The 430 Scuderia is the fastest Ferrari around the Italian supercar company's home circuit at Maranello. Toby Hagon gets behind the wheel to find out just how quick it really is.
But before I’d even stepped foot in Ferrari’s most potent road car ever, my stomach was tensing with anticipation and a tinge of nervousness. Here at Drive we get to sample plenty of new cars, often exotic, fast and expensive. But it’s not everyday the opportunity arises to sample an ultra-exclusive Ferrari at the home of Ferrari.
After all, the Ferrari 430 Scuderia is not just a quick car, it’s the fastest Ferrari road car to ever lap the company’s Fiorano test track in Italy. Its lap time of 1 minute, 25 seconds (around the slower track) is one and a half seconds faster than the V12-powered 599 GTB. It also matches the more powerful, V12 Ferrari Enzo, the $1.8 million supercar bearing the name of the Italian company's founder.
Little wonder, then, that I’m somehow trying to convince myself that I definitely don’t want to be testing the airbags of the 430 Scuderia. After all, any minor slip up could all but end my plans to continue in this line of work for years to come. Or leave a customer waiting another 12 months to join the queue for Ferrari’s latest and greatest. Oh yeah, that and the fact that even the latest advanced safety systems don’t provide any guarantees.
Thankfully, my first experience in the 430 Scuderia doesn’t come alone. I’m not even in the driver’s seat.
Instead I’m sitting alongside Ferrari Formula One test driver Marc Gene, the man responsible for developing the championship-winning Ferrari Formula One cars. One of the fastest drivers in the world.
Gene, who has competed in 36 grands prix, quickly demonstrates what the 430 Scuderia is supremely capable and potently quick. Blasting around the 3.0-kilometre Fiorano test track, Gene takes me on two fast laps.
During lap one he keeps the 430 Scuderia’s electronics switched on, demonstrating the capabilities of the Formula One-developed technology that helps keep the car on the track and better divert the 375kW of power to the bitumen. Our lap is blisteringly quick and clean, with the car barely flinching throughout.
Lap two is completed sans electronics. A mild beep warns that there are no computers working with us this time. Gene’s talent is immediately obvious as he expertly drifts the 430 Scuderia through a right-hander approaching the bridge across the main straight.
Moments later he performs a similarly perfect power slide out of the tight Fiorano hairpin. With the car sliding around, Gene demonstrates just how fun – and forgiving, in the right hands – the 430 Scuderia can be. He also demonstrates how powerful the massive cross-drilled, carbon-ceramic brakes are in arresting speeds of up to 240km/h.
It is, quite literally, the ride of a lifetime, rating up there with a blast with Porsche test driver Walter Rohrol in a 911 Turbo.
Perhaps unknowingly, Marc Gene has also convinced me that the 430 Scuderia – and a day at Fiorano – is not something you want to limit to half throttle or third gear.
Despite my fast-paced introduction, though, I’m somehow still apprehensive about slipping behind the wheel. Especially considering this particular car I’m driving is equipped with F1-style telematics system that records every gearchange, G-force, cornering speed and throttle application. Every mistake can be monitored.
Three things keep running through my mind. 1. This is the fastest Ferrari currently on the market. 2. I’m at Fiorano, the home of Ferrari. 3. Don’t crash.
Pushing the bright red Start button on the steering wheel, though, allays some tension. The bark from the exhaust has me itching to get going.
I’m also immediately conscious of how comfortable and accommodating the sleek Ferrari 430 Scuderia is. I’m a big bloke, yet clearly big blokes buy Ferraris, even the race-going ones. It’s just that I’m one big bloke who will never afford one.
Like other Ferraris, the 430 Scuderia has a semi-automatic gearbox. The driver can take full control of what gear to be in and when, but there’s no clutch pedal. A computer looks after the clutch while paddles on the steering wheel select the appropriate gear.
The first hundred metres are relatively sedate, with the Ferrari slowly building pace. But as I urge the accelerator and revs start to rise, its somewhat sedate demeanor is immediately left behind as the exhaust barks loudly.
The sound from the 4.3-litre V8 is not the characteristic burble you expect from a V8. Instead it’s a ferocious scream of high-tech metal, tinged with coarseness and bulging with excitement. And plenty of power.
The 430 Scuderia pins you to the seat with its aggressive acceleration. From a standstill, the engine sounds quite sedate and uninvolving, but as revs surpass 3000rpm a valve opens, winding up the aggro.
In what seems like a fraction of a second, first gear is disposed of, leaving me relishing the violent cacophony from the twin exhausts. The sound is not the expected high-pitched wale of a Ferrari, but a more aggressive shriek that gets louder as revs rise beyond 8000rpm. Ferrari says the noise in the 430 Scuderia isn’t much louder than the F430, but it’s loud enough and adds to the awesome experience.
More impressive than the explosive surge of thrust from the high-revving V8 is the Formula One-inspired gearchanges. The 430 Scuderia has two steering-wheel-mounted paddles; the left changes down through the gears and the right up.
One pull of the right lever instigates a momentary lapse in the potent acceleration as computers snatch for the next gear. It takes just 60 milliseconds; a blink of a human eye takes around 300 to 400 milliseconds.
But the most impressive part of the 430 Scuderia is the electronics working to better harness the V8’s power and divert it to the road.
Ferrari offers five settings for its Manettino system. One for slippery surfaces, a Sport mode and a more aggressive Race mode. All three use the various electronics of the car, including the electronic differential and the traction and stability control systems, tuned for each setting.
Then there’s a CS/off setting, which disables the traction control, allowing some slides. The CST/off setting disables everything, including the stability control system, allowing the driver to slide and drive the Ferrari as they wish.
Most of my laps were in the Race mode, which demonstrated just how capable the 430 Scuderia is. Marc Gene instilled in me how much you need to trust the car by applying full throttle mid-corner and letting the computers modulate how much power is sent to the massive rear tyres.
It’s an eerie feeling and goes against the conventional style of driving, but it’s one that reaps rewards with potent acceleration through corners and sublime control.
It’s not until you look at the scenery – or the speedo – that you really appreciate how fast the Ferrari 430 Scuderia is travelling, and building speed.
More impressive is the manner in which the traction control operates. There’s none of the hesitation and jerkiness that’s typically associated with traction control and resulted in keener drivers switching such systems off in more aggressive driving.
