manifest itself as a special ‘couple’“ series, a redesigned 250TR59, something completely new, or there is nothing to see yet. After all, patents do not guarantee production, but they do give us a glimpse of what could be. This is what Ferrari’s latest design could look like.

According to US20250319762On October 16, 2025, a patent for a Ferrari vehicle with side exhausts was published. It depicts a road car combined with a side exhaust system that runs under the doors and along the front wheels. The filling also outlines how Ferrari wants to combine the visual aspect of a side exhaust with crash protection. It is intended to absorb impact forces and prevent the front wheels from moving during a collision.

Side exhausts come from racing cars, because shorter pipes mean less back pressure. This also involves less pipe material, which helps reduce the overall weight of the system. What weight there is is placed low and between the axles. This helps with weight distribution, lowers the car’s center of gravity and makes it handle better. Its racing DNA is also reflected in the way the side exhaust pipes are accessible, helping mechanics to service systems without having to remove the underbody or jack up the car.

Placing the exhaust on the side also allows the diffuser to penetrate deep into the car, while also leaving more room for belly smoothing and more optimized airflow. This is partly why most modern performance Ferraris place their exhaust higher, unlike older supercars where they usually exited at the bottom of the rear of the car.

Filing a patent does not necessarily mean that it is guaranteed to go into production. Companies, including Ferrari, file patents all the time, and many of them never see the light of day. For example, Ferrari submitted the application in 2001 US6578916B2 patent for a chair with an adaptable or deformable outer shell. 24 years later, we have yet to see a Ferrari with an outer seat shell that can dynamically adjust its shape.

The viability of a patent in the market must comply with increasingly stringent regulations, and these are constantly changing. Some patents are just a little ahead of their time, like when Tesla imagined that laser beams would clean the windshield. Others, like Apple’s haptic-powered socks, are among the strangest patents ever filed and unfortunately didn’t make it either. However, a study published in Scientometrics (2025) found that although some innovations are patented, patents capture only a small portion of real innovation.

Most never reach the market, and many innovations that do are not patented at all. A lot of things have to come together for a patent to actually make it. In Ferrari’s case, a side-exit exhaust patent could really be a sign that this is imminent. Yet it could also be a design exercise, a protective move, or simply an engineering experiment that never makes it into production for a million different reasons.