99% agreed, apart from the cruise control, which I sadly need with speed cameras every half a mile on the main highways here! I've ordered a sparsely optioned one too since I personally believe that very few of the available options are going to make me any faster, make the driving experience more pure nor result in a bigger smile on my face when I'm driving the car. I'm buying the Speciale, my first Ferrari ever, because at this point in time, it's the best mid-engined V8 being produced in the most pure, road-legal, package. And that's what I want, for the ultimate driving experience. I don't care about the looks, being better or worse than the 458 Italia. I especially don't care that other people think about the car, or mine, for that matter. I bought and specced one with myself in mind and nobody else. Some might argue that's stupid, but spending this amount of money on a car is hardly sensible anyway, isn't it? I am not going to drive the Speciale to a restaurant. Or a club. Not because I'm afraid something might happen to it (that's luckily no issue here at all), just because I prefer to take a taxi so I can have a drink or 2 if I want to. And because I think it is a bit sad to park these cars in front of such establishments, but I'm sure some will disagree with me here... Horses for courses, but I will be using my Speciale for spirited drives on the silent and curvy mountain roads in the region, preferably at times when most of the population is still asleep. And on the 2 great tracks we have here. In other words: I want to (ab)use this car dynamically in the way it was intended, driving it to the best of my capabilities, as fast as safely possible. And I will happily share my experiences on just that after taking delivery in February. And I hope that this appeals to some on this forum. More than the color of the stitching, that is...
I posted few pages ago some thoughts about the new brake system of the Speciale. A big improvement to my eyes (even thinking to the much longer life these disks will have compared to the standard carbon ones). No one comment. But if we check there are hundreds of negative comments about the "winglets in front of the rear wheels"..Funny not? That's what @95spiderman is telling us..and I totally agree
Great minds think alike! Any of you guys getting the telemetry option? I am curious to learn more about the virtual track engineer. I am a big believer that if you want to become faster on a track you need data. One last note: I agree with you both on the options. I think the Speciale comes with everything you need already standard: awesome.
No, I'm not getting it. I see your point, but: 1. I'm also realistic enough to admit that the major variability and hence biggest opportunity in lap times is caused by the human interface: me. And that variability I can also record with a 400 USD GoPro 3+ Black Edition, which I can easily swap between my 458 Speciale, 991 GT3 and 1M if I feel like it. 2. Personally, I rather dedicate 15 minutes having a blast with another couple of laps on the track than pondering over a laptop, iPad or whatnot looking at squiggly graphs. I do plenty of that during regular office hours... 3. During to busy business schedules, I end up spending more time on the mountain roads than on the track, so I would have very limited use of the telemetry option. Which makes it poor value-for-money for me, IMHO.
That's because some of us are buying the car for looks and performance. Like you said if you want pure performance you should buy a real track like the challenge series. We're buying street legal cars and looks is always important. There are plenty of ugly cars to buy other than a Ferrari. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I understand of course. But sometimes (or often as you prefer) it seems reading the comments here that who ordered the Speciale, doesn't understand too much about nice looking cars To be sincere it is an old story. Everytime that a new car or a special model arrives in the market..You will see, it will happen again with the 458 successor..
I wouldn't have ordered the Speciale if I wasn't sure it's gonna be an absolute blast. In fact I registered for the "Scuderia-version" of the 458 when I got my Italia 3 1/2 years ago as I was quite certain they will come up with something absolutely "Special" ;-) In my eyes it is a sharpened version that suits me perfectly well. And during the short test-drive I had I was not disappointed and it topped my expectations... Plus it's good looking and absolutely exotic. My dreams will come true when it will be delivered in 3 weeks.
Also don't forget that post-MY12 italias' are faster than MY10 presentation cars, both on straight line and on the track
tom, rest assured....i drove the F458S last week and compared to my F458 it feels more special and more pure. the looks are fantastic as is the sound of the engine. it is the greatest ferrari these days, no doubt. would i swap my F458 for it? no, the difference is not enough. would i buy an S instead of a non-S? maybe... cheers, p
I agree with you 100% on the fact that usually I am the weak point in a fast lap time. However the telemetry helps. And I agree again that a GoPro is the way to go, not the cameras you can get installed as an option. I envy you on the mountain roads: where I live it is either track or cops...
Yeah, in Dubai it's either track or speed cameras which are even more effective than cops when it comes to revenue generation. Between my 911 and 458 I have managed to generate 14 speeding tickets in a period of 2 yrs without any threat to my driving privileges so long as I pay up the fine of $200 a pop. BTW, the fixed cameras can be avoided, as you know where they are, the mobile ones that pop up here and there are the ones causing the damage.
The funny thing is that I believe Ferrari have said themselves that the new Michelin's chop 1 second of the time alone stood next the regular 458. So the car by itself is only 0.5 seconds faster around Fiorano. I don't care about lap times though. I'm more focused on how the car responds, acts and the feedback you recieve as a driver. That is where the Speciale is an improvement IMO. It's more precise and more of a sharp-edged weapon than a ordinary 458 which is easily a very comfortable DD. If you're supporting the statement that SSC is a device "to help amateurs drift", then you haven't understood the philosophy or workings behind the system.
Consider yourself lucky. Where I live, it is instant loss of license for 25kph over the speed limit. They seize the car for 90 days under "hoon laws" for 30kph over the limit. Have your car seized again and the period of loss is longer. A third offence and the car is sold at auction or crushed. The fines are large and the revenue raised is massive and part of the government budget every year. It's sold as a safety message; but revenue is where it's at. Most of our Police cars are unmarked and there are fixed and mobile speed cameras everywhere. The major freeways have distance/time cameras that will send you a ticket in the mail if your average speed over a set distance is over the limit. Our options for "fun" are the track or going a long way to a different state with less draconian penalties.
Man, that's harsh. I've driven a red Ferrari like a boss for two years without a ticket, knock on wood (Furiously pounds skull with fist). Had it above 140 MPH a couple of times, and getting to 100 while passing is nothing. Also did US 60 in AZ, which is miles and miles and miles of switchbacks, esses, and sweepers. Didn't drive like a maniac, but I didn't exactly hold back either. I do however remember the bad-old-days of the 55 MPH national speed limit here in the US. Nearly lost my license more than once, and these were years I was driving a '69 VW Beetle and a '74 FIAT X1/9! Governments prey on citizens who wish to enjoy their automobiles. It really is a shame, but at the same time, there are a lot of idiots out there who probably shouldn't be given free reign. Cheers, Geo
My understanding is that Australia has 100% tax on exotic cars. combined with the hoon laws and punitive fines, I would be tempted to buy a boat or a plane. Best
LOL I would definitely NOT move TO Australia because of the above AND they drive on the wrong side of the road.
Yup. Or drive a bit over an hour outside the city in various directions and enjoy empty roads with a good surface and lots of curves there... as we did last time in Fujeirah. In my first couple of years in Dubai, I picked up 10+ tickets per year and even suffered a couple of impoundings. In 2013, I had only a couple, mostly because on the heavily supervised highways, I drive everything on cruise control and I was lucky enough that they didn't catch me a lot on one of the connecting roads in between. Cruise control is utterly boring yet works. The limit is 100 km/h but allows for 20 km/h leniency. However, this means that being flashed at 121 km/h results in a fine of 20 - 30 km/h over. Hence my cruise control is set at 120 km/h exactly...
