296GTB versus F8 Corsa Pilota

I don't know what the marketing department has in mind

 

understand - at least they now know what good is i.e. STO

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they take a long time to understand

 

That was a marketing failure - Ferrari was still selling the F8 when unveiling the 296, so they had this idea of claiming the 296 was not a replacement. Saying at the same time that the F8 was not as good no matter the metric considered was not their smartest idea though... anyway everybody understands the 296 IS the replacement for the F8.

 

Ferrari positioned the 296 as the fast AND fun one, the SF90 as the more fast at the sake of fun one, and the F8 as the neither fast nor fun one. I agree it was a crazy graph.

 

The full set of slides for this part of the PDF is:
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The 296's engine, despite being turbocharged, has a construction with much more potential to bring nice sound notes than the previous V8 TT.
Therefore, a model with a slightly improved 296 engine, with compact dimensions, lighter and simpler without hybridization, looks quite interesting.
Can you say a little more? Anything you can say at this point about the project and the design?

 

No, sorry !

 

No problem. I understand.

 

Yes, I have the F8s and demo’d the AF 296 yesterday. Both are brilliant, you can feel the slightly smaller wheelbase of the 296, and Ferrari did a great job with the hot V6 and mid range power. I didn’t feel the acceleration felt ‘fake’ as some have reported.

Piped in engine sound is good. You can tell it’s not a V12, but it does sound better than the F8.

I’m seriously thinking of placing an order for the AF, with the knowledge it’ll be a long wait before I see one. That’s okay, I have other cats to keep me occupied.

 

Meow [emoji76]

I have not driven the 296 yet but a friends who just drove it and has had everything told me its more go-kart feeling than any of the 488/F8 variants. He said it’s more like a 458 and said he couldn’t really press on it due to conditions (cold) and it not being his car, but he said he was in love.


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The 296 is on a class of its own regarding performance - power and agility are really up compared to the previous cars. Feelings are subjective, but saying it's "more like a 458" while the 458 is incredibly slower, and the 488 / F8 are a lot closer (but still outperformed by some margin), lets me genuinely puzzled.

 

I think my friend is talking about the general feeling when driving the car, the power is a part of it, but the 458 is a much more "playful" car than the more "serious" 488. All subjective terms.

 

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but I'll take small and boring any day.

 

Joe what’s your take on Piloti as a program? I’ve got the dates for this year and I’m on the fence as the cost seems to have gone up 25%.

 

Just an FYI, most of the program is already full. I tried to get Evolutione since I did Sport last year and on the day the booking slots opened up which was 12/1, most slots were full already by 9am. If you're thinking of participating, act fast since they also have a limit on class sizes and must be equal males to females in each class.

 

I have gone through the program. It is fantastic. The driver education, training/testing, great coaches, and fun and classy environment were great. I wound up with enough enthusiasm after to run Challenge. And the people/drivers in Challenge are great fun, nice people. Ok, this was not a commercial. Just my personal reaction and experience.

 

Agree- you end up meeting a lot of great people and you all love Ferrari so you instantly have something in common. Lots of fun, highly recommended!


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I asked today about the Piloti program for Utah which IIRC is in September. Dealer sent an inquiry.

Got an hour in today with the dealer demo. Finally figured out that damn thumbpad on the right of the wheel. Couldn't figure out how to silence the lane change warning and speed warning. Also got to use E drive and Qualifying Mode settings for full power.

• Got to push it a little. Coming from a fast and loud car already, it is perhaps not as intense, but that on-turbo whoooooosh is a hilarious kick. The tires could barely keep up, even with tires hot and in a straight line it was fishtailing up past 70+. My sons laughed. My wife screamed and kicked her legs in panic. Might have done about 8 freeway on/offramps.
  
• I love the wheelbase length and the tightness of the steering, even if it feels a little synthetic like a BMW. The car changes directions so quickly, even by sportscar standards.
  
• Driving for an hour with no music and just sounds, it confirmed my initial short drive impression that there are a lot of layers of mechanical and turbo sounds (spooling and wastegate) coming through the bulkhead. I could even hear the light scrape of the carbon brakes through the wheel well. One seat had a leather-rub squeak. In traffic I found that the RPM mid-range droned more than I expected. I willingly used E Drive to take a break.
  
• This one had the base paddles and it still had this bothersome reverberation on click - feels like the type of repetitive stress that is going to give me carpal in my hand, like my old Mac laptop's overly-poppy buttons
• Base seats still surprisingly hard, here's to hoping the comfort electric Daytonas have more padding
• The car had only 80 miles and the brakes were still very touchy. I found them a little tough to modulate, even after an hour the initial bite was harder than I want in traffic.
• Good cupholder. No armrest!
• People staring. Even more Dodge products revving and goading. Saw a few other guys in exotics staring.

 

Personally I thought the 296 was meh when I drove it. The interior was too busy with all the electronic stuff that I’m very skeptical will work well (Ferrari has never been great on that tech front).

The sound is good inside (better than the F8/488) however I thought the car was not great looking. It looks like the first gen Tesla roadster/Lotus to me? The front and side are ok but the rear/engine bay are aweful. Maybe I wasn’t as impressed with that speed/instant torque as I’ve driven a ton of EV and have a Taycan Turbo S as a daily. After my test drive of the 296 I thought the Taycan’s torque and acceleration were more impressive but that is the nature of EVs.
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Well the testimonials worked and I booked a Sport seat in Utah for 9/21-22.

 

I'm booked for Utah Evoluzione 9/23-24, maybe we'll run into each other on Friday evening 9/22. You will love it!

 

Sounds like a plan - I'll probably road trip it and stay a day or two with my in-laws North of SLC before driving home Sunday.

 

Danger, Will Robinson. It was the Corso Pilota late 2021 in Miami that sent me down this rabbit hole of tracking that I can’t seem to escape from. @Xrayv8 I can tell it’s not your first time to the rodeo, way to go! What do you track?

I’ve had an (estimated) 30 hours of instructed track time with Chin Racing and it’s been a great sequel to the Ferrari course. I’ve been to all the major tracks out east, and plan to expand my horizons in 2023.

And if it all works out, I’ll be retiring the 458 in lieu of a 458 Challenge Evo for a dedicated track machine.

 

I’ve always had taking race instruction in the back of my mind and it hit me with some recent life events and goal planning with my executive coach that, well, YOLO! I am going to look into the other nearby programs. I think Spring Mountain Raceway has Corvette, Radical and Porsche club series. My friend just got a Radical and a garage space there and I know three guys in a Boxster racing league.