My most immediate thought was just how far Ferrari has come with its production F1 gearbox. I remember when it used to pound on the
backside with each full-throttle up-shift like someone was taking a sledgehammer to the rear of the driver's seat. Not anymore. While quick and positive when rowing through the gears, it's much smoother and therefore a much easier process to control.
Out of the pits the track immediately crests a hill and then plunges down into a right hand bend. It's important to keep the throttle down through this curve, but to get onto the brakes quickly and stay in the middle of the track for a sharp right hander that immediately juts to the left. Not quite a chicane, its still possible to clip both curbs on the way through to a gentle but extremely fast left hand sweeper, staying to the far right at exit and then cutting through the apex at full throttle.
What an amazing sound, the 4.3-liter V8 howling near redline, a quick flick of the wrist and the engine drops a few tones while responding with even more thrust on its way to a fast right, clip the curb slightly and then bend down out toward another curb down one of the back straights.
I was actually surprised at how well the F430 took to the curbs, a processthat often upsets cars with limited suspension travel. No problem
here. It just absorbs the big red and white obstacles as its focuses on optimizing the best line possible, or at least making the best of the line I've chosen to input thought its very communicative steering system.
At the end of the straight, getting hard on the brakes is most important as the next corner needs to be set up ideally or the long straight that follows will be utterly wasted. I kept wide to the left as long as I could before cutting across the curb and then peeling off the steering gradually, trying to remember every inkling of advice taught to me over the years by the likes of Derek Bell, Hurley Haywood, Alex Tagliani, and the list of instructors goes on.
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| What an amazing sound, the 4.3-liter V8 howling near redline. (Photo: Ray Watson, American Auto Press) |
Out of the pits the track immediately crests a hill and then plunges down into a right hand bend. It's important to keep the throttle down through this curve, but to get onto the brakes quickly and stay in the middle of the track for a sharp right hander that immediately juts to the left. Not quite a chicane, its still possible to clip both curbs on the way through to a gentle but extremely fast left hand sweeper, staying to the far right at exit and then cutting through the apex at full throttle.
What an amazing sound, the 4.3-liter V8 howling near redline, a quick flick of the wrist and the engine drops a few tones while responding with even more thrust on its way to a fast right, clip the curb slightly and then bend down out toward another curb down one of the back straights.
I was actually surprised at how well the F430 took to the curbs, a processthat often upsets cars with limited suspension travel. No problem
 |
| I was actually surprised at how well the F430 took to the curbs, a process that often upsets cars with limited suspension travel. (Photo: Ray Watson, American Auto Press) |
At the end of the straight, getting hard on the brakes is most important as the next corner needs to be set up ideally or the long straight that follows will be utterly wasted. I kept wide to the left as long as I could before cutting across the curb and then peeling off the steering gradually, trying to remember every inkling of advice taught to me over the years by the likes of Derek Bell, Hurley Haywood, Alex Tagliani, and the list of instructors goes on.