The South African Launch of Ferrari’s 458 Speciale

I was kindly invited to the media launch of the highly anticipated and hottest new Ferrari for sale today and I cannot describe in words just how gorgeous this car is so I will let the pictures do most of the talking.

I have always been a big fan of the standard 458 because of its presence and preciseness. No crazy styling or anything to detract attention from the simple fact that it is a stunning supercar. Well I have to be honest this new 458, the Speciale, just blew the standard one right out of the water. Everything from the new aero bits and pieces to the special livery across the length of the car, it all fits together perfectly. The fact that the powerhouse at the back is the most powerful naturally aspirated Ferrari V8 ever made doesn’t hurt either. This pushes out 445kW at a screaming 9000 rpm which also allows the new prancing horse to hit the 100 km/h mark in 3.0 seconds flat. If acceleration is not your thing then be prepared to fly all the way to the 325 km/h top speed. The gear changes are sublimely fast and this helped it to scorch around Fiorano in just 1 minute 23 seconds.

The price in South Africa is a whopping R4.65million but you don’t need to worry about this because Ferrari are trying to limit the number of these cars sold so it is hard enough to be allowed to purchase one (I am not saying order books are closed, I am just saying it is not all plain sailing). No official number is available but a good few have been ordered in South Africa with the first customer cars being delivered around February or March next year.

After taking many, many pictures of this stunning new car, it was started and we were given a little treat of that V8 soundtrack which can be heard in the clip below.

The numbers:

0 to 100 km/h in 3.0 seconds
0 to 200 km/h in 9.1 seconds
Engine: 445 kW
Maximum Speed: 325 km/h
Weight: 1290 kg
Fiorano laptime: 1’23″5


Technical Stuff

Active aerodynamics: This car has a patented mobile aerodynamic system where you can have the most effective amount of drag and downforce through the corners and reduced drag when in a straight line.

Side Slip Angle Control (SSC): This world first sophisticated technology calculates the slip angle (drifting for those nutters) and then compares with what is the recommended slip angle before making the necessary changes. Basically it allows the driver to have an extremely controlled oversteer.

A big thanks to Chanelle from Viglietti Johannesburg for the invite to the event. It was pulled off with precision and passion and I absolutely loved it!

Full album of all the shots from the launch on Facebook here. Please note, the professional photo’s (rather easy to spot) are done by the extremely talented Francois Erasmus Photography who joined me at the launch.