Babying a Ferrari Vs. Driving hard

I concur. Drive the heck out of it and do scheduled maintenance as planned for your vehicle. Drive the Ferrari monster and have fun and enjoy it!! If you are not sure about required maintenance post about specific help on the maintenance.
-D


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"Use it or lose it, but don't abuse it." i.e., moderation in all things.

 

I just drove mine 2500 kms with a trackday in the middle, no leaks, all gauges with the pointer in the correct place but I would say what your mechanic means is that you should use it as any car gets issues if left standing

 

Since this says you already don't trust him why do you use him ?

Regular use is better than irregular use

Some revs (when warm) is better than low revs

 

As with most things in life, there's a balance to be had. These cars prefer regular use but if that is at full tilt 100% of the time then components will wear out more quickly - just look at how often parts are replaced on challenge cars.

 

Ferraris driven hard is part of a created image.

Some parts a designed more robust to withstand hard use but even they will eventually wear to limits where replacement is required.

Like alle other internal combustion engines parts will wear sooner when moving fast.
It is a rule of fysics.
A mouse has a short but high energetic life. A turtel lives for a hundred years.

The only advice I can give to you is to use the car on a regulary basis so parts will be lubricated.

 

Just always keep it below 3000rpm until all your fluids are warmed up, I've always stuck to this rule and never had any mechanical faults in 23 years of driving.

 

I would find another mechanic.

 

To add more to my statement it's a mechanical device.

Think about two supposed identical cars. One is taken to red line on every shift and driven "hard" as your so-called mechanic advises. The other is driven gently with perhaps occasional spirited driving. Which one would you prefer to buy five years from now?

Above idle the battery is getting charged, oil pressure should be in normal range, the thermostat will open at 180 degrees, parts that need lubrication get it. If he said a car that is not driven or a car not is not properly maintained that would be one thing. But saying that a car that is babied will break down sooner is insane.

 

Change the lubricants per the Schedule and plenty of fresh Shell gas!

It's a sharp tool, use it the cut on curves!!!

 

Certainly agree with your statements. Take for instance the human body with comparison to the avid runner. Running doesn't stop heart attacks etc, most have crippling arthritis in time resulting in deformed feet, hip and knee replacements prematurely . Exercise requires adequate warm up, cool down, adequate lub. of joints, a program of atraumatic energy expenditure. Cars like humans require use on a regular basis and should operate in the parameters for which they were designed.

 

Actually, he's somewhat correct. If you baby it, the oil temp will not get up high enough to where it boils off all moisture, you can (and will) get carbon build up on the valves and in the combustion chamber as they will not get hot enough to burn up the deposits, and you can get other issues combustion issues if you 'lug' the engine at lower rpms. You also can get weeping seals if the engine doesn't get uniformly good and hot due to expansion differences in different engine parts. If an engine was designed to operate at higher temps and higher rpm, the tolerances, seals etc. were designed to operate best there so if you never operate it in it's intended rpm and load range, it can have adverse effects. This does not mean to run it hard at redline non-stop, but it does need to be exercised.

I know that if I do not run my 355 at somewhat higher rpms during a drive the oil temp does not get above 185 where idieally it would hit 210 to burn off any moisture and acid byproducts. The acid byproducts are the key issue, as if you don't get the oil hot enough to burn them off and park the car for a while, you can pit those Ti rods leading to massive engine failure. If you baby the car, it may go easier on the brakes and transmission, but it can be worse for the engine which is the most expensive part on the car to fix if something goes wrong. The internals of these engines are overbuilt (where maybe some of the accessories aren't), but I'd much rather replace an a/c compressor or alternator than have a Ti rod let go and trash the engine or have to separate the engine and trans to replace a leaking seal.

 

When is your mechanics Boat payment due?

I agree a regularly used car - Ferrari or other is better than one that sits around. I dont agree that you have to flog the crap out of them,once and a while use the performance, but all that performance comes at a price... how hard you use the car comes at how much $$ you want to spend.

 

Your English is better than my Dutch but your message is perfect.

 

Just don't 'over' baby it. The guys that just start their Ferrari and let it idle for 30 mins in the garage but don't drive it are doing more harm than good.


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If I start the car and drive it straight to the freeway, and drive say an hour to a
car meet or run, temps never get close to full warm, oil or water.
You need to run the car in traffic/through the gears and get some temps in the
fluids, you do not have to hammer the motor to 8500 in each gear,
7500/8000 is fine and you still get the thrills and sounds.
This of course after you get her warmed up.

You can also just drop it down some gears to get some heat in the components.

I never drive my car and not run it through the gears and get temps up,
each time, every time. I do limit runs to 8500 when playing with the car,
but run her up to 7500/8000 a few times and cruise at 5000 to get heat
in her. Then a nice cool down, long way home...and she runs good.

The worst thing you can do is rev the motor cold....I have seen time and time again
at a car show, car has been sitting for a few hours, cooled down, and spectators
want to hear that Scud/Lambo roar, and the owner starts it up to leave and
revs to redline seconds after starting....makes me cringe.

I have had people tell me "rev it" , "do a burn out" , when I get ready to leave
and pull a face or thumbs down when I don't and tell them they can do what
they want when they get theirs.

 

If you have to "baby" a Ferrari why not just own a Prius?

 

Or a painting or sculpture.

Odds are the owners who buy Ferraris and rarely if ever drive them "Con Brio" look at their car as a work of art to be coddled to protect resale value rather than as a cool car to be used hard and put away wet.

Which would be OK, if nonuse didn't actually hurt the car.

 

Which part of the car wouldn't be up to temperature after an hour of running on the freeway? Perhaps the tyres and brakes but to say the oil or water would be even close to operating temperature is nonsense.

 

It is indeed nonsense. If your Ferrari is operating properly, the water temp should be at normal operating temperatures in 10 minutes and the oil in 20. If you subsequently get caught in stop and go traffic or if you really flog the car hard both temps will increase a bit, but once you get back to cruising, both should quickly return to normal.

Those who claim it takes 20 minutes for the water temp to move and claim that the water temperature won't reach the first unlabeled mark when cruising at highway speeds have something wrong with their car; most likely an incorrect or a malfunctioning thermostat.

 

I don't know about your cars but my oil temp does not get to 185f if it's under 75 out unless I up the rpms and give it a few runs at wot, let alone 210. It only gets to 210 on the track or in stop and go traffic when ambient is over 90f.

 

Besides being a Ferrari it is still a car. I did not drive it any differently then any of my other cars. Just start it up and check for OP and off you go. It took maybe 5 minutes for the gearbox to warm up but by then WT was a 165* and OT was at around 140*. Would drive it normally in town and on the interstates. After 10 minutes it was at my normal temperature of 170* water and 170* oil with cruise OP at around 70 psi. I usually hit 195* water temp about 3 times a year and that would have to be a 100* day with the AC on and in traffic. Not much of that around here so never had a problem. In fact every season I had to manually force on the cooling fans to make sure they worked. Oh I did do the Fcar tune up once every time I had it out. Just drive it and have fun.

 

Including taking moderation in moderation.

Italian tuneup - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Urban Dictionary: Italian Tune Up