NEW 575 GTC Handling Package

[5vz-fe]

(08:30 July 29, 2004)
Ferrari’s flagship road car gets even more of the racing good stuff
http://www.autoweek.com/cat_content...._code=04121385

By NATALIE NEFF



WHEN SIMPLY DRIVING like a Formula One car isn’t enough, now you can stop like one, too.

Ferrari has made its Ceramic Composite Material (CCM) brakes available on its flagship front-engine V12 car, the 575M Maranello. The massive brakes make up part of what the Italian maker calls the 575 Handling GTC package, which also includes an even more performance-oriented suspension setup, a sport-tuned exhaust system and unique 19-inch wheels and tires.

The massive brakes—15.7-inch discs in front with six-piston calipers,14.2-inch discs with four pots in back—pull the big car to a stop in amazing fashion. Final figures will have to wait for our own testing.

More impressive is that during testing, a 575M with CCM brakes will lap Ferrari’s famed Fiorano test track 290 times with no degradation in performance and little fade.

The brakes also feature substantially improved wet efficiency with little thermal deformation or disc wear. We particularly enjoy the fact that the CCM brakes produce no untoward noise, unlike a similar system on Porsche cars that commonly squeal during application.



As expected, the CCM brakes do provide a bit less unsprung weight than their steel counterparts—approximately 11 pounds per car—but that weight savings is virtually eliminated through the addition of cooling ducts located behind each wheel.

The 575M Handling GTC package also includes a sport-tuned exhaust system and tauter suspension tuning (featuring 35 percent stiffer front and 15 percent stiffer rear springs, with a 73 percent stiffer rear anti-roll bar) with Pirelli PZero Corsa 255/AR-19 front and 305/30ZR-19 rear tires. While the suspension setup does give the car a firmer than normal ride, it’s far from a kidney-busting experience and not fatiguing in the slightest. As expected, the car performs amazingly well through the turns, even down particularly tight and challenging roads, but we found the car’s ability to track seriously undulating surfaces at speed the most satisfying.

Ferrari says a 575M with the Handling GTC package shaves 1.5 seconds off a lap at Fiorano, which typically requires 90 seconds in a standard 575M.



Since it announced the availability of a full-zoot 575M Handling GTC package, Ferrari says orders have been running about 30 percent. Previously, the stand-alone sport suspension accounted for approximately 45 percent of 575M orders.

Of course, stopping like Schuey comes with a price: The 575M Handling GTC package adds $23,500 plus tax to the $224,640 tab, and you’ll have to wait until early October to take delivery.