Ferrari F430 Scuderia: Track-Focussed Italian

By Feann Torr - 19/July/2007

Maranello, Italy — Ferrari's hotly anticipated F430 Stradale is here - only it's called the Scuderia now. What's with the new name? Well, a lot of people thought the Stradale name was crap, and the Scuderia name ties the car closer to the Italian company's motor sports division, which is fitting considering many of these cars will be raced.

Like any self-respecting exotic car with a distinct track bias, the Ferrari F430 Scuderia is lighter, quicker, more flickable and generally sexier than its donor car, the F430. It will also be significantly more expensive, though pricing hasn't yet been confirmed. 

It can be driven on the road like the Spider and Coupe version, yet a good deal of the F430 Scuderia's will be bought for race track use.

Ferrari gave the car its official debut at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, which was aided by the world's most prolific Formula 1 driver, Michael Schumacher.

Having driven the F430 Spider, I can say that it's a wickedly quick machine, with sweet-as-you-like steering and a remarkable amount of civility for such a highly strung exotic car. But the Scuderia with its extra herbs should bring even more madness to the table, and may well bloody the nose of its rivals, Lamborghini and Aston Martin, at the same time.

Compared to the standard F430, which outputs 360kW, the new go-fast track-racer model cracks out an extra 20kW, taking the total to 380kW (510hp) at a screaming 8500rpm. That's mighty impressive for a 4.3-litre V8.

The media release says the 430 Scuderia "is a truly high-performance 2-seater berlinetta which demonstrates how Ferrari's Formula 1 know-how is carried across to its production cars."

That Formula 1 know-how helps the engine not only reach a demonic 8500rpm and achieve peerless handling, but also ensures that the car makes a lot of engine noise. When driving the F430 Spider it was very difficult to cruise around unnoticed - even at low revs. We can only imagine what the new model will sound like when it hits 5000rpm and then slams its occupants into their seats as the tacho flickers rapidly to 8000rpm... 

As well as the increased power levels, the car is lighter by a good 100kg, taking the F430 Scuderia's overall dry weight to 1250kg. This will improve all dynamic aspects of the car, such as turn in, braking, and acceleration.

Ferrari hasn't released the all-important 0-100km/h benchmark time for the car, but we expect it will be somewhere around the 3.8 second mark. In other words, painfully fast.

Based on the F430 Coupe, Ferrari describes the car's clientele as "passionate" and "sports-driving oriented" and that it focussed its efforts on keeping the car as light as possible and eschewing the "trimmings". It won't be uncomfortable per se, but don't expect to find sat nav, a rear parking camera, or a 13-speaker stereo with molybdenum sub woofers. The car's goal is to shaving hundredths of seconds off lap times. Besides, the most important music will be the V8 symphony... 

Other features new to the Stradale, sorry, Scuderia include a slightly more aerodynamic body for a higher top speed, including a revised front apron and rear diffuser, the latter incorporating a high-mount twin exhaust system, which replaces the F430s quaddies. It also gets a pair of GT stripes running the length of the body, stripes it could probably do without...

There's also special 'gold' wheels, no doubt shod with ultra-high performance tyres to maximise cornering grip. Though Ferrari hasn't said anything about the brakes, they look fairly large in the photos, and are most likely made from carbon-ceramic compounds to reduce brake fade.The interior looks pretty slick as well, and very black.

Ferrari has also spliced the latest F1 software into the F430 Scuderia, which it calls 'Superfast'. The Italian car maker says the updated software adds a new traction control system "which, for the first time, combines the E-Diff electronic differential and the F1-Trac traction and stability control in a single integrated system."

What do these electronic gubbins do? Well, they sound cool. And they also help improve traction under throttle and through corners. Or as the Italian marque puts it, "Vehicle dynamics, control and performance thus represent the zenith of Ferrari's achievements in terms of developing road-certified sports cars." 

Gotta love that zenith.

The new software upgrade also reduces gear shift times with the F1 gearbox to just 60 milliseconds, which is roughly the same time it takes to blink your eyes. Plenty quick.

So there we have it. The Stradale is out, the Scuderia is in. Like most new Ferrari's in America and Australia, expect a waiting list of at least 18 months though. Make no mistake, demand will be just as intense as it's performance.

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