Great write up. I hope someone will host your video, especially the high quality one. I love the sound of the 360CS and cant wait to hear/see your video.
Awesome - I'm curious, how did your changed wheels affect your car's feel? I'm sure the brakes have been an immense help. --Dan
How did you feel the new 19" wheels affected the car? Great pictures, by the way. Sounds like you had an awesome day! --Dan
Headed off from Zürich with great anticipation to Magny Cours late on Sunday afternoon. After 520km, 420km in heavy rain, arrived at the hotel...knackered! Got to the track at 09:00. Ready to go, instructor (Formula 3000 racer) and cars: F550 (me), 360CS, F550, 456MGT (ex-Schumi family car). Damp conditions but with morning sunshine drying the track off nicely. ASR off, out onto the tarmac for some 550 sliding and learning the lines. I had one thing on my mind....were the new 380mm brakes (http://www.movit.de/rahmen/ferrari.htm) better than stock? Well, they are...substantially so. I was braking 20-40 meters later than the other 550 and the feel was perfect, especially when damp. We continued until lunch when we were joined by a F575M, 996TT and Audi RS4. Out on to the F1 circuit, scary fast track. Topping out the 550 in 5th gear heading for the 180 degree right hander was such a rush. The other high speed sections were not for the faint hearted and the instructor went to great lengths to ensure that we learned the lines before the pace increased. All in all, an impressive track but one that deserves the utmost respect. Check it out at http://www.magnyf1.com/tf1magny/site/english/index.asp. Enough about my car/day and on to the 360CS. I rode shotgun for 5 laps with its owner and...this car was made for a track. It's steering is instant, drifting it out of 2nd gear corners looked cool but the car was laughing at such crude cornering antics. Keep it smooth and you're rewarded with sublime balance, rock solid composure and mid-corner poise that is pure race car. On the twisty club track the instructor was 4 seconds a lap faster in the 360CS than in my 550! The noise inside the Stradale is spine tingling, especially as the corners are rapidly approaching and you're switching from full throttle, onto the eye-popping brakes and then pulling the left lever with perfectly matched throttle blips! Getting back in to the 550 felt like driving in slow motion. Everything happens so quickly in the 360CS. One thing to note, this car needs a controlled right foot when the pace hots up. It does not forgive uncommitted driving but puts a smile, wider than the grand canyon, on your face when you're 'in the groove'! Some pics are here: http://www.tiscalinet.ch/brian/MagnyCours2003/ I'm not being mean but I have a 5 minute video inside, outside and following the 360CS in my 550 but have no space to upload the 8MB file. Once I make some space I'll upload it. I also have a 21Mb higher quality version that I can place somewhere that'll let me. Any suggestions? -- Brian
Brian, Glad to see you got a ride in a 360CS, I'm sure words can't explain everything you felt and saw inside that amazing car. Were you able to drive it around the track at all? Was it what you expected from the 360CS? I noticed that you said that you changed your brakes on your 550 to 380mm Move-it brakes. I was curious as to what made you decide to change them? Other then the obivous, that the 550 is very hard to slow down at those high speeds, with its weight and all. Also, how come you went with Move-it instead of Brembo, are they a better caliper manufacturer? It would be really cool if you could somehow get that video online, so that the people on the other side of the pond could check out the 360CS in action. You could ask Rob Ferretti, who is a member of FChat, on what websites to host the video. He has one that he is working on, which was up on the web the other day. Good luck Brian! Have a good day!! ~ Mike P.
Managed to have the medium quality video hosted (for a limited time): http://www.abbey.ch/video/MagnyCours2003_Web.mov Well worth the 10MB download...I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed shooting it!! -- Mike: I went for the MovIt brakes for the Maranello on the advice of many others. These brakes are fantastic! In another thread I go into the reasons for changing to to summarize, the OEM brakes faded after 5+ laps. Dan: The 19" rims felt a little more direct on the track. I could not discern a difference in turn in rate but the 305 P-Zero tyres offer tremendous grip and are soooo predictable (see last few seconds of the video!). -- Brian
Brian: I was not thinking about changing the rims at all, but I think you've convinced me. Let's hope FNA isn't charging $3k/rim for them! Downloaded the video...that 360CS sounds hot! Looks like you were havign too much fun! What exhaust is on your 550? Doesn't sound like stock or CG. --Dan
Dan, I've attached a profile picture of the 550 with the new rims/brakes. Good luck on your next purchase! My 550 has a TubiStyle exhaust. -- Brian
Brian, do the movit brakes require 19in wheels or will they fit on the 18in factory wheels? What tyres are you running on the 19in wheels?
550syd, I believe that the factory 18" rims are OK for the MovIt brakes. You can have this confirmed by MoviT by emailing them: mail@movit.de. Tyre-wise I'm running Pirelli P-Zero 305 rear and 255 fronts. Excellent tyres with plenty of predictable grip.
Still thinking about the Moivt brake but still find it very expensive, running for about US$7,000 for the front. WOndering how it is holding up and did you change the rear brake as well?
Hi Yimn, The brakes are holding up well. For street-only 'normal' driving the stock brakes are excellent. When the going gets 'hotter' then the fadelessness (is that a word?) is a welcome bonus and allows the fun to continue. For my car, and my usage, it was money well spent. By the way, I only did the fronts and my dealer colour-matched the rear calipers...as a gift! Hope this helps, Brian
