If Only They Made Stradale's In Stick...

that looks identical to the stradale wwoc had several months ago but sold recently. i cannot remember if it had the alcantara top dash portion or if it was leather. otherwise it is the same exact car.

 

geez this is your car. it has your name all over it.

As from a recent thread you mentioned a Nart on an open transporter. You need this car!

 

I've definitely seen that before. Either here on Fchat or elsewhere.

My personal favorite blue is TDF.

 

I hate crema leather though.

 

very popular in England for some reason. I almost see more crema than tan.

 

Yes its too popular . It looks so cheap/plastic like.

 

Vik,
That was exactly how I felt before considering a Stradale myself. I had my 6-speed manual 996 C2 and had a blast on the track and on the street. The high you get while "rowing" through the 6 speeds was awesome and I thought to myself, who would ever buy a ferrari and bypass the 6-speed gated shifter??? That is until I started to do left foot braking during track days and autoX. During high performance driving, no matter how good you are(manual 6 speed), there is a time lapse/transition between getting off the gas and onto the brakes, down-shifting/heel-toe and then another transition between getting off the brakes and onto the gas again to exit the turn. This is made more complex if you had to go 6 to 3 or 6 to 2. Yes, this is the challenge of the 6-speed. But you will be amazed what you can do with a CS paddle shifter to resolve this type of transitional issue. For example, i am able to approach a corner gradually getting off the gas from 100%-10% while gradually engaging the brakes with my left foot from 0%-80%, downshift X times and gradually continue on the gas from 10%-100% while i release the brakes with my left foot gradually from 80%-0%, all the while, my foot is always on the gas and i never lift(we all know what happens if you lift mid corner, don't we?). If i do it correctly, you can't even feel whether i am on or off the gas, on or off the brakes. The transition is so smooth i can take turns a lot faster, brake later, trail brake and get on the gas sooner. The balance of the car is taken to a new level with this left foot braking technique and it is something that is not possible with a 6 speed manual with clutch unless you have 3 legs and feet.

This is coming from a guy who has driven a stick shift all his life, swears by it until... he catches a ride in a "paddle-shifted" racecar driven by a real racing driver and realizes what the rest of the world is missing out.

F

 

Ghost: I respect you very much for staying true to manual cars. Most people do not, and even when they say they are going to they end up opting for the paddle shift when it comes time to choose (from my experience with the M3 community). It is true that the paddle shift cars do in fact shift a lot faster than anybody can in a manual, but the feeling of having a clutch and being in total control makes it all worth it in my opinion. If you are just going to drive the car for fun and not be a hardcore racer than I dont see why you wouldn't want a manual.

 

.......cause chicks need to drive F cars as well.

 

zing!

 

I don't love F1 but for a Stradale.....anything. Beautiful color, I kind of like the crema, it's unique

 

I think I might have an intelegent answer/ theory. When GM built a fixed roof top vette back in 2000/01 (not sure) they werent selling. customers wanted targas. So to increase the sales, they brought back the ZO6 option. It was only availavable in the hart top vettes. Maybe, just maybe cause of slow sales/ lack of interest in the F1 trans, Ferrari came up with the Stradale option.

 

Maybe you can retrofit the manual into the CS? Enough time and money fixes pretty much anything

 

EXCELLENT post. But I don't think he has any intention of using the car in that manner.

 

The paddles definitely drive the car better than I could with a 6 speed. The computer is a better driver than I am! But I have to agree with Vik, there would be something satisfying about clicking through the gears, even if it was slower. You're somehow less removed from the car. If I had a vintage car with a manual, I would be happy having paddles in a modern car. But if I only had one fun car, I would have to think long and hard about getting F1

 

Beautiful car. Shame about the tranny.

That being said, as was previously mentioned, you could always stuff a proper tranny into it from another 360. There's certainly no shortage of crashed ones to steal parts from.

 

something tells me ferrari is not hurting for sales to the extent as say, for instance, chevy would be.

i am assuming by looking at the history of the past 15 or so years that ferrari phases out a model by offering a limited, bit more serious series of that model. the tr had the 512m, the 550 went to 575 then 575 superamerica (not really a racer, but more so a limited edition), 348's to 348 speciale series, 355 to 355 fiorano. the only model excluded is naturally the 2+2 "big" ferrari of their respective time.

the stradale was simply meant to be the most serious of the 360 series and the most technologically advanced; specifically for racing. f1 tranny is essentially a requirement for racing. no man can replicate the speed in shifting. it was not meant to boost sales, but more so to be the most techonologically advanced 360 built for racing, more specifically, than a "run-of-the-mill" 360.

 

yes can go faster on track with paddles and that is fun in and of itself but also has big risk. left foot braking at higher speeds means more danger of injury in crash. can get almost as much fun at lower speeds with satisfaction of matched heal toe manual downshift.

paddles is for when you need to win (race), clutch is for when you want to have fun (track day)

 

Paddles are also great for a daily driver. With my car, if you are just tooling around local roads at slower speeds, you almost forget you are in a Ferrari. The F430 is very comfortable, much more luxurious than, say, the 355, which in my opinion was the first Ferrari that even made some attempt at having a modern interior. So if you're just tooling around, it makes the car very easy to live with. For a weekend car, I think the 6 speed makes more sense. Again, I have the F1, and I love what it does. But a 6 speed would definitely be very cool.

 

Chances are that most folks looking at a stradale probably already have other sports cars in their garage that are manual 6 speeds. I for one, and many cs owners fall into that category(i still track my manual 996 C2 exclusively). If i only had 1 sports car, it probably be a 6 speed manual. My point is that potential CS owners should not rule out a cs because it is paddle shifted. Coming from driving/tracking manual sports cars all my life, i used to think that if i can drive a "stick shift" car well, i can drive any type of car well, including paddle or sequential trans cars. Not true. Since getting a cs, i have had to open my mind to a new set of driving skills that better complements the proper driving styles for a paddle/sequential shifted car. I am still perfecting my heel/toe techniques in my manual cars, but for my paddle shifted cs, I had to learn proper left foot braking techniques, simultaneous/seamless gas/brake/gas transitions during downshifting, and other techniques that are only applicable to paddle/sequential shifted cars, etc... The driving, learning and satisfaction never ends. So, if you are already comfortable with a manual, the paddle shifters can open a new dimension and take your driving skills/satisfaction to another level. My next car? ideally a 996/997 GT3 Cup RSR with sequential transmission.

 

Get it Frank! The Cup cars are beasts!

 

Car is absolutely gorgeous, i would love one! But im about to go for a Gallardo i think still.... How is Egear opposed to Ferrari's F1? I always felt the F1 was slow, havent driven an egear yet but several guys i know had 6speed gallardo's and said the egear was more fun?!?

Check this one out!

http://www.premiercars.com/Inventory/255/ferrari-p3008#