430 Scuderia: hot-lapping Ferrari's fastest car

The opportunity to drive the Ferrari 430 Scuderia around Ferrari's test track in Maranello, Italy, is something dreams are made of. Literally.

But before I’d even stepped foot in Ferrari’s most potent road car ever, my stomach was tensing with anticipation and a tinge of nervousness. Here at Drive we get to sample plenty of new cars, often exotic, fast and expensive. But it’s not everyday the opportunity arises to sample an ultra-exclusive Ferrari at the home of Ferrari.

After all, the Ferrari 430 Scuderia is not just a quick car, it’s the fastest Ferrari road car to ever lap the company’s Fiorano test track in Italy. Its lap time of 1 minute, 25 seconds (around the slower track) is one and a half seconds faster than the V12-powered 599 GTB. It also matches the more powerful, V12 Ferrari Enzo, the $1.8 million supercar bearing the name of the Italian company's founder.

Little wonder, then, that I’m somehow trying to convince myself that I definitely don’t want to be testing the airbags of the 430 Scuderia. After all, any minor slip up could all but end my plans to continue in this line of work for years to come. Or leave a customer waiting another 12 months to join the queue for Ferrari’s latest and greatest. Oh yeah, that and the fact that even the latest advanced safety systems don’t provide any guarantees.

Thankfully, my first experience in the 430 Scuderia doesn’t come alone. I’m not even in the driver’s seat.

Instead I’m sitting alongside Ferrari Formula One test driver Marc Gene, the man responsible for developing the championship-winning Ferrari Formula One cars. One of the fastest drivers in the world.

Gene, who has competed in 36 grands prix, quickly demonstrates what the 430 Scuderia is supremely capable and potently quick. Blasting around the 3.0-kilometre Fiorano test track, Gene takes me on two fast laps.

During lap one he keeps the 430 Scuderia’s electronics switched on, demonstrating the capabilities of the Formula One-developed technology that helps keep the car on the track and better divert the 375kW of power to the bitumen. Our lap is blisteringly quick and clean, with the car barely flinching throughout.

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