Lightweight V8’s
Ferrari’s in general are rare vehicles. It is hard to see a Ferrari every day unless you own one or live in cities like Miami or Beverly Hills. Ferrari made approximately 3,000 458 Italias, compared to BMW’s 42,000 3 series sales in the year 2020. Now, considering the rarity of a “normal” Ferrari like the 458, think about how rare the most covetable Ferrari’s are. The special editions like the 458 Speciale Aperta (499 produced) and the infamous 360 Challenge Stradale (roughly 1,200 produced) make up a fraction of the total vehicles on the road.
The rarer something is, especially when that something has a Prancing Horse badge and Scuderia shield, the more covetable it is. What Ferrari does so well, especially in the Luca di Montezemolo years, is it sets aside a level of engineering, lightweighting, power enhancement, and race-derived technology for its most limited production vehicles. There has been some great criticism over the years as to why Ferrari decides to hold back these add-ons from their launch cars while saving the hard core tech for the later versions, but like any good manufacturer, Ferrari knows how and when to tease their customer base.
When Ferrari decided to produce the 360 Challenge Stradale in 2004, they introduced the world to a new lineage of lightweight, mid-engined sports cars that were at home on any circuit. The 360 CS, while a phenomenal car with one of the best exhaust notes of any vehicle, is not the best daily driver given its antiquated F1, single clutch gearbox. It was not until the F430 Scuderia and even rarer F430 16M spyder version, that Ferrari was able to find the happy medium for their sportier line of road cars have adopted a more sophisticated damping system that could cope with far more pavement types.
The mid-engined, lightweight Ferrari models command great prices in the used market but offer a visceral driving experience that many of their contemporary sports car rivals cannot come close to. Their aggressive styling cues, balance, and award-winning engines make them true continuations of their own mid-engined legacies. Many enthusiasts unanimously agree that there is nothing better than a Ferrari F40, but luckily there are cars like the 458 Speciale that take a few ideas from their older siblings’ book.
