[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ]
Well, we’re about to find out – thanks to a very trusting Samir Thapar, who let me loose in the driver’s seat of his specially tuned 700+bhp Ferrari F430. He must also be the kind of person who would ask Cindy Crawford to remove the trademark mole right above her lip. I say that, of course, because he wasn’t entirely satisfied with the 480 horses that Maranello endowed his F430 with.
Instead, he sought out the handiwork of famed German tuners, Novitec Rosso, and their partners in India – Racetech in Bangalore. The end result – now pay attention – consists of dual superchargers, dual intercoolers (each with its own dedicated water circuit), custom intake manifold, high-flow injectors, more effective radiators and oil coolers, an upgraded engine management system, and a custom exhaust – all of which adds up to over 700 horsepower of sheer Ferrari magic. And I have to tell you straight away, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts – by, oh, so much!
The first indication you get that this is an extra special Ferrari is when you peek into the engine bay through its glass cover, and see that it’s swathed in a blanket of carbon fibre. Look closer and you see the carbon fibre intakes for each of the two superchargers – one for each bank of cylinders. You also notice the beautifully finished stainless-steel custom exhaust. I have to say that the quality of craftsmanship is absolutely impeccable.
Take a step back to soak in the sculpted form, and you notice that the diffuser in the rear and the intake surrounds in the front have been painted red to differentiate this from lesser 430’s (now that’s an oxymoron if there ever was one). The Novitec central lug nut wheels are 19-inches in the front and 20-inches in the rear. And they’re wrapped in super sticky Pirelli Pzero Rosso rubber that measures a road-roller rivalling 345/25 ZR20 in the rear – and that’s much needed, in fact, when attempting to put over 700 horsepower down through the rear wheels onto the road.
[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ]
Twin superchargers or not, any Ferrari is special – and getting into one is an experience to savour. You step into the F430, and you’re enveloped in impeccable red leather hand-stitched by the finest Italian craftsmen. The red leather and yellow piping is all very well – the piece-de-resistance, however, is the view from the rear-view mirror. It doesn’t matter that you can’t see the road behind you, because what you do see are the famed red Ferrari cam covers. Turn around to get a closer look, and the sight of that engine, which will soon be living and breathing just behind your left shoulder, completely takes your breath away.
Right, enough savouring, hit the bright red ‘Engine Start’ button on the steering wheel and the 4.3 litre V8 burbles to life. Jesus, did I just say enough savouring? The Novitec exhaust means that this is one loud Ferrari. It crackles and pops at idle as if it’s scolding you for awakening it from its slumber – it’s truly phenomenal. To be on the safe side, I then choose to adjust the Manettino from ‘Race’ to ‘Sport’ – and if you’ve ever seen Samir drive, you’ll know just why it’s probably always set in Race. Flick the right-hand-side column-mounted paddle to engage first gear and you’re off. Immediately, you feel every minute change in the surface of the cobble stone driveway.
Get out onto the road, put your foot in it, and its immediate tunnel vision – the scenery on both sides of you simply turns into a blur. The revs rise like you can’t believe – the belt driven superchargers certainly don’t rob the engine of any of its ferocity. You can hear the superchargers suck in air at low revs, but once on the move it’s just savage. Step on the throttle with any sort of urgency, and you can literally feel Ferrari’s F1 heritage through the seat of your pants – and hear it too through your bursting ear drums. This F430 certainly sounds better than any race car I’ve ever heard this side of an F1 car.
[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ]
Despite the immense power though, you just feel immediately comfortable in the car. You expect to be intimidated by the 700 horses, but the F430 can handle it and then some. It simply puts you at ease to flex your right foot at will, which gives you wheelspin in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd – right up to 120km/h. And that’s in Sport mode – imagine what it would be like if you turned the traction control off. The only thing that played spoiled sport to a degree was the transmission – I couldn’t quite figure out when, and how, it wanted me to shift. I’ve never been a fan of these semi-automatic transmissions, and would bet that the dual-clutch on the 458 would be far better.
Essentially, our road-test meant conducting a race from speed-breaker to speed-breaker. And the first one I came up against could well have claimed some damage, because the carbon ceramic discs took a little while to heat up and really start working. In fact, Racetech is also putting in an upgraded brake package to go with the extra power. The only other problem I anticipated to some extent was overheating – especially since we were idling quite a bit to cater to a demanding photographer. But, frankly, the car didn’t miss a beat all afternoon – it’s extremely usable without the need for any special treatment.
[ Attachment Invalid Or Does Not Exist ]
But with the kind of raw, savage, and instant power that this F430 produces, it truly does need a racetrack to come alive. On the road, it’s like a caged beast aching to be set free. And with the F1 track coming up, I’m willing to bet that it becomes its second home – which is just as well, it’s where it belongs.
And now if you want your own dose of Prancing Horse magic, you only need the requisite funds because Ferrari is officially coming to India – starting with a dealership in the Capital. And, after seeing the level of work that was done on this F430 in Bangalore, it really does seem as though the Indian market has finally come of age. As for this beast, I can’t remember the last time a car completely blew me away.
If I’m honest, I went into this test believing that it was actually blasphemous to modify a Ferrari, but I came away baptized into believing that it is actually possible to improve on perfection – all you need is more power!
Apr 11
