Interesting Article...

Oh dear me. This could get interesting...

 

Pretty serious charges (of substituting ringers for auto press test cars) if it can be proven true -

 

Wow. I knew they were tough, but no idea it is as bad as the writer states. Surprised I hadn't heard some of this before.

 

Did anyone else find themselves reading that in a British accent?

 

While Mr Harris burns his bridges with Ferrari I doubt it will hurt his standing with Porsche. In fact the next time he steals off again to the Nurburgring (against their expressed wishes) with the latest GT3 they will still be buying rounds for him upon his safe return Stuttgart...
CH

 

I have to admit this is not surprising at all. Ferrari has a long and "proud" history of trying to win at any cost that dates back to the old man. When Enzo was alive, if he couldn't win the race, he would try and fix it, cancel it, etc. I think the "new" ferrari is just concerned about losing the tradition


As a Ferrari owner and hard core lifelong tifosi, I'll take yet another opportunity to tip my hat off to Porsche. They build exceptional and unapologetic sports cars that do quite well on the track without any of the ancillary nonsense that seems to follow Ferrari around like a good case of herpes.

 

I think it's good he spoke out. I wonder if other manufacturers do similar things or is it just Ferrari.

 

Interesting article. I wonder what is going on in Maranello now that the 12C has been proclaimed by the press as clearly faster than the 458.



I also like the footnote on this article LOL:
"Chris Harris is a UK-based freelance car writer who once bought a 1995 512 TR but sold it when his mates called him Tubbs and put Jan Hammer on his iPod."

 

IIRC, there were rumors like this about the GTR -

 

There is a long history of manufactures delivering " improved " cars and cycles for road tests. Brock Yates covered this in a book years ago. I also read a road test of a "stock" Triumph T120 mc that was faster than my record holding T120 land speed racer which was far from stock.

 

I am really surprised anyone is surprised.


Its is a time honored tradition. There is more cheating in press cars than there is in NASCAR.


I know some guys that drove the endurance record 550. They said it was obviously not stock.


Bob Wallace has told some good stories about the Lamborghini press ringers. He said the press Countach had at least 50 more HP.


There are stories going back to the old days of the economy runs and hidden fuel tanks.

Ryan Falconer last year at Bonneville told stories about cars that the manufacturers used to bring there for record runs in the 60's and the officials gave the teams enough private time before the runs to get all the hot rod parts installed.


Car manufacturers taught racers how to cheat......not the other way around.

 

It doesn't surprise me at all. If you read CH's previous reviews COTY comparsions you read between the lines and see what he meant.

For eg.- he commented that Ferrari wouldn't let CAR mag. have both the F458 and the GTO for COTY test. etc.

 

OMG! That was written by Evo mags Chris Harris! Ferrari don't need that kind of write up from some one like him. Here in the UK he has quite a following.
It is shameful what ferrari do when the cars are being tested. I knew they did such things for years now. And now its here in black and white on the biggest Ferrari forum in the world and written by a well respected journalist. LOL!! Mclarean must be rolling on the floor

 

Interesting what Ezra Dyer said when he chimed in, it seems to contradict Harris' accusations.

And why does Harris single out Ferrari when we all know other car manufacturers hand out ringers to the press?

 

Yeah, I also don't get why anyone is surprised by this. Ferrari, Lambo, Maserati and many others (probably all of them) had special 'test mules'. Heck, the F40 even had blueprinted engines for particularly 'special' customers.

The only part of this Ferrari testing mess that strikes me as a particular PIA would be their constant neck-breathing and cock-blockery in testing the car how one wanted ie, "this car is for this, and this other identical car is for doing this". I mean, the car either is or it isn't, so what's with them slamming their own engineers.

 

That is absolutely true. I thought the article was pretty good, actually.

 

Anyone watch (HATE) Italian soccer?

Same sort of B.S.

Chris makes some very good points. If anyone in the automotive world were to try and indict Ferrari with any sort of effect, it might as well be him. I have no reason to doubt him, and I wonder if Ferrari will respond.

That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if any automaker did what he says Ferrari did. It does make it worse that they are the world leading brand, though...

Hmm. Rants rarely effect their original amount of desired change.

 

There's one thing about cheating. You can only cheat SO MUCH. After a point, it becomes obvious to everyone you're cheating -- and then it all falls apart.

I believe everyone in the auto world cheats. Some may be more obvious than others but to say that Ferrari is alone here is just naive.

I'm not saying cheating is good or proper. I'm not saying it's excuseable. But, in the real world it happens all the time. Ferrari is not immune.

What cannot be cheated though is what the press really is useful for -- how the cars work. We are much more interested in how the cars work, ride, drive, and are to be in than any numbers on a page. It's the IMPRESSIONS the press give us that's important. That's why we rely on their opinions, and then agree or disagree with them.

It's the driving impressions that matter, not the data test results. You can't cheat how a car looks or feels. You can't cheat it's spirit.

 

Yep especially after Porsche bought a couple and had their drivers (people like Stuck and Smitz) that could get 10/10ths out of a car on the ring with there eyes closed and were not able to get anywhere near the times Nissan and there drivers got out of the "stock" GTR.

I still say just based on the numbers the GTR could not turn the times it did on the ring.



Now back to the article,this has been known to go on for a long time. Wonder why the normal Stig's never thrown a Ferrari factory test car around the Top Gear track? Rumor has it Ferrari sends an entire team up there when they want to put one on the show, the cars that Ferrari doesn't want them to test (Enzo) they've had to borrow from Nick Mason. Think about it Ferrari's pinnacle of technology the FXX was tested by the best driver they had on payroll (Schumacher), heard the 599GTO and 458 was driven in anger by Ferrari test drivers as well.

Now who's going to get a race car driver to take there car's out to the same track as the magazines and see if they got taken by false advertising?

 

The press is complicit with this whole shenaigans. IF the press wants to get rid of the shenanigans, then ::

A) dyno every car on the same dyno that your magazine owns and operates
B) borrow one car from the factory and one from an owner or two from different owners
C) print the results

But, overall, the press does NOT want to end the shenaigans!

 

I cannot see Napolis' post on that article in "comments"....can anyone see it??

 

Thanks...!!!

While not surprising they would send their "best" example, IMO he is right, we all don't get two cars, one for drags and one for twisties.

Unless we buy two, of course....