That's right. The 430 Scuderia, a V-8-powered, aluminum "volume-sales" model we all kind of assumed was just another lightened, mid-cycle riff on the F430 turns out to be one serious supercar. It may be Ferrari's best-performing GT car ever, despite its fire-sale $272,306 price. It is unquestionably the Ferrari that mere owners -- not factory test drivers or F1 world champions -- will be able to drive the fastest on demanding roads or race circuits without winding up on wreckedexotics.com.
Granted, the 503-hp 430 carries 18-percent-more weight per filly than does the 651-hp Enzo and it lacks the Enzo's exotic pushrod-actuated suspension, active aero-gear, and a few other racy touches. And yet with Michael Schumacher at the helm, the 430 Scuderia circulated the fast track at Fiorano in 1:25.0, equaling Dario Benuzzi's best run in the Enzo, circa 2003. And indeed our own test equipment recorded a quicker launch in the 430 (1.2 seconds to 30 mph versus 1.4 in our last Enzo) and a blistering 0-to-60 time of just 3.1 seconds to the Enzo's comparatively pedestrian 3.4. Granted, by the quarter mile the Enzo's power advantage vaults it ahead by 0.2 second and almost 7 mph, but on shorter circuits like the 1.8-mile Pista di Fiorano there's precious little time spent at those speeds. In fact, as development engineer Michele Giaramita explained the many advantages the 430 enjoys at different spots on the track, we had to wonder if Michael might have been sandbagging just a skosh in the name of saving Enzo's face until the next limited-run V-12 super-cavallino arrives. Follow along and see if you agree.
Ferrari took a holistic approach to enhancing the F430, whittling away at anything that slows a car down and applying the latest tricks learned in Formula 1 racing. Power, weight, tires, and suspension were the low-hanging fruit. Using carbon fiber extensively throughout the interior and engine compartment, ditching sound-deadening materials and fitting a Lexan rear window and titanium springs and lug bolts helped shave 220 lb off the F430. A host of detail refinements to the 4.3L flat-plane-crankshaft V-8 added 20 hp and 4 lb-ft of peak output, but fattens the torque on either side of the peak by a bunch more, making the overall performance feel like much more than a four-percent improvement. Stickier Pirelli PZero Corsa tires (10 mm wider in front), plus lowered (0.6 in.), stiffer springs (35 percent front/32 percent rear) boost handling, braking, and acceleration-launch performance.
The rest of the improvements are pretty much all Formula 1-inspired, starting with the aerodynamics, which are optimized to increase front and rear downforce without resorting to large wings by creating suction underneath the body. A patent-pending "base bleed" method of relieving aerodynamic pressure from the rear-wheel housings helps bring the 430 Scuderia's drag coefficient in five percent under the Enzo's. Next, the ever-evolving F1 paddle-shift automated manual gearbox controls have been hyper-caffeinated to deliver shifts in an unfathomable 60 milliseconds. This new F1-SuperFast2's shifts happen in about a quarter of the time required for a manual shift-or for a shift in the first-generation F1 box in the Enzo, for that matter.
But perhaps the most significant technology transfer from F1 to the 430 Scuderia is the F1-Trac traction/stability control system, which for the first time on a road car also has authority over the electronically controlled E-Diff2 wet-clutch limited-slip differential. Put simply, this system is designed so that in the Manettino's "Race" mode, any driver should be able to approach the apex of any turn and simply flat-foot the throttle and steer through letting the electronics modulate brake pressures, engine torque, and differential lockup. The electronic processor time is so fast that you're never aware of any brake pulsations or electronic jiggery-pokery, you just feel like a pro shoe motoring out of every bend. That faster processor also controls the anti-lock brakes and shares credit with the larger front carbon-ceramic brakes for trimming the F430's already impressive braking distances by around eight percent to 93 ft from 60 mph and 255 ft from 100. Initial brake bite also is considerably improved from the F430's, allowing deeper braking points on corner entry. Check out our Fiorano circuit graphic to see where each of the above improvements help the 430 Scuderia catch the mighty Enzo.
Out in the hills above Maranello, these many small improvements combine to form one awesome piece of machinery, made all the sweeter by being a surprisingly complete and comfortable car. There's no radio (the engine note is worth 1000 iPods), but it's well air-conditioned and trimmed in rich Alcantara and leather inside like a proper road car, not a stripped-out racer. Just pulling out of the parking lot, the zillion bits of road grit being thrown up from the tires to the undercarriage suggest these summer gumballs will die young but live spectacularly until then. Motoring through town, it's a docile sweetheart until you have to reverse. In keeping with Raul Julia's first rule of Italian driving ("What's behind me is not important"), the view out the mirrors is limited, and the four-point harness makes it tough to turn for a better look.
Once past the city limits with a long stretch of open road ahead and no traffic around, you come to a stop, twirl the Manettino to CST-off, engage manual shift mode, first gear, and then hold the downshift paddle until the gear-indicator display alternates between "1" and "L" and a tone sounds. Then simultaneously release the brake and floor the throttle. Get it right and the tires spin briefly, then hook up for one serious G-sled ride. LEDs on the optional carbon-fiber steering wheel illuminate at 500-rpm intervals above 6000 rpm. Pull the upshift paddle when they blink at 8500 and with what feels like a strike to the rear bumper from a giant polo mallet, the car jolts forward in the next gear, bellowing with newfound basso profundo. Within minutes, you're scaling the Emilian Apennines, and a switch to "Race" mode seems prudent. With each curve and switchback, you brake a little later, astonished at the power of these carbon binders. Hit the apex and flat-foot the go-pedal, letting the superfast computers sort out apportioning torque for the hastiest possible exit. A particularly uneven stretch leaving Pavullo reveals the wisdom of Schumacher's soft-suspension mode switch, the relaxed suspenders providing better comfort and better braking and road-holding. After an hour of hard running, the route has circled back to Maranello just in the nick of time. Another 10 miles of acclimation to the 430 Scuderia and you might be forever jaded toward lesser machinery. Like Enzos.
The Down-Low on Torque
The bump in peak output appears modest, but at lower speeds torque is boosted by up to 10 percent. Using an auxiliary air pump to direct air into the exhaust collector under certain conditions permitted elimination of the precatalyst, which, along with the F430 Challenge Stradale's back-pressure-relieving exhaust valve accounts for much of the improvement. Larger inlet tracts and finer control of combustion via ion-detection across the spark-plug gaps following each power stroke fattens the torque (and hence power) curves almost everywhere above 2500 rpm. And a bump in compression from 11.3:1 to 11.9:1 helps at all speeds.
Seeing Sound
An enormous amount of engineering went into tuning the 430's bark while passing muster (barely) with the sound police. The exhaust system is closely related to that of the F430 Challenge Stradale and includes the same bypass valve in the muffler. The intake system includes special resonators that punch up the sound the driver hears in the cockpit, ensuring that each of the engine's natural frequencies is heard clearly from inside (those are the bright red lines in the Scuderia's sound plot).
As Good as a Dual-Clutch?
Our respect for the performance-enhancing nature of twin-clutch transmissions like the Nissan GT-R's has inspired us to proclaim them "the transmissions of the future." But Ferrari's F1-SuperFast2 prompts a reconsideration of that pronouncement. The shift time is shortened to as little as 60 milliseconds by compressing the gear-change time and overlapping it with the clutch opening and closing events so that the clutch begins engaging again almost the instant it is fully released. Further examination of Ferrari's shift event indicates that, while 60 milliseconds elapse between the time when the acceleration begins to fall (as the shift paddle is flicked) and the time full engine power resumes accelerating again, the time spent at an acceleration rate at or below zero is more like 40 milliseconds. That's quick enough to feel instantaneous from the driver's seat and to be virtually unnoticeable on an acceleration chart. Ferrari argues that its solution gets the job done with about half the mass and better durability under race conditions. Off the track, however, there's no matching the dual-clutch design's shift smoothness, comfort and parking maneuverability.
Aero-Tica
The 430 Scuderia's front fascia has a more pronounced splitter and redesigned center inlet that better manages airflow around the nose and under the car en route to an F1-style venturi diffuser at the rear. Together these changes and a subtly taller rear ducktail spoiler result in a downforce distribution that mirrors the static weight distribution, with front and rear lift coefficients of -0.145 and -0.211. This ensures the handling demeanor doesn't change at speeds of up to 195 mph. Furthermore, the high-center mounting of the exhaust outlets allows low-pressure air exiting the rear diffuser to suck the high-pressure air out of the rear wheelhouses through a mesh screen, which helps bring the drag coefficient in at 0.343 (up from the F430's 0.330)-impressive for a car with this much downforce.
Fiorano Track Notes
The Enzo and 430 Scuderia both enter their hot lap in third gear coming onto the front straight, braking from fifth at the end (note that the speeds indicated are the 430 Scuderia's). The Enzo's 16-percent advantage in weight-to-power is eroded somewhat by gearing that averages 13 percent taller and by gear changes that take four times longer, subtracting about 0.4 second of acceleration time relative to the 430. Enzo still reaches a higher top speed, but then 430's fifth-generation CCM brakes and better tires outstop Enzo's first-gen units. Less curb weight and grippier PZero Corsas probably more than cancel the cornering advantage of the Enzo's wider rear tires, giving 430 an edge in slower corners like 1, 4, 5, 6, and 8. Both cars carry a lot of speed through the 2-3 S-turn and the Turn-7 kink. Enzo's active aerodynamics may deliver more downforce for added stability and cornering power, but 430's F1-Trac and E-diff optimize power delivery to win back much of the difference, as in Turn 3 when E-Diff2 delivers 75-percent axle-locking on overrun just before the apex, and in Turn 7 where it locks for a speedier exit. Visit motortrend.com to see telemetry traces of the 430 Scuderia at Fiorano.
This image shows Ferrari telemetry for a warm-up lap, two hot laps, and a cool down. We've numbered the turns and put some of the corresponding numbers on the vehicle-speed trace (obviously each valley corresponds to one of the turns numbered). The green trace indicates accelerator position (most often it's at 100 percent), the red one is braking. The magenta and blue lines indicate lateral and longitudinal acceleration in gs. The blue "cloud" at the bottom right is another representation of lateral and longitudinal acceleration, with longitudinal on the Y (up and down) axis, lateral on the X (side-to-side) axis. Obviously, the bigger this cloud, the better the performance of the car.
In this image we've expanded the two hot laps for closer examination. The speed trace is still on top, with the turns numbered, and the green line still indicates accelerator position, but this time, wherever you see the red trace, it indicates the F1-Trac traction/stability-control system is reducing torque. The blue line is longitudinal acceleration, and the magenta line at the bottom indicates the percentage of lockup F1-Trac is ordering up from the E-Diff2 limited-slip differential. Note that in some areas of the track stability can be managed with either torque modulation or E-Diff2, and some require both. Turn 3 and Turn 7 get a lot of lockup, as we'll see in the next graphs.
Turn 3 is a high-speed S-turn, and here the two components of the stability-control system sort of complement each other. The E-Diff2 locks up as the driver lifts, and begins releasing as the F1-Trac begins trimming torque at the corner exit.
Turn 6, the "tornantino" hairpin is the slowest point on the track, and the correct line is to brake deep in a straight line, turn sharply, and then accelerate as you unwind the wheel. In Race mode, that means floor the throttle in second gear and let F1-Trac dither the throttle a bit, returning to full power briefly, and then trimming throttle and locking the E-Diff2 a bit. Entering Turn 7, the fastest on the track, the E-Diff locks during the brief lift, then releases as the F1-Trac manages torque on its own while the driver powers out.
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