ROADTEST Ferrari 430 Scuderia: As Conor Twomeyfaces a future without test driving the world's best sports cars, he takes one of his favourites for a last run
HANDING BACK the keys of the Scuderia at the company’s UK headquarters near London was a deeply sad occasion. Having a Ferrari prised from your possession is always unpleasant but in this instance it was especially poignant. Ferrari’s press officer informed me that the following day the 430’s replacement would be unveiled to the world, which meant that I’d just had my last ever drive in a Ferrari 430, without realising it.
It also looked like this was to be the last time I would get to drive anything vaguely exotic, in fact. Just a few days prior to collecting the 430 Scuderia I discovered the car magazine of which I was editor was cutting costs, which meant the flow of supercars, race tracks and Alpine adventures would be coming to an end for me.
Still, it’s been a good run and I consider myself extremely lucky to have gotten the chance to drive a Ferrari at all, so what better way to end a great chapter in one’s life than to take the world’s finest sports car for a swansong blast across Wales and Ireland?
Proclaiming the Ferrari 430 Scuderia the world’s finest sports car is a strong statement, especially as I haven’t quite driven every single sports car in the world. However, I’m at a loss to see how any of them can quite match the all-round exquisiteness of the most track-focused, road-going Ferrari.
In four days, I covered 1,600 of the most pleasurable kilometres of my life. Everything you expect the Scuderia to be – it is, and more, but in those areas you expect it to be useless it is surprisingly brilliant, resulting in a car of such astonishing all-round ability that it not only lives up to the Ferrari hype, it actually exceeds it.
Take, for example, the car’s shape. You’d think the Scuderia would be a kerb-bashing; chin-scraping heap of scary blind spots, but the truth is, it’s a really easy car to place on the road, with proper ground clearance and mirrors that have a huge range of adjustments so you can avoid kerbing your €10,000 wheels.
Then there are the seats: solid lumps of carbon fibre with minimal padding which only adjust four ways (sliding base and tilting backrest), they look like they may break your back, whereas in actuality, they’re superbly comfortable and supportive.
The weekend I had the Scuderia I had a trapped nerve in my back and the only place I got genuine relief was behind the wheel of the Ferrari. And no, that had nothing to do with adrenaline.
Weighing 40kg less than the standard 430, the Scuderia is stripped of most of its soundproofing (it doesn’t even have carpet and there are exposed welds everywhere) and while I can’t pretend it’s a relaxing place to spend time, who could ever tire of the soulful howl of that incredible V8 positioned just a few inches behind the cabin?
I felt like I owed it to everyone within earshot to drop the F1-style gearbox a couple of cogs and nail the throttle every once in a while, just so we could all enjoy listening to that incredible soundtrack.
And yet, despite the performance and the desire to drive around in second gear all the time, the Scuderia proved more economical than a Ford Focus RS.
But it’s the Scuderia’s chassis that really astonishes. Flick the steering-wheel-mounted “Manettino” to Race mode (Sport mode should really be called Comfort) and the throttle and gearbox settings switch to high alert, while the adaptive dampers become so stiff your vision can get blurred by the vibrations.
It’s perfectly excellent around Mondello Park, of course, but not so good on the road, so a prod of the suspension button in the centre console is required to return the suspension to Soft mode; “soft” being a relative term.
Set up thus, the 430 Scuderia is perfectly at home on all but the worst roads in the country, soaking up the bumps and ridges without diluting the feedback through the seat or steering wheel.
So, how on earth is Ferrari going to make the 458 Italia better than this?
The first hurdle is the looks, and it clears this. The new Italia is a stunner and immediately makes the 430 look as modern as an anvil. But mechanically, the Italia might be a step too far. The Scuderia has a huge 510hp, for example, and in a 1,350kg car that’s just plenty, thanks.
The Italia will be no heavier but will back 570hp and this, I fear, might be too much of a good thing. What makes the Scuderia so brilliant is that it’s so accessible – it’s designed to be driven by people with more money than skill, while at the same time offering experienced pilots pant-dampening fun, and all without any intervention from the traction control or stability control systems. In the dry, at least. But reigning in almost 600hp?
I predict, though I hope I’m wrong, there will be a little orange light on the dashboard that’s kept especially busy.
And speaking of dashboards, the interior of the new Italia, which you can see briefly in an animation on Ferrari’s website, appears to have been designed by a four year old (no offense to Michael Schumacher, who apparently had a lot to do with the Honda S2000-aping ergonomics).
Our first glimpse seems to suggest it lacks the no-nonsense simplicity of the Lotus-like 430. There appear to be lots of glitzy bits, too, just as in the California’s interior. Hmmmm.
All the time during my weekend with the Scuderia, people would ask me: Sure, where can you enjoy a car like that? And I usually tend to avoid answering the question because people simply won’t believe me. The truth is: everywhere. Having a Ferrari parked on your driveway or chugging along in traffic is almost as much fun as driving it hard across the Wicklow Gap. Hopefully, its replacement will offer all the same thrills without introducing too much civility. Porsches offer everyday fun but Ferraris should give you goosebumps.
As for me, I’ll probably never get to sample the Italia. Accessing the world’s most coveted cars won’t be as simple as it once was for me, I’m afraid – unless by some miracle another car-related project comes along. Oh, excuse me a second . . . I think I hear the phone ringing.
Factfile Ferrari 430 Scuderia
Engine: 4,308cc V8 petrol, mid-mounted
Power: 510bhp @ 8,500rpm
Torque: 470Nm @ 5,250rpm
0-100km/h: 3.6 seconds
Top speed: 320km/h
Weight: 1,350kg
Boot capacity: 250 litres
Transmission: six-speed F1 sequential manual, RWD
Economy: 15.7l/100km
CO2 emissions: 360g/km
Price as tested: €400,000