Ferrari F430 Scuderia

I used the first of my three laps of the Ferrari test track in the new 360 Challenge Stradale to suss out the circuit, the second to pick up the pace and the third to crash. Shame, I'd had a good day up until then.

Earlier on, lowering myself into the carbon-fibre bucket seat of the new Ferrari, there had been no nerves, only boyish excitement as I set out for a session of road driving before taking to the track in the afternoon. The Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale is the new, hot version of the 360 Modena. 'Stradale' means 'road compatible', 'usable' and that, essentially, is what it is - a road legal version of the cars racing in the 360 Challenge series. Lighter, leaner, lower and faster than a 360 Modena, it's the Saxo VTS of the range. So a bit of fear then, maybe just a light film of sweat over the brow. The tension isn't reduced by the fact that stripped-out racer though this is, it still weighs in at £133,025. That's an extra 30 grand over the 360 Modena.

Three hundred Ferrari owners take part in the Ferrari Pilota driving courses every year, and on average most Ferraris spend 10 per cent of their time on tracks. So there is a demand for a Ferrari with the emphasis on track performance rather than luxury.

For the Stradale, Ferrari has trimmed an impressive 110kg off the 360 Modena, most of it from the body with the rest coming from the engine and the fitting of F1-developed, carbon-ceramic brakes.

The 3.5-litre engine has been buffed up and tweaked to give 420bhp, an extra 20bhp over the 360 Modena. This makes it the most powerful normally-aspirated Ferrari V8 ever and, together with the reduced weight, means a 0-62mph time of 4.2 seconds.

But despite bearing a price tag big enough to drain the colour from even the blackest Amex card, the Stradale is, right from the start, as accessible and welcoming to drive as a Lotus Elise, albeit with three times the power.

It takes only minutes, and a spot of clear road, before I find myself exploiting the full rev range. The sound is beautiful, a high pitched, urgent yelp and bark as the F1-style paddle-shift gearbox automatically blips on fast downchanges.

The ride is perhaps the most amazing thing. In a car so focused and determined, you brace your backside in anticipation of a brutal battering from a no-compromise, race-car ride. But no, it soaks away the bumps and ridges of even the most vulgar stretches of road with all the confidence of a luxury saloon, albeit whilst keeping you directly informed about what's going on down below.

Braking into corners, there is a barely discernible dip of the front end and then such reassuring grip from those Pirelli tyres (unique to the car) that the road is really not the place to find the limits of the Stradale. The titanium front and rear springs are stiffer than on the 360 Modena and the rear anti-roll bar is a larger diameter. As result, there is next to no roll and steering input results in immediate and confident changes in direction. The carbon-ceramic brakes too are sensational. Smoothly progressive, they operate with gentle but firm insistence and even after several hours of hard road driving, there is not the slightest sign of them fading.

A deeper front spoiler, re-sculpted sills and smooth underbody improve the aerodynamics of the Stradale over the Modena and give a 50 per cent increase in downforce. Another advantage of an aerodynamically optimised, smooth underside is that there are no awkward bits of metal hanging down to get caught on the road when the suspension takes a real hammering, which it did on a stretch of mountain road more suited to rally cars than track-oriented Ferraris. So it's tough, then - perhaps tougher than its still glamorous looks might suggest. The Stradale really is a race car and not some Monte Carlo poseur.

And then, back at Ferrari HQ, it was my turn to slip out onto the Fiorano test track. I concentrated on navigation on my first lap. By the second, I was able to taste just how confident, competent and assured the 360 Stradale is on a track. It flatters the driver, it compensates for idiot decisions.

And then came lap three and a sequence of left and right jinks that I assumed a racing driver would 'take flat'. So I tried it. And then I span. I sidled back to the pits where the technicians were waiting to download the timings and, in my case, to pick out the grass from the cars nooks and crannies.

"I span off. Sorry," I muster, with a rather English, apologetic grin.

"It's OK, it happens. No damage," comes the reply.

The Ferrari 360 Stradale is the best road car I have ever driven. It flatters, inspires confidence, rewards effort and copes with real-life roads, race-circuit thrills and film premiere glamour. It's a proper Ferrari: hard, fast and intoxicating. Don't ever say that Ferrari has gone soft. It hasn't.

Richard Hammond