Motor Trend names 488 GT 2017 Best Drivers Car

No, no, no, you are wrong and so are MT - all you need is a Mc 720S because everybody knows (arguing is futile) that the 488 is crap

 

488 should have won compared to the cars in the contest. That shouldn't be any surprise. It's a great car.

I'm surprised that no one is talking about it's lap time at Laguna Seca. That was an extremely fast lap time (surprising to me TBH).

 

More seriously (compared to my previous comment) the 488, and 458 before, have always posted impressive lap times - for me it's an evidence of their good engineering. On the other hand, a car taking benefit from more power to achieve better straight line times does not particularly impress me.

 

It's worth considering tires in terms of track times. All the latest impressive lap times are on seemingly brand new, really sticky compounds that are a generation ahead of the previous stuff. We don't really know what tires the 488 was using since they don't actually offer a Cup2 for the 488, but they do have a new compound that has way more performance than the old ones.

I would love to see a test where they stick new compound tires on old cars. I bet the latest models don't look so massively improved once you put the new compounds on the old cars.

 

Although the 488 does not officially offer the PSCup2 tyres, for track tests it typically uses the PSCup2 of the 458 Speciale which have the exact same dimensions (they have lower load rating, which I suspect is why they are not officially proposed); these Cup2 are about 3 years old now.
This said, it's certain that tyres can make a huge difference.

 

Well, they make new Cup2 tires as well, so I think the question is whether or not the cars supplied have the same compound as 3 years ago. If I'm going to send a test car with fresh tires and I'm not going to use the tires that come with it standard, why would I pick old tires over new tires?

The 488 Speciale tires most likely already exist and they probably don't keep stocking up on old compounds for cars they don't produce anymore.

If I had to guess what tires were on a 488 test car today, it would be new compounds.

 

Certainly, but do they actually make new Pilot Sport Cup2? typically when a manufacturer changes a product the name is also changed; in addition the Speciale tyres (that have been used for 488 tests to my knowledge) have been a specific Ferrari version from the start (K1), so I am not sure how the specs could be changed without any indication.

 

They do make new Cup2 tires. These are what the AMG GTR that lapped the Ring was using, though perhaps specific to the GTR in some respects.. I wouldn't put much weight into a tire designation (K1, N2, R01 etc) if that tire isn't available as an option and on a test car.

If you could get a Cup2 on the 488 from the factory, I'd have no problem believing it was the same as the Speciale, but being that you can't get it from the factory, I think it's questionable as to what tire it is.

 

The gold standard. Pretty much says it all.

I can't tell you how much I love my 458 spider.

Still waiting for my 488 spider spot.

 

You can get them from Michelin though, as mentioned I think the issue for officially recommending them is with the load ratings.
If you think that a manufacturer is commissionning special tyres for press tests, they could do it no matter if the chosen tyre type is provided from the factory for the car or not.

 

The accolades continue for Ferrari! I'm not surprised.

 

To me, 488 winning is not a surprise at all. Two surprises are #2 cayman s and the miata is still there after so many years.

 

Fast as hell- yes. But it wasn't a Ferrari.

That's what is all about, am I right ?