The hills were alive with the sound of music — an Italian eight-piece symphony breathing in hard and exhaling horsepower, crackles and pops; every up-shift accompanied by a vroom which then settled into a bass solo, until further prodded again. Ferrari claim a 0-100 km/h time of 3.6 seconds! That’s properly quick and hair-raisingly surreal. The top speed is 316 km/h but, on those roads, I’d be lucky to do even half of that. Double-digit speeds rarely show their faces in an acceleration run, with 200 coming up in a claimed 11.2 seconds. Of course, where I was, I could take the horse to petrol, but I couldn’t make it smoke it. Even so, getting about the twisties and feeling the tail ready to kick out at every corner is a glorious feeling best savoured realising you can’t be at home on a knife’s edge. There is a fine line between control and chaos and the California T is a great real-estate agent in that department.
It’s got the goods, it does. It’s a proper grand tourer with racing credentials imbibed since birth. The F1-derived dual-clutch transmission is quick, with the F1-Trac and ESP 8.0 together, and a host of electronic mummies making sure you don’t go over the edge — literally, in this case. The 3.9 motor uses a flat-plane crankshaft for even faster rev building. The engine itself is mounted 40 millimetres lower down than the 4.3 was in the old Cal’. And then there are the magneto-rheological dampers — which use fine metal grains inside the hydraulic fluid system that respond to electrical impulses, either to stiffen or soften the ride, in the blink of an eye. Before I forget, the folding metal roof goes down in just 14 seconds.
Our car had the optional 20-inch forged wheels wrapped in fat 285/35 rubber at the rear — more than enough to put down the peak 755 Nm, a sizeable portion of which breaks free with vigour post 3,000 rpm — in absolutely any gear. There are loads of options and Ferrari will be happy to build your car as you like it. After all, they’re Ferrari. And Maranello is known for delivering exactly what the passionate enthusiast seeks, in whatever form.
The California T, which starts from Rs 3.45 crore, delivers a full-bodied experience, engaging sight, sound, smell and touch. Besides, with a palpable sixth sense living on the edge when the red lights on the steering wheel come on, there’s really nothing — nothing more — you could want at that point. It may be grey on the outside, but it’s a red-blooded, red-hearted Scarlet car through and through.
Need To Know – Ferrari California T
Price: Rs 3.45 crore (base, ex-showroom, Mumbai)
Engine: 3,855 cc, V8, twin-turbocharged, direct injection, petrol
Max Power: 560 PS at 7,500 rpm
Max Torque: 755 Nm at 4,750 rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed, twin-clutch, automatic, rear-wheel drive
Weight: 1,625 kg
