The Italian Spyder Cars
A town in Northern Italy, near Bologna, Maranello has been home to Ferrari since the 1940s. At more than 250,000 sq metres, the factory's 45 buildings house more than 3,000 workers. It is here that passion, innovation and technology combine to create the company’s GT and Formula 1 cars. On 3 December 1942, planning permission was granted for a small plant making machine tools in Maranello. From the Scuderia Ferrari headquarters in Via Trento Trieste in Modena, Enzo Ferrari chose to go to Maranello because, as he wrote in his memoirs, he owned "a piece of land in the immediate vicinity of where the factory is today".
The Ferrari 458 Italia is a mid engine, 2 door sports car and is an upgrade to the previous Ferrari F430. The Ferrari 458 Italia is priced at $240,000 and was first showcased at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2009. The Ferrari 458 Italia is built from the new Formula One technology developed by Ferrari and is designed to handle speed. However, the Ferrari 458 Italia has replaced the older Ferrari F430 instead of just remodeling it.
Engine
The Ferrari 458 Italia is powered by a 4.5 L V8, which is acquired from the Ferrari / Maserati joint venture. It produces a respectable 562 hp at 9,000 rpm and 540 nm at 6,000 rpm. It has been powered with the V8 engine, to distinguish it from the recently launched Ferrari California. 80% of the torque is available at 3,250 rpm, which provides a massive thrust to the car. The engine is a direct fuel injected one and is a first for a Ferrari mid engine car developed for the road. The V8 in the Ferrari 458 Italia is the current world record holder for the most powerful V8 engine to offer the most power per liter in a production car.
Features
The Ferrari 458 Italia’s suspension has a double wishbone at the front end, which is placed to improve the car’s cornering capabilities and accelerates the car out of a turn 32% faster than any other car in the segment. The brakes use the pre fill function, where the pistons move the pads into contact with the disc, which minimizes the time for stopping. This feature along with ABS gives a stop ping distance of only 32.5 meters from 60 to 0 mph. Airbags are provided for both the driver and the passenger, and the Ferrari 458 Italia is also factory fitted with a high performance audio system.
Interior
The interior of Ferrari 458 Italia was designed with valuable inputs from the famous F1 driver Michael Schumacher. The design includes a new steering wheel attached to the dashboard and some advanced settings which are present in racing cars only. The Ferrari 458 Italia, being an automatic, the dual pedal shift sits pretty behind the steering wheel. The interior of the 458 is heavily inspired from Ferrari Enzo, Ferrari’s flag ship model.
Exterior
The body of the Ferrari 458 Italia is designed by Pininfarina, the Ferrari car designer. The car was built aerodynamically to stabilize it and hold it towards the ground even in massive speeds. The down force produced by the body design is 140 kg at 124 mph. The front wings of the car lower when the car is at high speeds, which helps in the down flow of thrust and hence reduces the amount of drag.
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