Ferrari 488 Pista gets 800hp Novitec treatment
After the Tesla Model 3, Novitec is back in familiar territory with a Pista-based 'Sports Package'
To many - us included - the Ferrari 488 Pista is beyond much improvement. By combining stupendous performance with the sort of chassis dexterity and accessibility no mid-engined, turbocharged Ferrari should really have, it's a genuinely dumbfounding supercar. But still, some people are never happy...
For those very customers, Novitec has now released its range of upgrades for the Pista. Most notably, it has further tweaked the sensational twin-turbo V8, power and torque boosted by 82hp and 94lb ft respectively. You might well recall the fastest 488 was already spectacularly potent; now it's said to produce 802hp and 662lb ft, which are frankly ludicrous numbers for a car that already felt borderline unhinged. That shouldn't be to the detriment of the engine's character, either; peak power and torque as standard are made at 8,000rpm and 3,000rpm respectively, now only changed to 7,950 and 3,100rpm.
The gains are achieved through the usual double act of ECU and exhaust, electronic work meaning reprogrammed ignition and injection maps along with a higher boost pressure limit for the turbochargers. Novitec offers its exhaust in steel or Inconel, and it can be accompanied by 100-cell sports cats as well. Somewhat unbelievably, it's claimed that throttle response is improved further still over a Pista. Oh yeah, and it'll do 214mph...
Novitec hasn't stopped there, either, evidently finding some improvement the rest of us hadn't yet discovered. New carbon fibre spoilers front and rear are said to further reduce lift, which is quite some achievement on a Pista, a range of Vossen forged wheels might be the only things more expensive than Ferrari's carbon ones, and the ride height can be lowered by 35mm. If that's what you think a Pista needs.
Alright, so it's hard not to be a bit intrigued by the prospect of an 800hp 488. Because a Pista feels like it already has that as standard. The other modifications are little trickier to get the head around, though clearly they wouldn't have been developed if the demand did not exist. The entire Sports Package is available to order now (or as individual parts) and, should one be lacking a Pista donor car, four are currently for sale here in the PH classifieds...
Novitec seem to have removed this flexibility by making it harder and noisier all the time.
What’s the betting the mapping actually makes it slower over a B road as well.
t crazy from Novitec as per usual, but this Pista still looks really cool despite their efforts. Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff