Ferrari has revealed its latest 'gentleman's' racer, the 458 Challenge. The new car will be eligible for competition in next year's Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli one-make series.
The direct-injection 4497cc V8 is carried over unchanged from the 458 Italia road car, although 562bhp at 9000rpm is hardly going to leave it underpowered. The gear ratios and calibration of the dual-clutch gearbox have been tweaked, however, to bring higher torque at lower revs. The 458 Challenge is also equipped with the E-Diff electronic differential already employed on the road-going version, a first for a Ferrari race car.
In an effort to reduce the car's weight, Ferrari's engineers have reduced the thickness of the bodyshell panels, while liberal use of lightweight materials, such as carbon fibre and Lexan, help to push the car's weight down further.
Ferrari isn't saying exactly how much weight it has shaved from the Italia to create the challenge, but it's enough to get the car around the company's Fiorano test track in 1min 16.5secs, two seconds quicker than the F430 Challenge can manage, generating an impressive 1.6g of lateral grip along the way.
No doubt helping with that rapid lap time and huge grip on offer is a bespoke suspension set-up featuring solid aluminium bushings, stiffer springs, single-rate dampers, centre-nut 19in alloys, Pirelli slicks and a ride height lowered by 30mm all round. It also gets the Brembo CCM2 brakes from the 599XX.
The 458 Challenge is also the first Ferrari one-make racer to get the F1-Trac traction control system. Two specific track-biased calibrations - wet and dry - have been developed for the 458 Challenge, while the system is integrated with the E-Diff to help traction out of corners.