We knew that the car would arrive in South Africa sometime and we also knew that the car would have a launch at their magnificent new showroom but we never knew it would be so soon which is fantastic. This car has only been seen by a handful of select clients and markets and the South African launch is probably only the third or fourth launch worldwide. I could not wait to see what their new twin-turbo V8 supercar looked like and I was most certainly not disappointed.
Other than turbocharging the engine, the most significant improvements on the car would have to be the revolutionary aerodynamics. At the back there is a blown rear spoiler which channels air over the engine cover and through a gap at the back causing the car to be sucked onto the road. There are channels all over the car and you can see the air outlets at the back in the center and next to the rear lights. This car now produces 325 kg of downforce at 250 km/h but at the same time the 488 GTB has a drag co-efficient of just 1.67 which is a record for a Ferrari.
The dynamic vehicle controls of the car have also evolved with Side Slip Control System (SSC2) which now integrates with the car’s dampers as well as the F1-trac and E-Diff systems. This is pretty much to allow non-professional racing drivers to explore and exploit the full potential of this supercar. The show car was finished in a colour they call Grigio Ferro Met and the interior was plastered in black and Beige Tradizione.
The numbers:
- V8
- 3902 cm3
- 492 kW
- 760 Nm
- 1370 kg
- 0 to 100 km/h in 3.0 s (will probably be faster than this)
- 0 to 200 km/h in 8.3 s
- 11.4 l/100km
