There’s lightweight carbon fibre for the
door cards and Alcantara on the dash, the carpets are gone, the glove box
discarded, the central stalk is inspired by the La Ferrari supercar and houses
a little button labelled Launch; it’ll throw you at 100kph in 3.0sec flat.
I insert the key and press the red starter
button on the steering wheel. The V8 awakens and settles to a gruff idle, while
determined prods at the accelerator blast away the low-rev phlegm to reveal
brighter, peakier bursts of zero-inertia noise. It sends waves of nervousness
and excitement convulsing through my entire body and we haven’t even left the
car park.
The
vertical guide vanes either side of the silver prancing horse are pushed open
at 170kph to reduce the volume of air entering the radiators and cut drag
Trundling through Maranello our red Ferrari
still turns the heads of a populace that sees them everyday and are doubtless
lulled to sleep at night by the distant bwap, bwap, bwaaap of dual-clutch
gearboxes. Some differences versus the Italia are apparent right away, but only
the drawbacks: the much more pronounced road noise, the substantially stiffer
ride, the throttle that feels even edgier than the razor-sharp Italia. This is
not the Speciale’s comfort zone, and it doesn’t proffer any excuses: it’s a
track-focused, road-legal lunatic, and if you don’t like that then it’ll knee
you in the nuts and leave you reeling on the pavement.
Central
stalk inspired by La Ferrari supercar. The key button is marked simply
‘Launch’. Apollo rockets had something similar
Out of town and, hmm, I’m pretty sure that
the Speciale doesn’t sound quite as fruity as the Italia. Imagine Clapton
muddying his crystal-clear Strat with a little extra distortion and you’ll get
the idea. Still intoxicating, just not quite as intoxicating.
The suspension’s great, though, that
low-speed lumpiness transformed by a push on the adaptive damper button. Yes,
it’s still notably stiffer than the Italia’s equivalent setting, but it’s
impressively compliant while keeping body movements 100% in check. It also
feels like the window between soft and hard suspension is wider than the
Italia’s, the two personalities easier to detect.
Rotary
switch allows for convenient, quick and easy changes of driving mode
Forty minutes later and we’re into the
hills that rise up to the south of Maranello, the Speciale ripping across the
landscape in fierce bursts of noise and speed. This is an amazingly rewarding
car to drive, but it makes you work for those rewards: it’s so visceral that
I’m actually breathless with adrenaline and physical exertion after driving up
one particularly twisty hillside.
For all the Speciale’s changes, it’s still
the 458’s super-quick steering that requires most acclimatisation – it’s
fighter-jet agility remains shocking and it takes a few corners to realise
that, yes, you really can keep your hands fixed in place on the steering wheel,
even through tight hairpins. There’s more steering feel travelling up the
Speciale’s rack now than we’ve grown accustomed to in the latest Ferraris,
though, and that significantly increases the sense of interaction.
Four-point
harnesses can be annoying in the Ferrari; we'd prefer a normal three-point inertial
reel belt
We spend the next couple of hours darting
back and forth on that epic road, noticing the brakes’ refusal to fall into ABS
intervention if you approach hairpins just a bit too quickly, the lack of body
roll, and those witchcraft downshifts, Ferrari saying that the delay between a
paddle shift command and the resulting downshift is now reduced by 44%; you’ll
feel the difference as a more positive transition between revs. But what you
feel more than anything is total and utter connection to the car, a level of
transparency that positively encourages you to push the Speciale beyond sane
limits like a few beers might convince you to take to the dance floor – only
this time you’re not delusional.
There’s
even a handy 230-litre boot on the Ferrari 458 Speciale
The Italia’s boundary line that combines
‘you are now leaving grip’ and ‘welcome to understeer’ in one clearly legible
signpost remains intact, but stickier Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s mean it’s
shifted significantly to the north and feels even more precisely defined,
allowing you to carve into corners with more speed and confidence than before.
