Ferrari’s storied Fiorano test track in Maranello, Italy, is a special place. It's even more so when we get to experience it in the 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia, the company’s latest sports car. Today, Ferrari test driver Raffaele De Simone is making Fiorano look easy.
All it takes to master the 1.85-mile circuit in the Italia is two light palms, one steady foot, and a strict diet of Muslix and fresh fruit. Or so it seems from the passenger seat as the rail-thin De Simone thrusts and slides the 458 through Fiorano’s curves and hairpins in a ballet of bawling rubber. After three laps, much of which are sideways, De Simone climbs out and beckons us to the driver’s seat, then walks away. We’re on our own, even though about five years ago, a certain Car and Driver personality introduced a new Ferrari to a wall on a similar day not far from this very spot. Don’t these people learn?
The Feel
Turns out, driving the 458 quickly is practically effortless, like strapping on parabolic skis or doing square roots with a calculator. With an 11.5:1 ratio, the steering is unbelievably quick and surprisingly light, as though the front axle is barely touching the ground. Still, the grip is tenacious, the turn-in to a corner so fierce and direct that you’ll swear it has a rudder tilling the asphalt.
The direct-injection 4.5-liter V-8 whirls up to its 9000-rpm redline with a fearsome roar but a throttle so controllable and a torque band so flat that it never runs away on you. The carbon-ceramic brakes—standard on all 458s, as they are on all new Ferraris—respond to minute changes in foot pressure, not a trait always associated with carbon brakes. The suspension, enhanced with magnetorheological shock absorbers, keeps the body flat and calm, even over Fiorano’s various bumps and ripples. The electronic differential and multilevel stability control can track the car out of corners as if it’s stuck down by God’s own wad of gum. Thanks to the car’s finely orchestrated chorus of electronics and solid engineering, a chimpanzee on Vicodin could set a lap record in this car.
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