The new Ferrari F430 Scuderia. Stupendous, sensational, and one of the fastest ever Ferrari road cars. Yet here is a Ferrari of relatively humble origins, being the adrenalin pumped off spring of Ferrari’s best selling ‘entry level’ F430.
At its’ debut in 2004, the new F430 did more than prove a worthy successor to the 360 Modena it replaced, it took the baby supercar’s performance to new heights, causing rivals such as Lamborghini, Porsche, Aston, and other rivals to pause in their tracks. The new F430 wasn’t just a bigger engined faster 360, but a totally new car. To many still, despite being the ‘baby’ Ferrari of the production line up, the F430 is to many, in terms of pure motoring genius, often referred to as ‘the best’.
hardcore
Yet there is always room for something more hard core. With the 360, it was the Challenge Stradale, a lighter, quicker, more stiffly sprung rude car. When we drove the Stradale last year at Fiorano, we referred to it as ‘simply brilliant – one of life’s ultimate motoring pleasures. We thought it couldn’t be bettered …and then came the new F430, and it was….but now the Scuderia is here, and the stakes are raised, yet again.
‘Scuderia Ferrari’ denotes the name of the racing team founder Enzo Ferrari ran for Alfa Romeo in the 1930s. A fitting tribute to a man whose life was dominated by the love of speed, and who went on to create this coveted motoring legend in his name. In those days it was all about brute horsepower. With the new Scuderia, this latest state-of-the-art expression of Ferrari genius is proof that less is more. It is as quick as the legendary 200 mph £650,000 Ferrari Enzo, and indeed quicker in a straight line. – yet the anomaly is, that at £165, 000, it costs but 30% of the Enzo’s tag price.
The stats say the Scuderia will hit 62 mph in less than 3.6 seconds and top 198 mph. The standard F430 hits 62 mph in 4.1 secs, topping a maximum of 193 mph. These are big improvements, not easily achieved when your base line product was just so good anyway. But any true enthusiast knows that tenths of a second here or there by no means tells the really important story; it’s ‘the way she does it’ that counts, especially in this league.- and it’ s where the Scuderia story gets really interesting.
Ferrari say that one of the reasons why the Scuderia has a decisive performance advantage over the Enzo is that it carries technological innovations not even in existence in 2003 when the Ferrari Enzo was launched. Ferrari reckon it boils down to two broad key differences – the dynamics and the driving experience.
dynamic by design
To dynamics first; aerodynamics to be precise. Achieving ultimate aerodynamic efficiency dictated several months in the wind tunnel for this car. The result - larger front vents with meshed metallic grilles, lower profile bumper and chin spoiler, and deep heavy breather side skirts. There’s a bigger diffuser at the rear, enhanced by a revised profile for the back spoiler to balance the downforce created by the newly designed front end. The exhausts outlets are mounted higher (in Challenge Stradale style) allowing more air to flow through the rear bumper vents. Wing mirrors are all carbon fibre, and the car is 15 mm lower than the F430. Weight reduction is enhanced by the extensive use of carbon fibre. The result is a 30 Kg increase in downforce at maximum speed with no adverse impact on the cars drag co-efficient.
Inside, the F430 Scuderia is indeed stripped to the bone, reminiscent of the old yet legendary F40 but admittedly a little less spartan than its older cousin. It’s mostly carbon fibre, bare metal in places, and alcantara should you choose it. The manually adjustable racing seats add an even greater sense of occasion, they are completely new, and provide (much needed) extra support in extreme driving conditions. The instrument display is typically Ferrari – functional, simple, driver focused, unfussed, yet somehow ‘classic’ in appearance, like a very expensive watch. Yet somehow the stripped ultra lightweight interior looks fantastic, even more striking than that of the standard car.
Two other technical innovations give the Scuderia its dynamic edge. The first is a highly technical ‘E-diff with F1 –Trac’ What this does, for the first time in a road car, is integrate the traction control system with the various driver and road condition set up options available in the car, by intelligently shuffling around the torque to the rear wheels. This, according to Ferrari, is the most significant feature in making the Scuderia drive like a race car. It doesn’t just deaden power when you go over the limit, it smoothes out your mistake and makes you think you’re Michael Schumacher.
Next up of the dynamic three is the Racing Manettino. The Manettino already features in several Ferrari road cars. In simple terms it is a little red switch on the steering that allows you to adjust the settings of the car to suit driver preference and road conditions. The Scuderia, on Mr Schumacher’s advice, has a new additional setting, the CT which turns off the vehicle’s traction control system (to allow us wild boys a bit of wheelspin) but kicks in the stability control when we appear to be running out of skill.
the driving
The big Part 2 of the Scuderia equation is the driving, and quite specifically – engine, gearbox, and sound. Engine output is increased from 114 to 118 hp per litre. Modified engine ducts and exhaust system ensure the engine breathes and releases air more freely, and the compression ratio has been increased as a result of revised piston design.
Sound was a biggie in the Scuderia driving dynamics equation too. Not least for the emotion. Ferrari people understand the importance of sound, and this one has been tuned to a tee. It sounds literally amazing – I can’t even remember if our car had a radio, and once behind the wheel of the Scuderia, believe me, you won’t even care. Yet the exhaust modifications work at the business end too as we’ll see on the drive.
The F1 Superfast 2 gearbox is the other big Scuderia driving highlight. An evolution of the F1 gearbox used on all Ferrari models, the Superfast 2 reduces gear change time to just 60 milliseconds. I can’t even think that fast; and It’s the closest gear change speed time to an F1 car than any road going Ferrari to date………..it’s time to look for those keys.
behind the wheel
Prudence suggested caution on first acquaintance; it would hardly be ‘cool’ to embarrass yourself with what felt like the whole of the Ferrari workforce standing by. The familiar bleeps and whirrs greeted the turn of the ignition key, and a press of the red starter button on the steering wheel caused an explosion from the rear,- and a grin from ear to ear. The tone was smooth, with obviously endless range, razor sharp, piercing, powerful, assertive yet so confident. This is the time when people stop and steer; A Ferrari has come to life. That engine tone alone, even at idle, gives you so much information about the car’s capability. Oh, and it’s not just a symphony of pleasing melodies, it is a simple equation of promise and more importantly, it is matched by delivery.
The official performance stats, combined with the Enzo/F40 beating credentials suggested initial apprehension on the first drive. Will it be a wild animal? Will it throw me off the road if I put on just a little too much throttle at the wrong time? Should I beg Ferrari to loan me Mr. Schumacher for a few driving lessons? No. Quite the contrary in fact. The Scuderia is so refined, controllable, and user friendly in town that you’d e hard pushed thinking what all the fuss was about. It is even ‘quiet’ to the point that you’d be tempted to think it no big deal to use this car every day. That’s quite an achievement, for should you seek to tease all but an ounce of its potential and the Scuderia reacts instantly, the wonderful hollow tone of that exhaust making its presence known.
That experience alone, the instant capacity to switch from Jekyll to Hyde urges you to find the roads this car was really made for. We were soon into the winding hills of Modena, and pushing hard. Nature is a fine thing, for it soon became obvious that the heavens had carved these roads just for Ferraris. The Scuderia was indeed in its own territory now, one that it rules with unequivocal brilliance. The old Italian villagers’ were indeed used to this rude assault, barely lifting their heads from their newspapers to acknowledge yet another red Ferrari piercing the village silence. Yet there seemed a sense of latent pride coming from the locals, our red Ferrari clearly an object of national pride.
Gauging local reactions t the car was a relief; a green light to open up the Ferrari in the freedom of the hills leaving them only with the echo of aural pleasure that went on well beyond the line of sight. It was here that the Scuderia crescendo came into its own, hard throttle gives piercing and relentless acceleration in any gear all the way up to a heady 8,500 rpm. We were soon on a mission; ‘long’ straights proving only brief interludes to the next bend. And you’ll smile every time that bend comes, because it is your next driver challenge; the carbon ceramic brakes working spot on every time, no matter how hard you push that pedal, and as the brakes warm they blend with the extra grippy feel of the made to order soft compound Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres, leaving you the joy of experiencing the results of the substantial technical workover on this car.
And that’s easy. It is some time since we last drove the standard F430, yet the superior qualities of the Scuderia stand out a mile. The E-dif with F1 Track works a treat – you can literally floor the throttle just before an apex on a tight fast bend and instead of oversteering into hospital, you can feel the back end moving the torque around and taking you through that bend both quicker and safer than any manual skill you can muster. Pure driver flattery – but so safe. And the grip on those bends is tremendous, generating massive g-forces, those new racing seats proving essential.
Steering feel has been slightly upgraded to work with the Scuderia’s higher performance potential, allowing wonderfully precise, yet perfectly weighted steering input at all times, and whilst the purpose of gearchanging is indeed to aid progress, you’ll be playing with those paddles just as much for the sound as the sheer pleasure of doing so. And the changes are almost imperceptibly quick.
Yet the magic is the almost surreal experience of exploiting the total Scuderia package. Every single mechanical and dynamic improvement is matched by reward. You can feel and experience every single technical innovation. As a Scuderia customer, I would have the confidence of knowing that there is a result on the road for every single improvement made, and what’s more, I don’t have to be Michael Schumacher to prove it.
And finally, don’t expect rock hard competition level ride here – Mr test driver Schumacher saw to it that an additional softer suspension setting option combined with ‘Race’ mode on the Manettino was the best way to make mince meat of the Nurbergring and hence mashed potato of any other poorly surfaced road.
want one
“So how was it?” came the question from Ferrari’s Press personnel as I cruised gently back into the Ferrari factory from the day’s drive. The answer to that was easy. I told the truth “I just died and went to heaven!” Driving this car is the thrill of a lifetime. If you love driving, the F430 Scuderia is about as ‘high’ as you will ever get for any money, in any legal road car on earth, even when compared to Bugatti Veyron territory; others just do it differently. This way you do it Ferrari.
We have driven faster cars, more expensive cars, even more exotic cars, some match, but none exceeds the thrill and pleasure of punting this particular Ferrari through the hills of Maranello. At this point I’d like to say something critical, discerning, unemotional and balanced, but then if I did the magic of this ultimate F430 would not have been achieved …..by Ferrari. And the point is this: when you get out of a car like the Scuderia, you should be full of superlatives, excited, like a child even, for that is the raison d etre of this car. It is why you buy it.
The serious side to the moral of the story is that telling you about how the Scuderia makes you feel is just as important as describing how it delivers the goods. You can’t put a price on this experience by the way; you must simply drive the car. With the Scuderia, you buy into the spirit of Ferrari, the heart of the legend, and when you drive it, you live the dream.
Kevin Haggarthy
Ends.
Price: £165,000
Engine
• Type
90° V8
• Bore and Stroke
3.26 x 3.19 in (92 x 81 mm)
• Total displacement
263 cu in 4308 cm3
• Compression ratio
11.88:1
• Maximum power**
375.4 kW (510 CV) at 8500 rpm
• Specific output
118.4 CV/litre
• Maximum torque
470 Nm (346.67 lbft) at 5250 rpm
• Maximum revs per minute
8640 rpm (with limiter)
Performance
• Acceleration
0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) in less than 3.6 s0-124 mph (0-200 km/h) in less than 11.6 s0-1000 m in 20.9 s
• Maximum Speed
198 mph (320 km/h)
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