Ferrari F430

[neal1980]

Had a bit of an encounter with a Ferrari 430 last night. Had several goes from 0-140 and gotta say not impressed. My 1996 TVR Chimaera two up was right along side him all the way and he was certainly trying.

Yes there awesome looking and very sexy but if this is one of Ferrari's fastest cars then I will stop saving now :-P Looking at the figures there just too heavy in my opinion thats the price to pay for stupid safety gizmos.

[stimmers]

Have to say, it doesn't sound like a very accurate 'test' on the 430's speed. Where did this 140 mph 'race' happen.

Also, straight line speed is over rated IMO. Its the entire package that counts. Speed, Handling, Looks, Noise, History, Passion, sense of occasion.

You want straight line pace get a Caterham or a Highly mod'd Jap car

[EL77]

That's just what i'd expect a TVR driver to say!!!

[stimmers]

neal1980 said:

if this is one of Ferrari's fastest cars then I will stop saving now

It's not. The FXX, Enzo, F50, 430 Scud , 599 would be

[walkersport]

I am not surprised, you cannot hide large girth with horsepower, there are a lot of very fast cars about which if you read EVO mag parring a Scooby STI against a Gallardo shows how committed you have to be these days. A couple of years ago I raced an NSX powered kit car at Oulton Park, As the BritCar entry was small we were asked to run with them to bolster the numbers, (A free extra race - how could we refuse) so your Championship had a pet talk on how these where ex works touring cars and to keep our witts about us, anyhow We came 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th (our cars where Radicals, Caterham HPC, Fisher Fury (Me) and an R500 Caterham) Britcar were well Pi*sed, Anyhow the moral of the story was weight. The Ferrari is an experience but on most roads a very quick car will keep up! I would keep saving!

[neal1980]

It was a bit of fun but was just expecting him to tear off at an alarming rate and it didnt. Sounded nice. Im not sgging off the ferrari at all excellent machine. Excellent stopping, handling the list goes on it would run rings round mine on a track. And lets face it the looks...mmmm

I knew you would get the usual "trust a TVR owner to say that" comment but you cant deny performance per pound the TVR's are excellent value!

[taaffy]

The standard performance figures for the 4.0 chimaera say that it should get nowhere near a 430's performance...

Chimaera 4.0 High compression model
0-60 .... 4.7
0-100 ....12.1
top speed ..158mph

Ferrari f430
0-60 ... 3.9
0-100....9.2
top speed...196mph

In conclusion you were probably better at extracting the performance from a standstill than the Ferrari driver was..... the standard time difference figure for both cars is huge by the time both cars have reached 100mph.

Tvr's though do sound awesome and are as fast as most people need to go without traction control...

Edited by taaffy on Monday 9th June 14:26

[neal1980]

I agree with what your saying probably just a bit of a ponce behind the wheel. Mine is modified slightly heads, cam, standalone ECU, but like I said I thought it would bomb off in the distance but it didnt. I will look for another victim tonight on the way home

[taaffy]

Modified Tvr's are an unknown quantity....how much power are you pushing.

[neal1980]

Have no idea seems to pull very well tho maybe close to 300, Will get it on the rollers after the turbo conversion is finished

[pinchmeimdreamin]

There is also the fact the F430 driver is probably alot more worried about bending his car than you are,
I had some fun with a F430 spider at the weekend in the focus and i too was expecting him to leave me for dead but he was alot more cautious and only managed to pull away slowly.

Mind you it did make my day and he got a big thumbs up and smile from me when i passed him (only because he let me past though )

Edited by pinchmeimdreamin on Monday 9th June 14:52

Edited by pinchmeimdreamin on Monday 9th June 14:52

[gizard]

It's horses for courses - I had a modified Noble until recently and it was great fun - and would probably blow most TVR's away - but now I have a 430 and it's whole different ball game - now as for the noise and gearchange with F1 Also I am pleasantly surprised at the build quality of the 430 - it's great.

Edited by gizard on Monday 9th June 15:19

[neal1980]

I would of said a modified Noble would of been as quick or quicker than a F430! Those things are insane I heard one in Shirley pulling away...thats a noise! and very low weight as well

[bertie]

If all you want to do is accelerate really fast, get a motorbike.

Using that logic there are 1000 MitsuSubaru EvoPrezzas that are faster and therefore better.

There's a lot more to owning a car than the 0-100 time.

I loved TVRs, I had 6, but you can't compare them to and F430 in any way.

And if you are modifying you Chimaera, please tell me you're doing some saftey mods to deal with side impact / roll over.

[taaffy]

If straightline acceleration is your bag , then a 450kg,300bhp supercharged Ariel Atom with circa 600 bhp/tonne is the way to go..... for me though the whole experience is far more important than how many other road users I can out accelerate. Ferrari as a marque gives this experience in bucketloads.....

No other car has made me feel the way I now do as a Ferrari owner.....Heritage,noise,passion,looks, Ferrari gives it all.

I'm not too naieve to think that my 360 is the fastest thing on the road. Though in the scale of things any car that gets to 60 in 4 and a bit secs and tops out at 185mph as the 360 does is fast. But there is far more depth to owning a Ferrari than just speed.

I like a good tussle now and again, but there has to be a line that cannot be crossed for reasons of safety before someone does something stoopid and causes a pile up.That line can sometimes be construed as losing when in one of these tussles...

Edited by taaffy on Monday 9th June 16:17

[neal1980]

Side impact mods are you crazy thats extra weight

These conversations always get really carried away, fact is the Ferrari is awesome that I had a play with. Maybe he was scared to crash etc. Yes I would love one! Im not saying its slow or anything like that just didnt seem to leave me thinking WOW! Well the styling did but thats another chat..

As stated cars esp modified can kick ass, my old Cossy Powered Mk4 Escort was a genuine 428bhp 4X4 and stripped out AND WOULD leave my TVR for DEAD.

Have you never been surprised to keep up with a car that has supposidly miles more power that yours....????

[taaffy]

Yep ......in my old MK1 XR2 I easily kept up with a lotus Esprit ......then the lights changed to green ........lol

[WTFWT?!]

stimmers said:

Its the entire package that counts. Speed, Handling, Looks, Noise, History, Passion, sense of occasion.

You want straight line pace get a Caterham or a Highly mod'd Jap car

I would say that the Caterham has all the above attributes, no?

[Sarnie]

[quote=WTFWT?!]

stimmers said:

Its the entire package that counts. Speed, Handling, Looks, Noise, History, Passion, sense of occasion.

You want straight line pace get a Caterham or a Highly mod'd Jap car

I would say that the Caterham has all the above attributes, no?

No.

Edited by Sarnie on Tuesday 10th June 08:32

[Chris355]

You dont necessarily drive a ferrari for its straightline speed. There are lots of reasons why there may not have been much difference; could be he was short shifting, not trying, accelerated in the wrong gear, protecting the clutch...

The fact is the book stats show that the 430 is considerably faster. A few seconds doesnt sound like very much but when you see it is considerable - watch one of the old clarkson videos where there race a load of super cars in a straightline.

Of course you also have to remember that the 430 will go round corners very well, is extremely reliable, has amazing heritage and is an event to drive! But then I would say that as I am a serious ferrari fan and wouldnt buy anything else when it comes to supercars.