What Makes The Ferrari 458 Speciale So Special? – Part II
I still remember when I brought her home for the very first time. It was not new, but its 850km or so, made it equally fresh. Inside, that unmistakable smell of Alcantara and leather still to be lived, with no sign, bend or scratch of any kind. The perfectly porous steering wheel and an engine still in its trial stage. But it took just a couple of tunnels and the needle of the rev counter to reach 3000rpm for understanding that the soundtrack of my life would have welcomed a new song in the Top Ten, courtesy of this Ferrari V8. The last naturally aspirated engine coming out of Maranello and that makes feel the 488 GTB like a whole new model and a whole different one, just like it is.
Months and years have passed, and especially a lot of kilometers, maybe too much for this type of car. But keeping it in the garage gathering dust would be blasphemy to those guys who with passion and dedication have assembled one of the best supercar in modern history, and not only. The accelerator pedal so tense and the lightning-fast gearbox want to scream and if on track is perfectly at home, you can’t help but look for mountain and country roads, to appreciate a balance beyond all expectations. It is between a corner and the other, where maybe the asphalt is not perfect, that the Speciale gives the best of itself, keeping you safe from errors that even with controls switched off can be handled by power. Yes, power is the key to everything. To go fast you have to step on the gas, to keep with you the rear-end too. It’s all at the moment when you realize that it does not want to kill, but let you grow. With a 458 Speciale you become a man and if you do not baptize the rear onto some wall, at the end of the day, you turn off the engine, making the carbon-ceramic brakes cool properly, waiting for spanking it as soon as possible, because now you have a new addiction.
See you next month, ‘cause I want to tell you about a day I will never forget.
Words by Christian Parodi