Hi all,

I had the opportunity to drive a Ferrari F430 F1 today. I drove it around the city and did some highway driving for about 20mins so not that long. Initial impressions were that I loved the gearbox and the interior/seating position. I really liked how it feels like something exotic. I had better forward vision in the F430 than in my car, but rearward visibility is a bit tough.

In terms of controls and feel, the steering wheel seemed a bit big and the weight a bit artificial. I certainly could not read the road as well as in the GT3. The brakes were rock hard (steel brakes) and required quite a push to get them working. At the same time, the throttle was extremely sensitive and reminded me of my Ducati 748, where you had to be oh-so-gentle.

The masterpiece of course is the engine which sounds glorious and revs and revs and revs. With the F1 gearbox and this engine, you could stay in the powerband forever and never come back down to earth. I could just imagine how incredible this package would be on a twisty, deserted road.

I wasn't a huge fan of paddle-shifters in the past, but I'd take the F430 with the F1 gearbox in a heartbeat. It made city driving effortless and quite frankly, if I owned that car, I'd probably find a tunnel and do as many up/downshifts as I could, it sounds so good when it blips the throttle.

It's a wonderful car with handling that is similar to the GT3. It gives up a bit of congruency in control feel to the GT3, but makes up for it with the technology packed gearbox/engine/chassis. If money were no object, I'd love to park one of these in my garage... next to the GT3. Bang for the buck, the GT3 wins hands-down; I'd almost call it a relative bargain.

One thing is for sure though after this drive, I will own an F430 one day!

 

The steering feeling is linked to the floppy Pirelli street tires. Ligther wheels (the stock ones are too heavy) and DOT-R tires should improve the feeling.

Did the car you drive have the Daytona seats? How much fuel did it have? Did the car feel that much heavier than your 997 GT3?

Thanks

 

The car had the sport seats with the big bolsters. I'm not sure if those are daytona or not. They held me in place very well, albeit they are a bit wide for my small body. Not sure if it's adjustable as I did not want to change the owner's seat settings too much.

The car did not feel heavier to me. It actually felt lighter in some ways because you're not man-handling this heavy clutch like you do in the GT3 and it seems like there is more torque down low to get you moving along from a standstill. I only spent 20mins with the car though so my comments should be taken in that context.

 

The reason I ask about the weight feeling, and the fuel load and seats, is that these F430 can be anywhere 3,100 lbs and 3,400 lbs depending on options and fuel load.

Sport Seats




Standard Seats




Daytona Seats

 

These are great -- this is carbon sport seat that ended when the airbag laws changed in '05, no? I like the red over black Spider (in a 6-spd.) Appealing car and a nice retained resale value. : )

 

Those images are broken for me

 

That must be your Porsche-tuned retina refusing to see anything with an Italian curve.

 

I actually installed the earlier 360 sport seats in mine; the improvement in headroom vs. the Daytonas was dramatic. The F1 box is awesome, but sometimes you want to shift manually. If I had a 612 or a 599, I'd probably order the F1; if my number comes up on a California, I might take the manual.

The car, imo, feels very light in spite of its weight. The GT3 feels more planted. I love driving them both, but the GT3 gets more use because it is so versatile.

I park mine side by side; the Rosso clashes with the Signal Orange...

 

Okay, that makes sense -- I was just looking at a modified 360 with those seats and I wasn't sure when those seats were no longer available. I saw an '05 430 and the owner said his order did not get sports seats because of the thorax airbag requirement.

If you get a California, a key to its appeal will be the next dual clutch box from Ferrari. I don't know that they're even offering a 6-spd box in any Ferrari after the last '08 cars are built in the next month or two at the latest.

 

No seriously, those images are broken

- i fixed it by going to ferrarichat and logging in

 

My wife doesn't like the plain black seats; she wants them reupholstered and updated (they can use the shell from the old seats and make the look like the ones above; mine are smooth everywhere, without the upholstered bulges).

I think the Scuderia has the carbon seats?

 

The Scuderia seats are very nice (and funnily enough probably cost less than the GT3 shell seats ...) but the open weave is not exactly the most durable looking stuff I've ever sat in for a track car. I'm told ordering any Scuderia-specific parts will require a VIN and I'm also told any protracted conversation about Ferraris on Rennlist will be met with harshly! : )

You could just get this Scuderia on eBay and use the seats ...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=230264290864

ps. There's tons of Scuderia pics on fchat and flist.

 

Had a 360 and drove a 430. Neither car has the delicate steering feel of the GT3 IMO. Very direct steering, with almost no slop, but didn't feel as alive as the 911. That was my biggest complaint about the 360. While I have not driven a 430 in anger, at least in the 360 the chassis didnt communicate what the rear wheels were doing as well as the GT3.

But they are special cars, and you feel it the moment you get behind the wheel. Not sure I'd ever get one to *replace* a 911, but surely to complement one.

 

thats exactly how i felt after i had a go in my mate's f430...

but the GT3 sounds better IMO, more brutal and nature..i do prefer f430's start up sound, u get lots attentions, other than that, like the steering feel, the sound is just too artificial to me.

 

You get a lot of attention when you start one up? Awesome! I'm getting one because I love attention.