There’s no ‘F’ in Scuderia?
Ferrari is at pains to point out that the third V8 in its family – the F1-inspired new 430 Scuderia – ‘is not just a stripped-out version of the F430’. So it has dropped the ‘F’ to stress the 430 Scuderia’s more separate nature. Even though it clearly is a souped-up special… It’s some special, though – and important enough to warrant hauling grand prix legend Michael Schumacher out of retirement to unveil the car.
It has lost a lot of weight though?
Oh yes, 100kg in fact, bringing it down to a dry weight of 1250kg through ripping out carpets, the radio and more besides. But there’s loads of F1 technology on it, including a seriously quick gearbox that reduces gearshift times to 60 milliseconds. That’s only 20ms slower than the kit in the current F1 car and 40ms quicker than the 599 (at 100ms). Net result? The Scuderia will sprint to 62mph in under 3.6 seconds and top out at 198mph.
Why the Scuderia name?
‘Scuderia Ferrari’ was the name of Enzo’s racing team when he was working with Alfa Romeo and according to a Ferrari the word itself translates to ‘stables’ – ie a place where you keep many horses. It’s the first time the name has been used for a Ferrari production car.
When and how much?
To buy the road and track car that Schumacher himself helped develop, you’re looking at about £175,000 or a 20-30 percent increase on the F430 price. It’s not a limited edition like the Challenge Stradale and customers placing orders now should see delivery spring 2008.