Have you driven a car better than the F355?

Blimey what a speech over something "ok"

You boys are the best!

I adore the 355...gives everything I could ever ask...

 

Keep calm
Life's far too short to get all hot under the collar

I'm off to polish those rubber capped dome nuts that hold the undertray on my 355
They're the best nuts I've ever seen....rubber capped I tell you...to keep the bolt from rusting....sooooo Italian
Bet your bmw thingy hasn't got those on its bottom

 

Good man, James
The F355 is not about life and death...it's much, much more important than that

Whilst you're down that low have a look at the rubber tipped dome nuts that secure the undertray to the frame....things of beauty I tell you...

It's all in the detail...
And blimey the F355 has soooooo much detail...
Examine those exhaust hangers...they're made up of 57 individual parts I tell you
Now have a look at a German hanger...soooomundane

God I love It aly

Any of you boys actually visited Venice?

 

I dropped a crankshaft from a 360 into a 308 block and bored the liners to 83mm, custom designed high compression Pistons, larger intake valves, significant head porting, custom cams, rejetted carbs with larger throats. The engine appeared completely stock, but blew the doors off a 355 and the carburetors with that level of power sounded like the second coming. It was an absolutely epic car and I'm sort of sad I sold her. She made 273bhp at the wheels and 226lbs torque and weighed 300lbs+ less than any 355. That's about 330bhp at the crank with most of the torque coming in by 3000-3500rpm whereas a 355 does nothing until 4500rpn. I sold my 355 as it just didn't do it for me the same way, not nearly.

 

A good 355 will put 325 top the wheels, so not sure how your car could blow the doors of one even with 300lbs less - it'd still be 20-30hp down power/weight wise.

 

I think were all just NUTS !!!!

With a touch of interbreeding

 

Regardless it's an infinitely more fun car (to me). I've only seen a couple freshly rebuilt 355s break 320 at the wheels. Most don't break 290-300.

 

Schweet.

 

The most amazing car I ever drove and probably ever will drive was an Enzo. I was generously allowed to drive a local collector's car (the TaxDr) on two occasions. His car was equipped with custom straight/high flow exhaust. In fact the first day I drove that (and a 599GTB he had at the time) was the day I came home and the decision was made to finally pull the trigger and sell the 911 for a Ferrari. I needed to finally experience ownership of the pinnacle brand of the car world

It was an amazing experience- I was expected to open it up on the highway on a certain open straight and I obliged...full throttle in 3rd gear with a full throttle shift from 3rd to 4th, probably 1K shy of redline (but throttle was buried) and I thought I dropped the transmission- the speed of the F1 shift at full throttle and the sheer power of the car (probably closer to 700HP with the custom exhaust) was so brutal. I could write a couple more paragraphs about the experience of driving that car (aircraft style strap in seatbelt, WIDE and LOW car, convex mirrors on the fenders, gullwing doors, the way his garage and house shook when I did a cold start of the car with that exhaust to back it out of the garage...) but I won't bore you I think even after I go senile I'll remember that day... Some people thought I was nuts to drive a car worth more than my house, but when else would I ever get that chance again.

Of course the 355 and my former 360 still gets the excitement going, but the adrenaline rush of driving that Enzo was insane...the power, car, looks, fear of bottoming out, realizing the 7 figure value of the car, people taking cell movies everywhere- the whole experience was crazy!

 

Frankenstein

Enzo is not amused

 

Wow

Pain in the xxxx to get in and out of though

 

Better tell that to pretty much every classic Ferrari racing car owner running their car then. Almost none of those are running factory ie. 'stock or 100% original' internals. Cranks, rods, pistons, cams, valves, almost everything on those things are non stock. The point is to keep it unaltered under the hood resulting in a concourse appearance. I even saw a Daytona competizione running a couple MSD boxes! The horror. To each his own

 

Great stuff

As long as the chassis, suspension and brakes easily handle the power increase then hats off

 

I'm sure there's some type of medication available that will help.BTW, are those officially licensed ferarri socks ? lol

 

That is what I found too. It seems you have a bunch of cars at 290 and a few at 320 on the same style dyno. I was wondering why. Exhaust differences? Timing off? Any ideas? I was told there was a challenge car that started at 290 and after a 1/2 day of tweaking it got up to 320. Not sure what they did - or even what they could have done

 

Can I get a AMEN? would I trade my 355 for a 430? yes then I would sell the 430 buy my 355 back and put some $ in my pocket. What I mean is the 355 meets all my Ferrari needs and I dont get anymore excited by a 430 than I do my 355. Sure the Enzo is my favorite but I doubt it would be any more fun goofing off around town, night drives and car shows than my 355 spider so Im really satisfied with this car. Just something about my gated 355 that makes me go wow times 10 when Im downtown at night and that scream its bouncing off buildings...when I become president Im using executive action to put into law all roads must be a tunnel or covered

 

You buried the throttle on a Enzo and did a 9g pull? You sir are a god. I want your right foot on my mantle. How much?

 

Ha! Actually it was more like the car was up to slightly over 7K vs. the car's 8K redline- I was short of the redline because of the massive acceleration, but still kept my foot to the floor board during the 3 to 4 upshift. It happened so quickly- I only know I didn't hit redline because 3 or 4 of the 5 red LEDs on the top of the steering wheel came on- I was watching the road mostly

 

Andrew, that's a great story well told. You truly have the passion for Ferrari. Never even been in an Enzo, but I'd love to since it may be the last non-Prius Ferrari Supercar (I have less than zero interest in hybrid sports cars or exotics).

I kinda understand what you were feeling at the time. The first Ferrari I ever drove was a 288GTO, way back when. It was my dream car at the time and to my eye still the prettiest V8 car they ever built. I've had the pleasure of driving two more since then, all on race tracks, so I can say I've driven over 1% of the 288GTOs ever built.

Thanks for sharing the story. Great stuff.

 

IMHO a C4S is the ultimate affordable (both purchase and maintenance) daily driver that combines performance and class. I think you will be very happy and totally agree on the three-pedal need. That is main reason I got rid of the 360 for the Porsche - had the 360 been a three-pedal car I would probably still have it.

Good luck with the search - I will keep my eyes/ears open around the Porsche community here and if anything of interest pops up will PM you.

Cheers

 

Thanks much! In fact I drove it all weekend and have it at work today - enjoying these flawless fall Colorado days while I can The car is doing awesome - major done in April - all smooth - replaced worn factory muffler with Capristo - sounds amazing. Just turned 43K and going strong

I see Bob at some events - Great guy!

Cheers and hope to see you at the Toy Run!

 

Modern Porsche clutches can be a pain in the arse IMO. My 2005 997 C2 was awful - take up point way to high and then a dip when starting off - really had to feather it. My current 2005 996 C4S is perfect which makes no sense since technically the 997s were better cars. I would drive a few and see - my experience is they vary. Another note - don't know your budget but the 991s are vastly better cars than the 996s/997s. I drive a 991 C4S and damn near sold a body part to get it! Figured I should be smart and stick with what I have but they are amazing and given Porsche depreciation an early 991 is not that far off an 08 - just something to consider.

Cheers and good luch with the search