The heart of the Pista
At the heart of the Pista is the GTB engine, heavily worked upon to make it the most powerful Ferrari V8 ever. At 670bhp of max power and 760Nm of peak torque, the 3.9-litre V8 GDi engine on the 488 GTB was no slouch. Also being the International Engine of the Year twice over is no small feat. However the engineers at Ferrari have thoroughly reworked the engine to arrive at truly astounding figures of 720bhp max power and peak torque of 770Nm along with a weight saving of 18kg.
This has been achieved by reducing the volume and length of the carbonfibre intake plenum and runners, optimised and increased intake and exhaust valve lift profiles, a reduction by 7 degrees of the in-cylinder temperature when the intake valves close and a new layout for the cooling surfaces with the engine radiators now sloping backwards and a change of air intakes. The side vents are now dedicated to cooling the charge air intercoolers and there are new vents at the back for the engine air intake. All this results in earlier and faster combustion and an increase in combustion efficiency.
The exhaust manifold is now made of inconel and is lighter with bigger runners, better sensors for turbocharger speed, titanium connecting rods, a lighter crankshaft and a new fly wheel all add up to a lighter and faster revving engine. Plenty of work has also gone in to reducing the engine response time and make the turbocharged engine behave like a large capacity naturally-aspirated engine. Finally the sound of the engine has also been worked on to give a better high frequency spectrum to not only make it louder but also make it sound, unmistakably, Ferrari. Not only has the engine been redone but so has the car. A lot of elements taken from the Ferrari Challenge cars have been put into the 488 to make it into the Pista. Overall the car is 90kg lighter than the 488 GTB and much of this weight reduction has been made in the unsprung masses of the car to enhance dynamics. A number of software upgrades to the various systems and new performance focused Ferrari Dynamic Enhancer have also been introduced. The aerodynamic efficiency of the 488 GTB, which was already impressive, has been improved by 20 per cent. As a result the 488 Pista can get up to a top speed of 340kmph and from a standing start can get upto 100kmph in 2.85 seconds and to 200kmph in 7.6 seconds. Now if that is not impressive, what is?
would be pulling, but all that is forgotten as I dive down into the currents of exhilaration. Pure speeds of over 200kmph give such an adrenalin rush but the corners come faster than ever, brake, downshift, hear the sexy blip, turn, start putting down the right foot and start the upshifting again till it’s time to brake again. Beautiful! I had loved the 488 GTB when I had driven it in Dubai some years back. This makes it even better. The car sounds good, is brutal on the track, is beautifully balanced and easy to drive. It’s definitely a fast car but whether I was able to drive it fast enough will remain a mystery in the logging system of a prototype of the Ferrari 488 Pista.