Driving a Ferrari at least once in a lifetime is the cherished dream of most car enthusiasts.
What can one say of the pleasure of driving a Ferrari after having witnessed it being put together from scratch? We had an opportunity to savour it recently
Story: Aspi Bhathena
Photography:
It is every automobile enthusiast’s dream to visit the Ferrari factory in Italy and drive one of their cars at least once in the lifetime. The Ferrari brand possesses such magic that it brings out the child in you: I saw fellow journalists in their forties and fifties behave like little children in a candy shop when they visited the Ferrari brand shop!
Over the past 10 years I have had occasions to visit a number of car manufacturing plants all over the world. Most of them look similar. The Ferrari factory at Maranello, however, is a different ballgame altogether. To keep the climatic conditions uniform throughout the year they have greenery inside the machine shops with plants growing indoors. This is the first time I have seen something like this in all the manufacturing facilities that I have visited so far.
For me it was very fascinating to watch the cylinder head intake and exhaust ports being polished and gas being flowed for better breathing. The connecting rod and crankshaft were also polished to reduce oil drag. Such effort is put in only when you build a race engine. You hardly ever witness such love and passion in the regular engine assembly lines.
It is always a pleasure to drive a car like the Ferrari 458 Italia. However, it gets even better when you watch the car being put together from scratch. The 458 combines history and innovation with its V8 engine configuration and state-of-the art technology.
The dark red car that I got to drive had a red carbon-fibre interior, which looked drop-dead gorgeous. Once you turned the ignition key, the engine bursts into life and settles down to idling speed. The exhaust note at idling is like any other car’s and you can potter about the town without being noticed.
Once you have adjusted your driving position and strapped yourself, you engage the drive by pushing a button on the centre console and pull the right paddle shifter to engage the first gear for the first time in your life. In our case the navigation system had been programmed to takes us into the mountains around Maranello. The drive through the town of Maranello was quite enjoyable. The Italia behaved like a pussy cat at low speeds. The steering was light and one did not have to wrestle with the steering wheel at low speeds. The ride quality was quite smooth; no bone-jarring or brain-rattling business here.
Once we crossed the city limits and hit the highway, the 458 began merrily cruising along at 60 km/h in the seventh gear. When I started using the power on tap, however, it metamorphosed from a pussy cat into a cheetah. The moment we started negotiating the mountainous section it came into its own and I began pushing the car more and more round the corners. The 458 now became an extension of my body, as it were. It would follow the line that my mind wanted it to take.
This car is so involving to drive that you become oblivious to the world outside. On the one hand is the fantastic handling and, on the other, its phenomenal power delivery and, finally, the music from the exhaust that takes you into a trance.
At one point, as I was doing in excess of 160 km/h, we flew over a big hump and the car became airborne for a while. The cameras kept on the floor hit the roof. When the 458 landed, however, it was none the worse for this little bit of adventure, nor did it lose its composure even by a fraction.
This is probably one of the best cars I have driven to date and definitely the most fun and involving car to drive.
It is always a pleasure to drive a car like the Ferrari 458 Italia. However, it gets even better when you watch the car being put together from scratch
