sampelligrino

Yessir, I loved the 488 especially as my very first Fcar. There's just something else about the drama, passion, heritage, legacy, and thrill of driving a Ferrari IMO and that's just not something you can quantify via dyno/scale or whatever. Call it Italian kool aid maybe, limoncello, brunello, whatever but I am guzzling it. I just missed some of the rawness and aggression that the GT3 had, vs how seamlessly easy the 488 was at full boil. Mixing the two together, I ended up in the 458 Speciale

GrantG

Very cool If it had a Gated Manual option, I'd be seriously interested too.

Any plans to experience it on a track?
I remember your Nürburgring laps with the GT3 and reminded of them by your avatar

sampelligrino

Haha thanks Grant. What's funny is Chris Harris says in his Speciale review that if this car had a manual, it would be too much to handle and I'd probably agree with him

No plans to take her to the track, I am smitten with the cruises up the coast and just taking her into the canyons so far. To be fair I've never been much of a track guy, my lap at the Ring was and still is the only lap on a track I've ever done. Pretty thrilling to do it at the Green Hell in your first high end 911 you paid cash for, only with some (outstanding) messages from kobalt with advice (and warnings) lol

Also, I said that in my prior post that nothing can touch the attributes of a Ferrari but that's not true, it's just that there is something else about a Ferrari that I find myself appreciating more and more over time. I still love Porsche, and have my 50th which I also plan to keep.
Oh and I am never changing my avatar, that was a dream come true in many ways

Maverick787

you’ve done well that car is sweet. Only so much power is usable, and enjoy in good health

sampelligrino

Thanks man!! Appreciate the kind words. I've never named any of my cars, but if I wanted to name this one I'd call her goldilocks

GrantG

Great sentiment

I'm glad that I was able to have a Ferrari for a short time (nothing as cool as Speciale though). Was fun having twice the cylinders I'm used to.

If you're One And Done on track laps, you certainly were discriminating with your choice

Enjoy it in good health!

br911

Curiously enough, I have never driven a 458 until this past Sunday. Took a friend's Spider for a spin. All I can say is...drama. Quite different from any GT3 variants. Track - GT3 for sure. Spin on a Sunday, 458. I never liked the attention of F, but the drama of the 458 overwhelms the attention negatives. Dyno results are cool, but in the end the experience is what matters. And experience varies with the purpose of the drive. Just my $.02

maroli

I don't think it's an unfair comparison because of the price difference. The Ferrari may be from 10 years ago but still costs what a 911.2 GT3 costs today so people might be cross shopping. The Ferrari might FEEL faster due to the torque but I've seen plenty of side-by-side drags to indicate there should be very little in it in terms of speed.

RennOracle

you can strap cup r tires from the pista on 458, a thing you can't do on the gt3. That alone would be decisive.
P.S. nurburgring times that have a delta of more than 1 max 2 winters between them are not really valid. With that time delta they are useless, track gets paved/fixed/smoothed out yearly, plus tires got a lot better and Ferrari doesn't do nurburgring lap records so that value has to be from the magazine, such number at least should be compared with the same time that the magazine achieved with the rival car.

AlecG

Maybe “The Ring” does change a bit from season to season but I would bet all that I have on a 991.2 GT3 up against a 458 both on equal rubber.

If you look hard enough you can find very reputable drivers exclaiming that a GT3 will give a Speciale all that it can handle.

Not sure what you’re referring to about the Cup R tires but I slap Hoosier R7’s on my car when it sees track duty and I do extremely well again full fledged race cars at Watkins Glen.

Also compare equal year Porsche Cup Cars vs Ferrari Challenge cars and the deltas are more than significant. It’s not even close. 991 Cup’s put 2-3 seconds a lap on 458 Challenge Cars at Watkins.

That is an eternity in racing. Most teams would sell their own mother for a half second improvement.