Three years ago, the Ferrari 458 Italia
cast aside the Porsche GT2 RS, Mercedes SLS and Lamborghini Gallardo
Superleggera as we declared it the winner after an epic 4000km road trip. We
all wondered how anyone could build a better supercar than this. Since then,
no-one has, while over the intervening years Ferrari’s engineers have watched a
deadline creeping ever nearer: the launch of the inevitable hard core 458 to
follow in the footsteps of the 360 Challenge Stradale and 430 Scuderia.
With its V8 howl, pulverising performance, top
handling and racing heritage, the Speciale is one of the greatest performance
cars
Those engineers all doubtless took
vigorously to desk-cleaning procrastination after receiving that brief, but one
way or another they were going to have to improve on the 458’s perfection by
late 2013.
‘We had mixed feelings when we were asked
to develop this engine,’ reveals engine and powertrain boss Jean Jacques His.
‘It is not easy to improve.’
The
Ferrari's interior is a very civilised affair with Manettino dial manages
gearbox, ABS, suspension, e-diff and stability control functions
Now the work is done and there’s a 458
Speciale with my name on it parked outside Enzo’s old house at Fiorano, just
like there was six years ago when I came to drive the 430 Scuderia…
The power figures alone are no quantum
leap: the mid-mounted V8 remains pegged at 4.5 litres and torque is unchanged
at 540Nm, but power rises from the Italia’s 419kW to 445kW. You’d expect to see
a chip tuner advertise those kind of gains, yet it’s actually more of a
thorough working over than the naked stats suggest, as you’ll see from the
panel on page 67. And remember, that’s 445kW from 4.5 litres and not a
turbocharger in sight. Come on, that’s sensational!
Narrow
sports seats with ‘technical fabric’, no carpet, no glove box, and lashings of
carbon and Alcantara
Ferrari has also lopped 90kg off the 458’s
kerb weight with RTM bumpers, 20-inch forged alloy wheels, thinner glass and a
pared-back interior. Do nothing but add a little power and take a little weight
out of an Italia and it’d be more rapid and would doubtless stop faster and
feel more agile too. It’d blow our minds.
Of course, Ferrari didn’t stop there, and
what comes next will boggle the mind of anyone who’s ever driven a 458 Italia.
There’s a new generation of carbon brakes, meaning the old carbon ceramics that
stopped you like a lamppost might stop a frail pensioner are already
yesterday’s news.
Yes,
the redline is indeed set at 9000rpm. But don’t worry, it won’t take too long
to get there
The dual-clutch gearbox responds to
commands on the steering column-mounted paddles more promptly than before, even
though Italia owners might scratch their heads and say, ‘um, but the shifts are
already instantaneous’. They are, but they’re now faster. They just are.
Witchcraft is the only explanation. Everything suggests that the Speciale will
be faster, sharper, more involving and better than the Italia. Except even
Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa is at pains to point out that the Speciale is not
better than the 458 Italia, rather that it’s a ‘different concept for a
different kind of customer’. In fact, Ferrari expects more customers to trade
up from a 360 Challenge Stradale or 430 Scuderia than from an Italia. The plan
is for the two 458s to fill discreet niches, then, rather than the Speciale
cannibalising existing sales.
The
Speciale features a new design of caliper, plus discs with a higher silicone
content and pads that are 20% smaller than a 458’s. Ferrari claims that brake temperatures
on track are reduced by 100degC, increasing pad life four-fold
Sink into the Speciale’s
technical-fabric-covered sports seats and even the skinnier pilots will feel
the bolsters pinching at their middles – why indulge portliness when you’ve been
sweating 90kg out of this thing? – and you slip the fiddly racing harnesses
over each shoulder as if the wife’s out and you’ve come over all curious in her
walk-in wardrobe.
