Top Gear 918 vs. La Ferrari vs. P1

The solution is simple:

All we need is to find a LaF owner in his late 70s or 80s, who doesn't give a crap about Ferrari not letting him buy any more limited edition cars, and go test all 3 cars!

 

Actually, if I were any Laferrari owner, I wouldn't care what the company said. My reasoning is that if I already own "THE Ferrari", which implies the absolute best that the company will ever produce, then any future model will be a let down anyway, so why buy anymore? Just sayin...

 

I remember the journalist launch of the 360 CS in Maranello.
A friend who worked at the factory as an instructor on their Pilota programme (ex F1 driver by the way) said that the test 360 CS was "rather different" to the final road car...
Asked why, I was told and then SHOWN:

- it had a revised rear muffler (not on the road car)
- no catalysts
- revised ECU's which were from a Challenge car (which made a huge difference to way the car responded I realised after buying them myself!)
- and suspension geometry that never found it's way onto any road car (primarily to prevent the car being too sharp for the US market).

Let me tell you, Ferrari absolutely use to play around with the cars lent to journos and magazines in the past. I can't tell you if they do now.

You would be wise to be less of a fanboy and be objective. I've owned quite a few Ferrari's now (still have one) and was a diehard fan in the past but I've realised that no manufacturer (except perhaps Bugatti and not even them) is above this type of manipulation.....

 

There is no hope for RealZeus. To him, Ferrari is the alter at which he worships and the company cannot do wrong. I learned many years ago, there are those who look but cannot see, hear but do not listen. Whatever gets you through the night.

 

From all accounts, Ferrari continues their unethical practices to this day. A leopard does not change its spots.

 

All companies can do wrong. Recent record has shown that customer Ferraris perform as highly as press cars. You can argue against the reality all day long though...

 

Exactly, can & will as the examples from McLaren & Pagani that I had cited earlier in the thread illustrate. Also, it is rather simple-minded and not really original to continue to cite a 4-year old rant from 'brother' Harris.

Last year Ferrari had caused a 'storm in a tea-cup' (that kind of mirrors what was seen with the '3 stooges' at TG) when they refused the Autocar magazine to publish lap times of a comparison test between a 458S & the 650S, only to allow the same later on during the year-end best driver's car test.

The background reporting from the journalists was revealing:

"And for anyone who still suspects Maranello’s boys are employing dodgy tactics to secure favourable publicity, consider this. Shortly after we figured Ferrari’s own Speciale for our road test, we figured another. The car was supplied by a reader. (...) But, despite being in less-than-perfect running order, the second Speciale replicated the performance of the first on maximum in-gear acceleration on every 20mph increment between 30- and 90mph in fourth gear to within a tenth of a second.

So there you have it. Ferrari isn’t afraid of track comparisons. Ferrari doesn’t supply bent press cars. And Ferrari certainly doesn’t need to send the cavalry along when we test their new models in future – because even when they don’t, we end up with near-enough identical results. End of."

Ferrari 458 Speciale versus McLaren 650S: what really happened | Autocar

 

let's agree that Ferrari "does not cheat". That all the various independent stories are lies made up by unscrupulous car journalists. Then why won't they allow the customers to lend the car they own to Top Gear? Why threaten them?
I can't think of a single car company that does this.

Occam's Razor.

 

Cause they are control freaks and want to ensure that the car is in perfect consition (brand new tyres, right pressures, properly broken in brakes etc etc). Read what s-mario wrote just above of your post.

 

Did you read the post above yours? Educate yourself.

 

After giving it some thought, I can't imagine there would be an overall benefit for any manufacturer in sending a specially tuned non representative car for one of the magazine tests. Sure they would get bragging rights in "winning" (whatever that means), but there would be a much larger downside - the potential purchasers of the vehicles losing faith in the company.

If I buy car x over car y because it was faster according to a magazine track test and I take it down to my club track and find it is actually slower than car y, I'm calling the dealer and demanding they fix it for free so it goes as fast as advertised.

If they refuse, I get really mad, tell my car club buddies what had happened, and word gets out that the manufacturer is playing games with the car. Some of those guys are potential purchasers of car x (not just casual magazine readers that would never buy such a car, only read it for entertainment) so it would really negatively impact the core group that the manufacturer is trying to sell to. This could not only affect car x sales, but sales of that manufacturer's other models.

I therefore believe that the manufacturers are generally trying to be cautious and make sure any test has a car in proper working order to get the best performance available. Maybe I am naive, but this makes the most sense to me.

 

Some articles are less famous than others

 

Allowing customer cars to be representative of their brand would leave them open to sabotage, as simple as that. Imagine how much money would ron dennis pay to organise a test run by any of his british arselicking magazines with a "less than taken care of" customer Ferrari. Top Gear TV especially would be the first to cheat, if they could, to favour McLaren.
FGS clarkson has a bet on it and said WE, british, are gonna win!

 

Then you would be the guy at the track who would waste a track day, miss out on all the fun, stand on the sidelines with your hands in your pockets, because of the fear that you might not be the fastest one around it....you would get in and drive very carefully, very slowly, to some fancy boulevard to get noticed and feel good about yourself.

And that's sad.

 

The only problem with this is, that Ferrari has been caught in the past for ringing their cars. Chris Harris exposed them...they actually go as far as providing two cars, one for the drag races and one for the turns...wtf is up with that? And now Jeremy said that Ferrari will only do it if the car is from factory. Hmmmm.....McLaren is probably hip to this and that's why they want a customers car, something that, you know, Ferrari actually sold already and can't tamper with.

 

They are tools, and that their aura and mystique is manufactured by ball busting and arm wringing of the automotive media. This is why Jay Leno doesn't own a single one, even though he's an Italian American. You would think he would show the most prestigious brand in the world some love considering he has millions of dollars of automotive inventory...but nope.

 

Dude, nobody is saying that Ferrari puts hidden turbochargers in the engine to cheat...but they do little knick knacks and set the car up specifically for that day, that test, that track. Do you, as a customer, have a team of technicians from Maranello driving behind you in a bus, optimizing your cars suspension geometry for specific tracks? I didn't think so.

Chris Harris has stated, that Ferrari had the balls to actually show up with two cars of the same model, on the same day for two different tests....one was set up for 0-60 and 1/4 mile times, and the other for a lap around the track. It's one thing to make sure the tire pressure, oil, etc is right, and that's why you have your techs looking over things...but it's something else entirely when you have two different set ups of the same exact car for two different tests and then have them tinker with it when the numbers that the test achieved isn't to your liking.

C'mon, man..take your rosso corsa colored blinders off.

 

@Zetteoh6: Did you even try to read what s-mario quoted or where you too distracted by the unfounded and unsubstantiated malarkey that a certain clown vomited 2 years go?

 

Chris Harris did a great job exposing Ferrari's practices in the past, but there is no evidence that they have continued doing the same shenanigans. Quite the reverse in fact, the 458 and the F12 have performed exactly the same way in magazine tests as they have done for owners.

 

I'm so sorry RZ. It's not my intention to offend but you're such a Ferrari zealot, that I sincerely doubt you've had much real world driving, ownership or interaction with the brand and it products. I'm not trying to denigrate you. But the flag-waving smacks of rose-tinted, enthusiastic naivety mate.
No problem there per se, as I was the same before I started driving, playing, owning, maintaining, servicing, buying and selling their cars.

Furthermore, I've had a LOT of their cars. They almost NEVER performed like the press cars or even made as much power as quoted (notable exception was the F40).
Unlike my Porsches which always made MORE power than Porsche quoted.

And let me tell you, my experience of Ferrari has been the typical experience.

I'm sorry once more pal. But you clearly have little to no experience with the company and the cars and I've come to that view having read many of your posts across many different threads.

All the best.

MB.

 

1964 Pontiac Tempest GTO Road Test ? Review ? Car and Driver

 

Murcielago_Boy, you assumed incorrectly but no worries mate.

Cheers.

 

Are you sure about that?
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Photographed with one doesn't means he owns one.

If that's the case, I could claimed be with a bunch of A list actresses.

 

Who cares if Jay Leno owns any Ferrari...

I am more interested to know does guy like Chris Harris own a Ferrari (true petrol-head and very passionate driver) and what he thinks about particular CAR, not the damn COMPANY.

Jay Leno is nice guy, but in my book he is classic car collector, not the guy that is chasing true car experience and exhilaration in driving and that is what matters when we talk about Ferrari cars.