Sports Car Forum - MotorWorld.net - Ferrari Challenge Stradale photoshoot and track ride

At the last FCA party, I was chatting with one my friends - John. We were discussing great Ferrari models over the decades. I mentioned that I felt that the CS is perhaps the best modern Ferrari in the last 20 years. He has a CS too and loves it dearly.

Well, one thing lead to another and he said "Why don't you come over on Friday and we can go for a drive in the CS". I thought we would be going for a short drive around his neighbourhood but he emailed me the night before to bring my helmet as we were going to the MSR Houston track and run the CS through her paces. I was ecstatic as you can quite imagine. The CS in its element. Perfect! 8)

And so I showed up bright and early on the appointed day at his place. The car was waiting with the engine already warmed up. The color is Le Mans blue - it is a non- metallic shade unlike the TdF. Both are wonderful colors and perhaps my favorites on a CS.
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I put my stuff in the trunk and then we were off. Driving around his neighbourhood at moderate speeds to warm up the CCCBs and tires, I had a chance to glance around the cockpit and soak in the details.

The CS feels purposefully detailed inside. Lovely features grab your eye everywhere - the bare door panels, the plain and thin rubber carpet, the lack of stereo, alcantara on the upper cockpit. There is a lot of CF visible.

While in most cars the CF is a pure cosmetic add-on with negligible weight savings, here in the CS with the rest of the car stripped out, the CF fits perfectly naturally.
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A nice feature is the right upshift paddle is longer than the left one to facilitate upshifting while exiting the corners - i.e. while the wheel is still turned.
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This is a cockpit constructed for the business of driving. It is like a modern F40 with better build quality. 8)
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Compared to the 348 which is quite airy itself, there is a lot more room in all directions in the CS.

Unlike the 348 however, the visibility to the sides is a lot poorer due to smaller windows, high window frames. Similarly towards the rear, the visibility is worse as the rear of the car is set high up for aerodynamic reasons. At the front is quite nice with the rounded wheel arches visible from the driver seat - cool!

The seats are quite comfortable for short stints. I think it could do with a bit more cushioning though - I felt that sitting on it for 8 hours straight would give me a sore butt. The suede holds you better than leather would. I think John had gone for the large spec seats. If it were me buying the car, I would have gone for the small or medium one instead to hug me closer. :) John had put in some racing belts with a roll bar at the rear. Unfortunately the belts were set up too loosely for me in the passenger seat which is why I was not belted in properly. More on that later.
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I was rudely awoken from my musing about the interior by what seemed to be an angry creature screaming behind me. It was the engine waking up. John now began to use more revs while leaving the stop lights. The acceleration is tremendous about on par with a stock C5 Z06. The RT12 I have been is perhaps the only quicker car that I have personally been on.
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It sounds fantastic with proper intake roar and exhaust bellow. Inside the car, I would say it is about 15-20% percent better than my 348 while outside it is 50% better sounding. The sound at 8000rpm is awe inspiring. I think a 348 with tubi and hyperflow cats will narrow the sound quality difference to the CS by more than half. At normal cruising speeds, the noise is as loud as my 348 - so it is not obtrusive on a long drive.

The gearbox shifts very smoothly at medium engine speeds (say under 6K rpms). This is true even in race mode. The downshifts are really cool to hear with the blipping and shift happening very rapidly. He can go thru about 2-3 shifts in the time it would take me to do one shift in the 348. :D

Near the redline though, the upshifts are a lot more brutal particularlly in race mode. The race mode stiffens the suspension up and increases the throttle response as well. Also the traction control is less obtrusive in this mode. John always drives in race mode 8) Did I mention that he raced dragsters in the 60s and 70s and his brother used to race in Can Am? Also John owns a fantastic collection of cars - CS, 550 M, F430 (for his wife), C6 Z06, MB GL450, Boxster S. That's just his road car collection. He and his brother own a couple race cars including the Radical Supersport, a 70s Lola Can Am car, some Formula Renaults/ Formula Mazda, Porsche GT3R. So let's just say he is not afraid of a little wheelspin ;)

From a ride standpoint - you do feel the car moving about in race mode but it is quite compliant in the normal mode. I think with the lower ride and longish front overhang height you need to be quite careful when entering parking lots or strip malls to avoid scraping the front undertray.

Driving to the track, I asked John about what he thought about the current crop of super sportscars - apart from the ones he owned, he has driven the Ford GT, Bugatti EB110S and a few others. He was very complementary of the user friendliness and raw power of the Z06. It does very well on the track. He said his background of driving powerful front engine cars for 30 years+ makes it easier to deal with the Z06's front engine dynamics. He had learn how to deal with rear engine cars when he got the CS. He said he spun more times in the CS trying to find its limits than in the other cars put together :lol: He thought the Ford GT was perhaps the class apart in terms of overall performance.

The Ferrari appeals to him most in the area of driver involvement. He said to get the best out of the car, you really need to pay attention and focus on your driving. More effort = More reward. By contrast he said the Z06 was effective in its speed and grip thanks to its monster engine, brakes and tires but hardly as involving.

He said of all the cars he has driven, it was the CS that seemed to remind him the best about his race cars. 8)

He concluded by saying the CS is the only road car in his collection that he will never part with. I told him to look after it for a few years and I will make him an offer he cannot refuse ;)

By now, we reached the track and after signing up we found that we had to wait a bit as the track was currently being used by Spec racers and other Formula cars.

So we parked at his race shop and I took some snaps of his car
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I looked inside his race shop. There was the Radical there along with a bunch of open wheel cars and a GT3 Cup that look liked it needed some attention.
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Finally it was time to hit the track. I took my camcorder along for the session. (The video is currently being loaded to the vault). Sadly because of the loose seat belts I was really being flung about quite violently and it resulted in a shaky video. Sucks! But, Hey at least you can hear the sound of the CS around the track.

John wanted to take it easy and re-familiarize himself with the car around the track. So we werent really doing all out laps. I was sort of glad as I thought I would get ejected thru the window thanks to the loose seatbelts :lol:

The CS has lots of grip, killer brakes that don't quit, sharp turn in with no discernable understeer. We were on Pilot Sport Cups and not the stock Pirelli Corsas. The acceleration was fierce enough to pin you firmly into the seat quite unlike the 348 sad to say. The F1 tranny was an absolutely perfect weapon on the track with rapidfire shifts which didnt unsettle the car under braking. You can brake really deep into corners with this car thanks to the CCCB brakes and F1 shifting.

The engine exhorts you to pin the throttle down to hear the sweet music at high rpms. John reckons that the CS and 430 are equally quick on slow/medium fast tracks. A F430 would be quicker for an amateur thanks to better integrated electronics in the manettino while a race car driver will perhaps be a bit quicker in the lighter CS as it is more responsive to driver input.

John has a modified brake pedal in the car - it is much wider than stock and allows both left and right foot braking. It was fascinating to see him sometimes choose one foot and then the other one at different times. :)

After a few laps we made our way home. The sun was up and with the powerful a/c on, the ride home was quite comfortable.

Thus ended a wonderful day. Man! What a wonderful car. I hope to own one a few years down the line.

There were some other pictures I took at the track. I will post it separately in a few days. The track video is being uploaded. Hopefully, TopgearNL will approve it soon.