Dick Potter checks out the latest model to wear the prancing stallion badge.
Remember that great movie Groundhog Day? The one where Bill Murray kept waking up to the same day, day after day? Well, I would have loved one of those days just recently. To be precise, on the day I got to test drive the Ferrari F8 Tributo.
Due to its (unsurprisingly!) heavy test schedules, I was allocated only 30 minutes to give this lovely creature a spin around Seef and the Financial Harbour area – in lunchtime traffic! Oh well, mustn’t grumble, any amount of time with a Ferrari is gratefully grabbed. Thirty minutes however gave me scant opportunity to test a fraction of the F8’s staggering drive potential.
There was, of course, the ubiquitous sheer enjoyment of sitting in it, listening to it and admiring every facet and, of course, being admired – or was it perhaps the Ferrari getting the admiring glances?!
Do I really need to write that the F8 Tributo is a tribute to its 710 horses, 3.9 twin-turbo V-8 engine which was previously voted international engine of the year? No? Good-well done you lot.
Not surprisingly then, Ferrari took the aforementioned engine from the track-focussed 488 and beefed it up even more. Improved power combined with reduced weight...wow! Sadly, the F8 could be one of the last V-8s to come off the assembly line at Maranello – apparently, they’re going to switch their engine focus to V6s.
On the road, the Tributo promises to rocket you from 0-60 in less than three seconds. Less than five seconds later, you’ll be chugging along at 124mph and you can rack up a top speed of 211mph. This is, of course, if you’re not in the Seef or Financial District, at lunchtime.
Inside and out, the F8 Tributo’s styling is a further evolution of the 488 GTB. Sporting a new headlight array, joined by quad taillights – Ferraris just look better with four lights in the rear – and a louvred back windscreen, its reminiscent of the iconic F40.
The F8 has, unbelievably, more aerodynamic style than those which came before. In the interior, evident improvements include round air vents shaped like jet nacelles, a new generation smaller steering wheel and a seven-inch touch screen for the shotgun rider in this rocket to provide, if possible, additional thrill.
It’s difficult to say anything negative about the car really. The louvres in the rear window can restrict rear visibility a tad, but, hey, that’s easily resolved, you’re driving a Ferrari, so, what on earth are you looking backward for?! It did amuse me to see the F8’s Top Gear review which claimed: “Software overload slightly pollutes the pure Ferrari experience” Really? Grasping at straws there guys? They also wrote: “It’s heinously expensive.” Fair enough, it is priced at a third of a million dollars (and to this you can add options) but you do get a massive amount of car.
Alas, woke this morning and that Groundhog Day hasn’t recurred. So, with less than a month till Mr Claus pays a visit, if he can’t get an F8 into my stocking, perhaps he might arrange for me to have a few hours at the BIC in one? That’s where I could really pay tributo to the F8!
Happy driving [email protected]
