First Drive: Ferrari 430 ScuderiaFerrari's new Scuderia is a Formula One derivative that puts out more power than Kyle Fortunecould imagine
Apart from a set of stickers or the odd special edition, it's difficult to see what car manufacturers get from their investment in Formula One. But it's different at Ferrari, and the Italian company is taking a great deal of time to point out just how its weekend's activities transfer to its new 430 Scuderia.
It's a lighter, faster, more focused F430. To demonstrate this, Ferrari wired up a black Scuderia to telemetry and gave it to their F1 test driver Marc Gene, to drive around Fiorano, Ferrari's own circuit.
Its engine fires, filling the pit garage with a rich metallic rasp, the tail-pipes, raised up in the rear bumper to improve underfloor airflow accompanying the 4.3-litre V8's glorious sound with a deliciously naughty blare.
It should get quieter as Gene exits the garage, but it's possible to pinpoint exactly where the Scuderia is on the track by ear. Every gear change, every prod of the throttle creates a spine-tingling symphony from the Scuderia. A glance at the telemetry screen shows how the anticipated peaks and troughs, as Gene brakes and accelerates, don't materialise.
It seems it's not working. A quick re-boot allows the telemetry prove its point, but no amount of lines on a screen will truly prepare you for just how sensationally fast the Scuderia is.
The numbers say the Scuderia explodes to 100km/h in under 3.6 seconds, and on to a 320km/h top speed. But it's the Scuderia's ability to lap Fiorano faster than an Enzo that underlines that it is more than merely a go-faster F430.
To achieve its extraordinary one minute 25 second lap time, Ferrari has gone down the usual "more power, less weight" route. The diet, which includes lashings of carbon fibre, lighter and quite ridiculously powerful and fade-free carbon ceramic brakes, less soundproofing and the removal of carpets drops the kerbweight by 100kg. The power increase is more modest, 20bhp not sounding like much, but then it does boost the output to 503bhp at a dizzying 8,500rpm.
Reaching its heady red-line just 140rpm later, gearshifts need to be quick. They are, the Scuderia's Superfast2 F1 paddleshift swapping ratios in just 60 milliseconds. That's within 20-30 milliseconds of Ferrari's current F1 car, and as fast as they were shifting on Sunday afternoons only a couple of years back.
Torque has grown along with power, raising marginally by just 5Nm to 470Nm, but it is spread further down the rev range giving the Scuderia more tractability.
AFTER ESCAPING THE TRAFFIC around Maranello, I push the accelerator to the floor for the first time.
The effect is extraordinary. The Scuderia's stripped, but by no means austere, cabin is immediately filled with a rich but hard-edged noise and you're brutally pushed back into the lightweight sports seats.
A quick flick of the right paddle has another gear selected, the rush intensifying even more as the rev-counter needle sweeps relentlessly around its hand-painted face.
You expected the Scuderia to be quick, but like all cars that mention track in their brief you also expect some pretty serious compromises on the road. They don't materialise - the Scuderia is more competent and poised on the road than its standard F430 relative.
That's down to a combination of factors. Chiefly the new "racing" wheel-mounted manettino that controls the Scuderia's track electronics offers the ability to operate the suspension setting independently of its pre-determined settings. Schumacher is said to have suggested the independent control of the suspension, and he's responsible for how it has been tuned. To say he's done a good job is a serious understatement.
Supercars typically thrill with their acceleration and noise, but so many fall short on poise and usability on the road. Set the Scuderia's suspension to soft, and it smoothes out even the nastiest surfaced, oddly cambered and lumpy, bumpy roads.
Adding to its phenomenal poise and agility is a development of the standard F430's E-Diff with the 599 GTB Fiorano's F1-Trac. This stability and traction control combination facilitates progress rather than impeding it, and in sport it'll make any driver feel like a hero. It only allows the exact amount of useable power to the rear wheels, however brutal the accelerator application is. Opt for race and you get a bit of throttle adjustability.
CT-off, a new setting which turns off the traction control, allows larger oversteer departure angles but keeps the safety net of stability control. There's a CST-off setting, giving the driver complete control, but that one's best left for Schumacher.
As a demonstration of how F1 technology translates to road cars, there's nothing out there like the Scuderia. Indeed, no other cars spring to mind that can manage to combine ballistic track performance with genuine road ability. If this is what Schumacher is doing in his spare time for Ferrari, then I'm glad he's not racing any more.
Factfile
Engine: 4308cc V8 petrol
Power: 503bhp @8,500rpm
Torque: 470Nm @ 5,250rpm
Performance: 0-100km/h - under 3.6secs, 0-200km/h - under 11.6 secs
Top speed: 320km/h
Price: £172,500 (no Euro Irish price)