Ladies and gentlemen, meet the new Ferrari 458 Speciale, which has made its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
Like the 360 Challenge Stradale and the 430 Scuderia before it, the new 458 Speciale is a harder, faster, more powerful and lighter version of Ferrari's already quite hard, fast, powerful and light mid-engined supercar.
Ferrari claims that the 458 "is aimed at a specific kind of owner, in this case those looking for an even more focused sports car that offers extreme driving emotions." Extreme driving emotions? Sounds impressive.
In turning the standard 458 into the Speciale, Ferrari has tweaked the car's powertrain, electronic system and aerodynamics. In fact, Ferrari claims that the Speciale's new active aerodynamic technology will be featured on all future Ferrari road cars.
The Speciale is powered by the same 4.5-litre V8 as the standard 458; however, Ferrari has upped the power output from 562bhp to 597bhp -- a 35bhp increase. Not only does this make the engine the most powerful naturally-aspirated road-going V8 ever to come out of Maranello, it also means that at 133bhp per litre, it has the highest specific power output of any road-going naturally-aspirated engine.
The Speciale weighs just 1,290kg without fluids -- around 90kg less than the 458 Italia. It isn't clear just how Ferrari managed to shave this much excess of the car's kerb weight; however, we do know that the Speciale's crash diet allows it to get from 0-62mph in 3.0 seconds (down from 3.4), and from 0-124mph in 9.1 seconds.
Ferrari also claims that the Speciale has lapped the Fiorano test track in 1 min 23.5 seconds -- a full 1.5 seconds faster than the standard 458 and just half a second off the pace of the F12.
The most obvious visual change to the 458 Speciale is the trio of stripes which run the length of the car; however, they aren't the only difference between the Speciale and the Italia.
Ferrari has been busy tweaking the 458's aerodynamics, adding movable aerodynamics flaps at both the front and rear of the car, which are designed to help balance the car's downforce and reduce drag. There are also new, bigger vents up front, a bigger rear diffuser and a re-profiled bonnet and sills.
The Speciale also gets a new electronic system called Side Slip Angle Control, which constantly analyses the car's angle of slip and then optimises torque management to allow the driver to pull off huge power-slides more easily.
The 458 Speciale also sits on new Michelin Pilot Sport Cup2 tyres which have been developed specifically for the car to boost performance over a single dry lap and greater consistency thereafter.
On the inside, the 458 Speciale gets a more race-focussed interior, with carbon-fibre bucket seats, smatterings of carbon-fibre trim and a distinct absence of any sort of carpet.
No pricing information has been announced by Ferrari; however, we'd expect the Speciale to carry a price tag somewhere north of £200,000.
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