Ray Leathern travels to Kyalami to meet and drive the Ferrari familia. Does he have the respect and skill to survive 12 hours with La Cosa Nostra?
I’m watching ‘The Godfather Part 1’ and it’s almost 11pm but I should really go to bed so I’m bushy-tailed for my red eye flight to Johannesburg. I fly at 6am and take off again at 6pm. Just 12 hours to prove my worth to the Ferrari familia. The invitation saying three Ferraris would be available to drive and ride-along in, on South Africa’s best motor racing circuit, Kyalami, arrived a few days ago and since then everything has been on mute as far as I’m concerned.
Just seeing a Ferrari parked-up is enough of a thrill for me usually; seeing one moving is enough to make it the talking point of the day; seeing one go past at full throttle is usually met with whoops of delight, and now I get to meet virtually the entire range? Madness. So I’m watching ‘The Godfather’ to get my best La Cosa Nostra practices down. You can think of the Ferrari family as the mafia. All the elements are there believe me, and you can think of this day at Kyalami as Don Coreleone’s daughter’s wedding day.
You see, the Godfather cannot refuse any proposal on the day of his daughter’s wedding. That must surely be the only explanation for my rare chance to sample these exquisite machines. But when seeking the Godfather’s counsel you must approach him with respect. If you don’t come seeking friendship you will end up living in fear of being in his debt. That, I cannot do.
Arriving at Kyalami on a crisp, clear, winter’s morning, and being met by a Ferrari FF, a Ferrari California and the majestic Ferrari 458 Italia in the pit lane is like finding three red oases in amongst the beige of Gauteng winter. I’ve never needed friends like these before but now the familia has welcomed me into their fold, I approach with respect and I bath the exotic machines in my appreciation. ‘Grazi, Prego.’
As it turns out, to enjoy this privilege I don’t even need to go into someone’s house and do murder. In fact, I go for an out-lap but then straight back in for an in-lap. That’s plenty, thank you very much. Then after I’m done bungling the hit, a real Ferrari Corsa Pilota (Ferrari track driver) will show me what these thoroughbreds can really do at full throttle.
At the hands of these men, these cars feel simply invincible. They feel like the velvet glove of power, respect and influence. If a man like myself should make enemies, they would certainly become the families’ enemies, and then they will fear me. That’s kind of how it feels, as my heart swells with emotion.
First up is the Ferrari FF, the V12 monster with all-wheel drive and a car that is to all intents and purposes a successor to the 612 Scaglietti. With its wailing, angry, V12 soundtrack it’s a car I’ve driven on the road before but, oddly, one that felt a little better on the wide open expanses of Kyalami. On the road it felt enormous.
Here, I had the space to get on with the job of rifling through those bullet-fast gear changes. The steering still felt a little too light for my taste but the FF can be commended for that self-same ‘light touch’ when you remember it weighs virtually two tons (with two or three up in the car, as we were). The 6.3-litre V12 engine is a masterpiece, as is the subliminally fast seven-speed double clutch gearbox.
With 486 kW and 638 Nm of torque, the same engine, albeit a bit more pumped up, won Performance Engine of the Year in its iteration of the F12berlinetta. I commend the jury on that choice. It is exquisite to behold. The FF is still the most powerful car I’ve ever driven and the one with the highest theoretical top speed (335 km/h). 0 – 100 km/h is done and dusted in just 3.7 seconds. Marco, the Italian test driver, said he liked the FF because of what he called its ‘devil nature.’
How it can be a comfortable, secure, Gran Turismo (and people carrier in Fezza terms) in one instance and then transform into a thundering psychopath with a few flicks on the ‘manetinno.’ If the FF were in ‘The Godfather Part 1’ it would be Luca Brasi, the slightly ponderous looking hit-man who’s still cold-blooded to the bone.
When you are indebted to La Cosa Nostra, they tell you that someday, and boy Georgio you pray that that day never comes; you’ll be called upon to do a service for the family. For many at Kyalami, that deed of service was to go out in the Ferrari California. The Fredo Corleone of the family: the one that never applied itself; the one that got passed over by the family in favour of Michael.
Or so everyone thought about the California at first. Yes, the California is the most awkward looking (what is with those vast gaps in the wheel arches?), the slowest and cheapest Ferrari of the lot. And when it comes to Ferraris being cheap that isn’t necessarily the best thing, surely? But By Jove you underestimate this car at your peril. It has the same engine and transmission as the Ferrari 458, albeit positioned at the front of the car and slightly de-tuned.
One easily forgets the statistics: 360 kW and 505 Nm of torque from the direct injection V8. A 0 – 100 km/h sprint in 3.8 seconds, 312 km/h top speed, launch control, E-differential, two small rear seats, 1600-odd kg and a folding hard top roof that is 5 kg lighter than the F430’s old soft top. Although it’s hardly a definitive comparison, but certainly compared to what I would later experience in the 458 Italia, the California is less delicate, playful or flamboyant.
The combination of its unique quadrilateral front suspension and multi-link rear, keeps the California very tidy and composed, but if you were being harsh you might say it’s a little pedestrian even. That’s not fair I suppose, if you compare it to the perfection that is the Ferrari 458 Italia. Soon enough I’ll get the chance to test the Ferrari California on the roads, I have no doubt I’ll come away from that drive melted to its charms.
Before repatriating these cars, however, and sending them back to Italy, it was time to meet my most valued friend. Clearly my father who art in heaven made Don Corleone an offer he couldn’t refuse and now I was going to drive the Ferrari 458 Italia. The car that’s so beautiful you can scarcely pull your eyes wide enough to capture all the beauty as it flits past. Lap after lap; each turn through pit-lane all the days attendees stood by, mesmerised by its delicate yet brutal charms.
The 458 Italia needs no extra introduction and I’m sure between the short video (below) and my fleeting impressions you’ll get a well-rounded picture of it. You’re all aware of the specifications: 425 kW and 540 Nm from the 4.5-litre V8 that revs to 9 250 r/min, or about the 140 kg of downforce created by the front and rear diffusers. But to speak in specifications about such an exquisite car doesn’t even feel correct in its company somehow. La Cosa Nostra is about religious, sacred relationships. The Godfather never asks a second favour once he’s been refused the first and the 458 Italia has an almost divine countenance about how it drives.
Sure, I went out and fiddled with it a bit, trying to take in as much as I could in the time allotted. The sound is loud and utterly spine-chilling, the gear changes are perfect, there’s no other word for them. The steering is delicate, light, but ‘all there’ in every respect. The brake pedal is very hard under your foot, presumably to offset spinning out should the driver jump on the brakes too excitedly.
The lights that flash on the top of the steering wheel (four of them) to tell you when to change gear, are mesmerising. The view of the two banks of the V8 in your rear-view mirror snuffling and throbbing under acceleration and decelerating creates pure excitement in you as you hammer along. But the true joy was feeling Marco Jacoboni, FXX racer and Ferrari Corsa Pilota, taking it around with all the driver aids off. I’ve experienced some pretty impressive ride-alongs before, but Marco took this 425 kW machine by the scruff of the neck like it was nothing more intimidating than a Toyota 86.
Mr. Corleone is a man who insists in hearing bad news immediately and should that ever happen, Marco is the man to get that bad news to him without delay and with flamboyance only a Ferrari racing driver can deliver. Even from the passenger seat I could feel his millimetric control of the machine; imperceptibly getting the back to break away on the brakes, into a corner, and then pinning that power to the rear tyres either in the form of smoking slides or slingshot-like traction. Brutal in sound and acceleration but with supple, fluid, responses that make any other car feel like they’re plodding around with hooves.
I can put my hand on my heart and say that the Ferrari 458 Italia is totally without fault. Ferrari could and will improve it even more when the lighter, faster, harder ‘Scuderia,’ ‘Challenge Stradale’ or ‘Monte Carlo’ version of the 458 arrives later. But I’m not at all surprised to hear that over 200 Ferrari 458’s have been bought in South Africa. One day I’ll be called upon by the familia to repay the generosity they have shown me this day. I will repay my debt gladly…
