is a 360 challenge a viable daily driver?

ok, well thats about where the value is here. the seller wants more, but i wont be paying it.
thanks for the tip on the tcu

 

i have a cs and whilst im no track junkie (ive driven it gently around the sepang f1 track in malaysia), i think the proverbial "grass is always greener" syndrome applies. ive spent good money trying to extract more performance from the cs, louder rawer cats, tubi ngt exhaust, ecu re-map etc. my latest project is to try n fit 430 challenge wheels complete with centrelock nuts and hubs (do i need the hub carriers or anything else for that matter ?) also thinking of stiffer shocks n even a gt rear wing. ..n there u are trying to soften a 360 challenge! at the end of the day im inclined to agree- probably makes more sense ultimately to use the track car for the track n the street car for the street. i think the cs is about as good a compromise as it gets tho.

 

I had a 2003 360 spyder and now have a 2004 CS
I personally find the CS much more comfortable to drive........

 

i have a 360ch and use it in tarmac rallies, when we drive in transport stages through cities and towns it is a very harsh car.....every bump feels like a landing on the sea of tranquility, having no ignition key makes it hard to leave unattended, its a bugga to fill up with the premier fuel sytem intakes, the racing seat makes it impossible to see out of the plexi glass side windows, and driving it without a helmet is madness with the roll cage just yonder of your scon.

in simple english..........marry a chiropractor, he/ she will be cracking your neck and back every night....and not for sexual pleasure, more so to alleviate the pain. My bum ends up hurting after sitting in the thing all day (and i do have a meaty bum).
stick to a CS, probably just as quick without the pain.

 

You softy. 360C drives like a boat compared to a formula car.

 

but you dont see too many F1 cars as daily drivers

 

well we are stalled on price. not by much, but enough that i dont currently want to hit the offer.

 

its not street legal is it?

 

yes it is. the only one in europe, and only one of 2 i know of in the world.

 

correct, one in Switzerland and one in Australia

 

well its all over.
the seller has started to back away on his price by adding another 10k, taking the extra wheels and other parts out of the price and making them extra, and just not making things easy.
besides that, i had dinner last week with a local exotic dealer and race sponsor, and the 4 time challenge champion of france, and both did their best to dissuade me from buying this car. they said that it would eat parts and that getting it track ready would end up taking more time and money than being there and would end up souring the whole experience. and that i was paying too much anyway, hearing the stories i alluded to above.

so, i have passed on this car. sorry to have disappointed all of you that have followed this saga for the last year, but sometimes its better to walk away. i did give it thorough reflection, research, and thought.

then i went out and bought a 360 cs today ! more on that in that section.

 

NICE! I LOL'd when I read that line as you were pretty nonchalant about it ("meh...so I bought a CS an hour ago"). I expected to read you were still looking for a 360C and then BAM out of nowhere you said you buy a CS. Enjoy it!

 

hi everybody,
i thought i might be a good idea to revisit this thread now that i have done the tracking season in the cs.
it was great fun, and for anybody on the fence i encourage you to take the plunge and do some circuits since it is a great way to improve your driving across the board, and a good time as well. even if you dont want to do it in a ferrari, there are actually many more economical and still fun cars to track.

so, the cs; i went to imola, and mugello, and did some longer road trips to monaco. it is a reasonably comfortable car despite being aimed at track days, and of course it is pretty good track car. but it does neither exceptionally well. as a road car, it is loud and hard riding, which for 30 minutes is incredibly exhilirating and thrilling, after 2 hours is a pain, after 4 hours a hardship, and after 6 hours, just agony. it sits pretty low, so you end up bottoming out and scraping many times. it is not subtle so no escaping anybody's attention - good and bad.
as a track car it is brilliant - until you start getting a little better and want more of everything. it is still more car than i can maximize for sure. but i can see how the scud is easier to drive quickly, and same for the 458. the brakes are not quite as good, the power is not as great, there are fewer driver aids, and the suspension is not hard enough.

so the compromise of track vs road, leaves the cs sort of 80% towards the middle of the two extremes, but still closer to the 'road' side than one of those models mentioned above, and certainly compared to a dedicated track car like a challenge.....

hence, i am starting to understand the raison d'etre of the 360 challenge gt that this thread was based on. that car is also a compromise between road and track, and yet it is likely about 40% towards the middle, and hugging the 'track' side of the spectrum. so as i remember it was much more difficult to live with on the road, and would likely yield better result on the circuits. that may not bother me anymore since i would not be driving it willingly on the road for too far anyway, and the few times i would be doing so would be for the express purpose of driving to a track.

so which is better to own for me?
frankly, if i had a bigger car budget, i would now go and buy the challenge gt for next season, and keep the cs to terrorize other drivers in tunnels. and if all turns well by dec 31st, then maybe thats what i will do.....

 

Good report.........the 360CS is getting long in tooth by now....but still fits the design intent, IMO...

I was at a Track when it was brand new and I think your comparison to the 360C is spot on...

 

i may have come off overly harsh on the cs in my last comments. that was not the intent. i was just comparing it to the gt for my purposes.
further to that i will say that in the ferrari track car world, the cs is the absolute best value for money that exists. bar none. you can take that car out and get within seconds of the scud, and the cost is 50-100k less. you can get within a few more seconds of the 458 and it costs 100-150k less. really there is just simply no contest in value for speed.
IF you are looking for a track car that is road legal, and you are not trying to be mario andretti but simply looking for some competitive fun in a ferrari, the cs is the answer.

the other reason why i would consider getting the gt, is to conserve the cs since i truly believe it will gain in value as time moves on.

 

Hi Ross,

Talking about price performance do consider a 360 GT (or N-GT), there are only a few made and if you consider this as an invest I think on the long run it would be much better than a CS. BTW on a track, a 360 GT is way faster than any other car you mentioned.
No modern Ferrari comes close to a GT, also the CS is much slower. But it is of course track only.

Ciao
Oscar

 

well a 'real' michelotto built 360gt is a whole other thing altogether. the car featured earlier in this thread is a challenge car that was converted to gt spec (sort of), but not the full blown original michelotto.

you are right though about that being a good investment. but the entry cost is a lot higher too.

 

Oscar,

Do you know how often a GT needs its engine rebuilt? How much should one budget for a year of track fun (lets say up to 10 track days.)?

We are considering a 430 Challenge but a 360 GT isnt out of the picture.

Thanks!

Andrew

 

Hi Andrew,
I have to check in my manual -I have the whole tech manual of Michelotti-, but if I remember right about 3k to 5k when fully raced....so not too bad. If you just use it for track days of course much longer. Actually the engine and gearbox are modified, but not extreme, on the other hand body parts are very expensive, so don't crash it too often.
I would go for a 360 GT, and that has nothing to do that I have one, but a very special car where only 17 or so are made off, and a fantastic race car. A modified challenge will never be a GT....
Ciao
Oscar

 

Thanks Oscar. I really like the 360 GT and it seems to be a much more special car than any of the challenge cars. Where have you taken yours ?

Andrew

 

they are very special cars indeed, a challenge car is more useable, it has its glitches but then what Ferrari doesn't have glitches

 

Hi Andrew,

Last December I bought mine in Londen, the previous owner is Financial Director of Ferrari, you might say the car is well maintained.....BTW it raced a lot but never crashed.

ciao
Oscar

 

Do you need a crew to operate it? Im trying to learn more about it. I see there are 3 for sale at the moment with a spread of +120k$.

What color is yours?

Andrew

 

Yes. If i remember correctly they were built by Michelotto from a Challenge car? Or from a road car shell?

 

here is another pic i found of what it looks like now
not sure i like the extra decals. and i am not sure i like the scud stripe that was applied. seems like it should have stradale stripe if anything.
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