So you balance on that tightrope and feed
in the lock and you might just sense the E-diff beginning to lock. It gives the
rear end a feeling of taut controllability and up-for-it eagerness, and if
you’re feeling brave you’ll squirt the throttle and the rear end will slide out
quickly, the revs will shout ‘boo!’ and your eyeballs will boing out of their
sockets like they’re spring-loaded on comedy glasses.
Don’t be too spooked: as with all modern
Ferraris, there’s a manettino – aka little dial – on the steering wheel that
allows you to switch between modes for the gearbox, ABS, suspension, E-diff
and, crucially, stability control systems. Only this time the stability control
is also aided and abetted by Side Slip angle Control (SSC), a very advanced bit
of gadgetry that promises to operate subtly in the background while you push
the Speciale to the limits of adhesion and beyond, but will still intervene to
prevent slides from becoming too extreme.
Other
modifications include slightly thinner rear glass, in order to save weight
It’s active in the Race and CT Off
(traction control) manettino modes and it’s pretty bloody clever, but at lower
speeds on the road where angles are more likely to be greater – hairpins, for
instance – there’s still an unmistakable sense of something pulling you back
from the precipice even when you’ve got everything under control; you still
need to turn everything off to have fun. In fact, SSC saves its real genius for
the faster corners of the racetrack, a place where 47% of buyers are predicted
to go, versus 16% of Italia owners.
On track at Fiorano you’re simply aware of
the Speciale feeling incredibly planted as well as having an extremely positive
front end and an overall balance that initially feels psychotic, so keen is the
car to over steer. And yet it’s actually very easy and incredibly satisfying to
hold just beyond the limit, even at very high speed. The problem on track is
trying to stop the slides becoming too ridiculous and sapping time. That’s
where Side Slip angle Control comes in. Switch the manettino to CT Off to
activate SSC and you’re flattered into thinking you’re driving very neatly,
with just the perfect serving of slip to point you through the corner. Yet the
electronics are working constantly, a furious whirling of swan’s feet below the
surface that belies your effortless progress.
Features
like climate control are predictably standard
Only occasionally do you feel SSC’s
intervention because, unlike larking about on hairpins, you’re not really
trying to generate much slip in the first place. But then you turn everything
off and the slides get much, much wilder. While a good driver could easily
catch those slides, I think it’d take an exceptional one to hold them at the
perfectly judged angles that SSC does.
As the sun goes down it’s time to
reluctantly hand back the keys and head to the customary, slightly intimidating
one-on-one debrief with Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa. I try to get my thoughts
straight on my way to his office.
Ferrari's
458 Speciale is powered by a 597bhp 4.5-litre V8
There’s no doubt that the Speciale is the
better car to drive on track and when you’re at ten-tenths on the road; for its
intended customer base that’s absolutely right. But potential buyers need to
think carefully because the Italia continues to make a strong case for itself –
it’s still a scintillating car, one with performance to send shivers down your
spine and a chassis that’ll have you hooting out loud. The Italia comes far closer
to the Speciale in terms of all-out driver satisfaction, for instance, than a
911 Carrera does to a GT3, and yet it’s also a notably more rounded
proposition.
Forged
wheels and new carbon ceramic brakes save 13kg. But are they sure those discs
are big enough?
If you’re lucky enough to have several cars
and you just want the purest expression of a 458 for weekend drives and track
sessions, you won’t go wrong with a Speciale. But if you’re actually going to
cover ground in your 458 and won’t be welding the accelerator to the floormat
all the time, I’d have no hesitation in sticking with an Italia.
‘Hello, Ben Barry? Yes, Mr Felisa will see
you now…
