Ferrari Pista and the stars of 2018
Remember when Maranello’s V12s sat comfortably clear of its V8s, on a higher plane of performance? They’re gone
Evolved 488 kicks o our spring collection
HARDER, FASTER, stronger and stickier, Ferrari’s most powerful V8 sports car ever draws on F1 and Le Mans know-how as it picks up the baton from the old 458 Speciale. Power is up 7.5 per cent, downforce by 20 per cent. And the name is at least five times more annoying.
Because obviously it was meant to be GTO. 488 GTO. You know, like 288 GTO, itself a homage to the legendary 250 GTO racer from 1962. Or at least we all assumed it was going to be GTO. But then the Italians, who don’t like anyone telling them what to do, went and Pista on everyone’s chips by naming the hot new 488 after their native word for ‘track’.
And the track really does look like it’ll be the best place to find out what this hottest of road-legal 488s can do. That’s where you’ll feel the benefits of that 20 per cent increase in street-surface-suck that’s partly derived from a clever device called an S-duct – technology that comes straight from F1. Also seen on the trophy-hoovering 488 GTE racer – essentially a screaming, race-winning ideas bank for the Pista – the S-duct channels on-rushing air through ducts in the body to reduce airflow separation over the nose, and reduce drag.
Other Pista aero highlights include revised underbody vortex generators, a rear diffuser employing the same double-kink as the one fitted to the GTE and a redesigned rear spoiler that’s longer and mounted higher to create more push.
Incorporating that kind of aero technology without the car looking like a total lurcher’s lunch is a tricky business, but one made less tricky since Ferrari stopped sub-contracting out styling to external agencies like Pininfarina.
‘In the past we founded the technical aspects of a project and then committed somebody outside, maybe Pininfarina, the project of the body,’ explains Ferrari’s design director, Flavio Manzoni. ‘But we wanted to create a symbiotic process, more integrated, working shoulder to shoulder with the engineers with an organic approach.
‘One of the reasons was the increased level of technology and the more advanced aerodynamics going into the car. Take the case of the FXX-K Evo,’ Manzoni says, referring to the track-only La Ferrari offshoot that generates a mind-scrambling 830kg of theoretical downforce.
‘This is able to lap Mugello 1.5sec faster than the previous one. You can imagine how difficult it is to integrate these complex aerodynamics into our organic vision for the shape, with so many devices and elements, while keeping the integrity of the form.’
In the case of the Pista, that form is unquestionably more attractive than the stock GTB’s, which has been left looking disappointingly meek and old fashioned in the wake of the innovative, voluptuous McLaren 720S. There’s something of the Ford GT about the nose, with its deep bonnet scallop creating a wing section from the front sheet metal, while a floating rear spoiler – that looks like it ought to be deployable as an air brake like a McLaren’s, but is apparently fixed – adds an organic, muscular look to the tail. Though to be honest, with those stripes running nose to tail they could have made it look like a Mondial and we’d have still been jelly.
Some of that sheet metal isn’t metal at all, although like all series-production Ferraris the Pista is still based on light, but easily repairable aluminium architecture. The engine cover, bumpers and rear spoiler are fashioned from carbonfibre, as are the optional 20-inch wheels.
Together with a simple, carpet-free interior dominated by a pair of vestigial bucket seats and lightweight engine components, those mods help pare the kerbweight to 1280kg dry, an impressive 90kg lighter than the GTB (though actually only 3kg lighter than a 720S with every lightweighting option box ticked).
That alone – the equivalent of jettisoning a tubby Tinder date when you realise
THE 3.9 LITRE V8’S BEEN KITTED OUT WITH A LONG LIST OF HARDWARE FROM THE FEROCIOUS 488 CHALLENGE RACER
you’d rather rendezvous with an 8000rpm redline – would be enough to put significant dirty air between the Pista’s rear diffuser and a chasing 488 GTB. But just to be sure, the Berlinetta’s 3.9-litre V8’s been kitted out with a long list of hardware from the 488 Challenge Racer, including a lightweight crank, flywheel and titanium rods to help pile on the revs more quickly, carbonfibre intake plenums and exhausts made from Inconel, which is lighter than titanium and can run hotter without sweating.
Two new twin-scroll turbos also make their way from the Challenge series, and now draw their air from the rear spoiler area, helping pack 49bhp onto the 488’s existing 661bhp. That makes for a McLaren-matching 710bhp (720PS) at 8000rpm and 568lb ft (up 7lb ft on the 488) at 3000rpm, though you only get the full 568 in the seven-speed DCT’s seventh gear because of Ferrari’s strategy of managing boost levels to mimic the feel of a rev-hungry, naturally aspirated motor.
Thumb the launch control button on the console pod, flatten both pedals and leap off the left and the Pista will pass-da 62mph mark in 2.85sec, hit 124mph (200km/h) in 7.6sec and eventually reach 211mph. Fast, by any normal standards, and by those of the stock 488, whose log reads: 3.0sec, 8.3sec, 205mph. But a 720S, which is actually the GTB’s rival, remember, will do 2.9sec, 7.8sec and 212mph, and you can bet the inevitable LT version will walk comfortably away.
Does that matter? Ferrari is keen to emphasise not just a jump in performance, but performance that even ‘non-professional’ drivers can access, harness and exploit.
‘On some [rival] cars the grip is very strong then falls away rapidly at the limit,’ Ferrari’s test ace, Raffaele de Simone, told us when explaining Ferrari’s dynamic philosophy, drawing a cliff face with his hand. ‘But we prefer to round that curve a little. It means sometimes sacrificing a very small amount of outright grip, but makes a car more fun to drive.’
Not that you’re likely to feel short-changed for grip in the Pista. Nevertheless a sixth generation of Ferrari’s Side-Slip Angle Control system means nibbling the edge of the handling envelope should be something to be enjoyed, not feared. Side-Slip integrates the E-diff, traction control, SCM magna-ride dampers and now a yaw control system that works by tweaking the fluid pressure at each brake caliper. Going by the awful name Dynamic Enhancer, it sounds like it ought to come in a little blue pill. Should work wonders, though.
Got the likely £220k asking price lying around? Start lobbying your dealer now.