It was a decision by Ferrari that most likely had to do with our Legal system and the sheer number of clutch replacements that would most likely have had to have been done for free because we 'cowboys' can't be trusted to control ourselves...
Just wait till corvette puts a SMG transmission on the zo6 with LC, then what is everyone going to do (minus the stradale guys). It's a lame move by Ferrari end of story.
i find it hard to believe that chey is going to introduce a launch control on the corvette. sure, i know, chevy is fully engaged on dropping every bit of it's f1 technology into road cars, but until then......
what on earth are you talking about? ZO6's are getting SMG's? And Launch Control? When it does i don't think ferrari owners are gonna lose any sleep.
No, it`s an intelligent move by Ferrari , and a lame reply by you. If you can`t understand simple things then keep your hands off the keyboard.
Ulmis. Obviously you can't 'understand' simple courtesy...! Ttgangsta is absolutely right; it IS a lame move by Ferrari. Perhaps you could explain just why it is that Ferrari's biggest market isn't justified in getting the 'complete' car? My friend in Monaco has LC in his 430...and loves it. He doesn't use it every day, but sometimes it enhances the ownership experience. I find it interesting that in the supposed 'Land of the Free', the federal government and legal system prohibit the citizens from enjoying many of the cars and road enviornments (eg:autobahn) that europeans take for granted. Lame decision by Ferrari.....and lame 'freedoms' that really don't exist in fact..... Enjoy your neutered F599.
Did ever crossed your mind that maybe Ferrari has a little bit of experience when it comes to selling sports cars to different markets with owners that have different habits ? Maybe that clucth and pressure plate in the car would last for 10 (15 ? whatever) full bore starts before needs to be replaced, and your average US based Joe adrenaline junkie will make that number in 2 or 3 days of happyness, and then he`ll have the guts to go to F car service and say : The transmission is fkcued, I wan`t it to be replace under warranty ! And then you start to put questions : how much does a two-plate clutch costs ? How many Ferrari`s are sold in the US of A on a year ? You make a little calculation and you`ll see that it`s not that cheaper, so it`s more INTELLIGENT not to provide the cars with that sistem, and in that way you get rid of a big problem Again : it`s not lame , it`s WISE
...Ulmis, thank you for your eloquent clarification. I get it now: US drivers are gorillas with no sense of mechanical sympathy. It makes perfect sense for Ferrari to only sell us dumbed down versions of their cars....you know, so the typically incompetent American driver can't do toooo much damage. Thanks for clearing this up for all of us.
If you would read more carefull you will see that the reply wasn`t about american`s driver skills or their incompetence. If I would have an F430 or 599 with LC , most certainly that I would change the clutch once every 2 or 3 months, but I would do it with my own money, even if the car is under warranty.
Ferrari USA should have the option to fit the LC, but make it known that all clutch warranty claims will be void with these optioned LC USA cars from new. They may have some of the innocent parties that will claim they didnt use LC and the clutch failed because it was faulty. TOO BAD!! You signed the paperwork, no warranty clutch for you sir with LC.
1. The US remains the most litigious country in the world. Auto manufactures regularly get sued when safety systems work correctly saving the life of the driver but who sustain eye and lung irritation from the talcum power which ensures that airbag unfolds and inflates correctly. Recall that many manufacturers, BMW for one, speed limit their cars in the US for reasons including insurance costs and litigation risks. 2. US drivers ARE gorillas. Just look at used 12 cylinder Ferrari (TR, 550, 575, etc) in the US and youll understand that many buyers trash the cars. Im not talking about the car nuts on FerrariChat, but the typical ugly American buyer who trashed his last five leased Corvettes and wants to trade-up since the vette doesnt attract enough attention outside the bars on Friday night. 3. I have no doubt that Launch Control will appear on more high-performance cars available in the US, but it will be a watered-down traction control function, not the dramatic clutch eating Ferrari system.
It's all a balance. I was very lucky to born in the US. I'll pass your concerns onto my colleagues from India, China and Africa. Their families are more concerned about disease, genocide, drinking water and food. I don't fret much over not getting LC on my next Ferrari. Sorry for the off-thread rant.....bad day.
ROFL. Your colleagues from China have the greatest fear -- saying something that might be construed as "anti-government" and then simply "disappearing" one night..... The fact that every American is empowered with a legal system that is there to protect all of us is no bad thing.... sure it's frustrating when it's abused, and everyone recognizes that it's a double-edged sword. The problem with LC is that in Europe for example, an owner with a car under warranty with a fried clutch that has been driven "enthusiastically" with LC will simply be told to pay for the replacement. He might b!tch and moan, but he'll realize that those are the consequences of his actions and "pay the man". In the US, the same owner will likely be told the same thing, but the owner is more likely whine/threaten a lawsuit, or actually proceed with litigation. Even if it's a merit less, vexatious lawsuit it will still be prohibitively expensive to defend against such a claim, so in such an event it is likely that the clutch will be replaced under warranty. Quite hot the Stradale managed to slip past Ferrari's lawyers I don't know -- maybe the bean-counters realized that the production run was small enough to not cause significant concern ?
BMW and MB speed limit their cars all over the world at 155MPH per a "gentlemen's" agreement. But both have been removing that limit for those who ask nicely and are in markets out side the USA. AFAIK, the lack of LC on the BMWs and Ferraris is due to both warranty and legal reasons. People here in the USA are generally less familiar with how a manual (or any) transmission works and therefore are likely to not understand they are destroying the clutch. And you have the other reasons mentioned above (US customers are used to getting a certain warranty coverage). As for legal, two words "unintended acceleration" those two words should scare anyone who is in the business of selling cars in the USA. Yes these are some of the bad consequences of the USA regulations and legal situation, but there are also positives. And the lack of the LC on these cars will not keep me from them. If anyone on the 599 list is upset about the lack of LC, please let me know and I will be happy to take your spot in line best regards, Jerry
Launch Control is probably the most over rated option in any car. Unless you are a professional drag racer or sitting on pole in an F1 race, you really don't need Launch Control, especially in a paddle shifted car - simply put your foot on the brake with your left foot, select 1st gar with the up paddle, rev to 4,000rpm and take your foot off the brake. It will do almost exactly what launch control does. It will also screw up your clutch after several attempts, just as LC will do. Ferraris are not designed to be straight line drag racers - they are elegant machines with superb grip and roadholding and the joy of driving a Ferrari isn't in doing smoky burnouts from 0-60MPH, but rather in fast and stable driving on winding roads. Try it sometime - you are sure to enjoy it.
Wow you seem like a really intelligent person! I never said whether or not it benefits them and frankly I don't care. What I know is that I think it's a cool feature and I wish the 599 had it. On another note, what the hell does my opinion that Ferraris should come with LC have to do with me not understanding simple things? So I guess you think everyone who wants LC doesn't deserve to use a computer because they are SO stupid they can't be trusted with such a device. Maybe a self-absorbed *********, who gets so angry about someone with a different opinion, shouldn't be allowed to post on the internet since they are still at the 6th grade level of arguing where if they disagree with you, you are stupid. You guys really don’t think a Corvette will ever have a SMG style gearbox? I think it's pretty obvious that's the direction the technology is moving, well that and CVTs. I'm not saying tomorrow they will have it, I'm just assuming that sooner or later people are going to want an alternative to a conventional 6sp or the lame monkeytronic automatic. Corvette seems to really be marketing the ZO6 to track enthusiasts as well be allowing DEs without voiding warrantees like say Porsche. I understand the warranty issue for Ferrari, but honestly I feel like they could come up with a way around that. This day in age DMEs record almost everything from over-revs to the oil temps, it wouldn't be hard to record LC use. As I understand it, Ferrari can measure clutch wear to via a OBII scanner or maybe its some special computer they use, but either way why couldn't they calculate the clutch wear per LC use and just state in the warranty 15 LC uses voids a clutch replacement per normal wear and tear? On a $300,000 I feel like the company owes it to you to at least give you the option to pay for your own clutches....but then again I don't understand simple concepts so what do I know.
it should be on the car and it should either not be covered under warranty or some computer system like the above poster has mentioned should be installed.
US SMG M3's have have had a version of LC for a while. There is a trick to doing it and you can only do it 3 times before voiding the warranty
wrong. You are "told" you should only do it 3 times within a 10 min period, with breaks in between doing it. No voiding of warranty.
Right, the M5 has this too- but IMHO you might as well just launch the car by starting out in 1 and just giving it throttle. You can do a 4000 RPM drop clutch start for a burn out with the M5- this was fun to do a few times, but again, if done often it will tear up the clutch. Not worth it IMHO. And this does not void the warranty but I wonder if you did this excessively and brought it in to the dealer how they would react when they read the computer... best regards, Jerry
