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Ferrari 488 Pista: The Legend Of The Extraordinary Horse
FERRARI 488 PISTA
THE LEGEND OF THE EXTRAORDINARY HORSE
Words by Alessandro Marrone / Photos by Jay Tomei
It’s a lethal tool, able to tear your soul out of your chest, tattoo its name in capital letters on it and put it back in its place – it will be impossible to forget its violence and you almost forget how aesthetically sexy it is.
I always thought that the movie “The Legend of Extraordinary Gentlemen” lacked a fundamental character: Enzo Ferrari. Let me tell you, the Drake was not a simple human being and not just because he had the ability to make even a simple paper-airplane alive, but because day after day he lived an adventure too magical to be even just everyone else’s dream. Imitated, pointed and accused, above all because he was envied, it is thanks to him that the car world will never stop giving us certain emotions. We owe him the incessant race to improve performance and thanks to him we are ready for everything in order to hold on to a way of seeing sports cars that for many is on the verge of extinction. I do not intend to curse electric cars, not even hybrids or turbocharged engines, since I believe that every innovation is welcome as long as it makes the driving experience more extraordinary. I rather think of how driving sensations are often too filtered, so much that we almost want to get on board of sports cars with a few years on their back, where the lack of horses in the engine bay was compensated by a chassis stiff like a wooden board and by the fear of seeing your life pass before the eyes at the first bend taken with too much conviction.
I define my trips to Maranello as an authentic pilgrimage and this time more than any other occasion the journey will be unforgettable. Waiting for me is the 488 Pista, currently (excluding the very fresh F8 Tributo) the berlinetta with the most powerful mid-rear engine on the list, based on the already overflowing 488 GTB and addressed to those who profess the purest adoration towards extreme performance. The fact is that the 488 Pista is not as extreme as you might think, but it all depends on how you relate to it and forgive me if I am not here to go through each and every one of the glorious engineering improvements that make the Pista so different from the more sensible GTB sister – I’m sure you will have read many other colleagues and various copy/paste online posts, so you’ll probably looking for something more here. For me, a Ferrari is something that touches the chords of the deepest human emotions, a delicious tickle for that passion that burns inside those who still manage to get excited at the sight of a low, wide, red supercar with stripes that seem to warn you and ask – Are you sure you wanna play with me?
Without going too far back in time, the 488 Pista resumes the efforts of the 360 Challenge Stradale, the 430 Scuderia and the 458 Speciale, the latest hardcore version with a naturally aspirated engine. This means less weight, more power, greater concentration towards a more extreme behavior and a series of stylistic and mechanical features that make it a completely different model compared to the 488 GTB. In this regard, I had some doubts, above all because I kept wondering how it could be possible that Ferrari would have succeeded in evolving the already frightening performance of the standard GTB, let alone making them more sensory vivid, brutal. The 488 Pista succeeds thanks to a design that might seem to have started from scratch, with a 3.9cc V8 that maintains two turbos but that draws life from the 488 Challenge deployed in the world of racing. In the same way, the huge rear carbon diffuser and the Inconel exhaust system are “borrowed” as well, thus saving 9.7 kg thanks to the use of this special aeronautical material. The same engine block weighs 19 kg less and manages to deliver 52 more horses than before, but we’ll come back to this later.
Even a distracted observer would notice the striking differences with the GTB, especially at front where we find the so-called S-Duct, an air channel of F1 straight inspiration that starts from the front bumper and is incorporated in the bonnet creating a non-linear aerodynamic duct. In the same way we have new flow diverters on the bottom (which is flat), small active flaps that allow a better aerodynamic resistance at high speeds and a more pronounced spoiler at the back, but trust me if I tell you that an encyclopedia would not be enough to analyze in detail the mechanics upgrades the Pista brings with it, such as the new titanium connecting rods, the new crankshaft and the flywheel, for a good 50% of different components from the engine from which it takes shape.
The Drake would approve of all this, but I’m sure that after giving his engineers a pat on the back, he would direct his attention directly to the fire red key placed on the press office desk, ready to put this incredible technological achievement to the ultimate road test. In this moment I add another check to my personal list of “goals to be achieved” and I jump down into the cockpit, immediately finding the ideal position thanks to the rigid bucket seats and eliminating even the smallest movement of the body thanks to the six point harnesses, a way like any other to warn you that it’s gonna be hot in here. After a few minutes, the precious technical knowledge of the pre-test briefing tossed in my skull, as I try to sum up all the things running through my head and realize that what is happening is not the result of one of the most optimistic daydreams.
The 488 Pista screams like crazy, in Sport mode it grinds its teeth and in Race it rips your face everytime you go a bit harder on the throttle, especially if there is enough space to sink your right foot up to the red line. The progression is something inhuman and while I struggle to keep my sanity, I try to remember how much the 488 GTB had amazed me on the occasion of my test just two years ago. The Pista is a wild beast that accepts to be tamed, in fact it allows you to move at ease and pass without problems dozens of villages around Maranello, but in the moment in which you find the courage – or the unconsciousness – to throw the gas to the floor, it howls towards the sky and pulls you between changes of direction able to remind you what you ate last Christmas with that unnatural power curve that climbs up to 8,000 rpm, delivering 721 horsepower. The two exhaust guns deflagrate a metallic symphony that will make you forget your musical tastes and at every gear change, the 7-speed will dispense what it deems most appropriate in order to convey the feeling and fluidity of an engine focused on the most complete satisfaction of the driver.
At the wheel you achieve all of the seven deadly sins after just one hundred meters, the 488 Pista bites you an open nerve and after having sent you enough confidence it is natural that you find yourself playing a round of Russian roulette, deactivating traction control and pushing the rear to widen as you come out of a tight corner. The Michelin Sport Cup 2 wants to be warmed up properly though, but thanks to today’s boiling hot tarmac and a series of hairpin bends that twist together, it is easy to see how this car is able to remain literally glued to the ground. The soft tread compound collects everything you walk on launching debris and stuff into the wheel arches, emphasizing the racing feeling that transpires from every inch of a passenger compartment reduced to the essential, between Alcantara and carbon fiber, but not too different from that of the GTB, with which it also shares the steering wheel with the Manettino, the gigantic carbon shift paddles, the central tunnel from which to select the gears and the infotainment system integrated in the two digital displays that embrace the analog tachometer. If keeping your foot down while facing a fast wide-angle curve requires a fair number of hairs on your stomach, playing with the rear becomes almost easier, provided you do it in a simple exit from a hairpin – for example – sinking the throttle and letting the 721 horses do the rest, also facilitated by the SSC (Side Slip Control System).
For those who criticize turbo engines, the 488 Pista dispenses a delivery that refers to that unmistakable fluidity of a naturally aspirated one, but doing it with 770 Nm of torque unloaded on the rear axle sometimes remembers the effect you get putting wet fingers in an electrical socket. Following the right pressure on the gas there’s a primordial roar, something that seems coming from the most absurd creation of H.P. Lovecraft. The following moment you find yourself harpooned at the wheel, shaken by suspension stiff like stone, but perfectly able to absorb the bumps and the imperfections of the road under you. The braking system is equipped with 398 mm carbon-ceramic discs at the front (with 6 pistons with fixed calipers) and 360 mm at the rear (with 4 pistons with fixed calipers). It would be simplistic to say how indispensable they are to slow down and brake a bullet of this caliber properly, so I will tell you that they are of vital importance for not interrupting paces that could lead to a driving license withdrawal up to the grandchildren of your grandchildren, instead accentuating the intimacy with a car that seems to have been sent to us by the Drake himself.
After a few hours of driving it is mandatory to stop and let the brain process the accumulated sensory information. We must still realize that it is a € 300,000 toy and that it does not limit itself to burn a 0-100 kph in 2.8 seconds, a 0-200 kph in 7.6 seconds and reach a maximum speed of 340 per hour. When you are in its carbon shell and put to the test by the hubbub of its V8, by the mechanical thuds that take place beneath you and by how the road in front of you slips away, it’s hard to keep in mind that despite the car it does a lot in order to allow a similar sort of driving on roads that accommodate city cars, campers and vans as well, the slightest mistake would lead to fatal results and even if certain performances are more suited to a video game than to real life, here there is no reset button. But there is a new wizardry called FDE (Ferrari Dynamic Enhancer), which is activated with the Manettino in CT-OFF position and allows to act on aspects such as the width of the opening of the rear, playing in advance and calibrating at best the dynamics for getting a poster-like powerslide. Yes, it takes a good reason to have the courage to stop and get off this roller coaster.
The 488 Pista is a lethal instrument, it is like Jack the Ripper on four wheels, so able to tear your soul from your chest, tattoo his name in capital letters on it and put it back in its place – it will be impossible to forget its violence and almost forget how much aesthetically sexy it is, with each line in place, the right proportions and that typical dream car look, which in red and with NART stripes finds its ultimate expression. I stop again, look up to the sky and smile, and if in this moment the Drake is turning his look on this extraordinary little niece of his, he will be proud to have once again realized the dream of a child, maybe a little grown up, but still one of those who if had to draw a car even before learning to write, that would have been red and capable to run fast. I admit, not so fast.
FERRARI 488 PISTA
Layout – mid-rear engine, rear wheel drive
Engine – V8 cylinder 3.902cc – twin-turbo
Transmission – 7-speed automatic gearbox
Power – 721 hp @ 8.000 rpm
770 Nm @ 3.000 rpm
Weight – 1.530 kg
Acceleration – 2,8 sec.
Top Speed – 340 kph
Price – from € 296.000
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