The standard 458’s 562bhp is hiked up to 597bhp, endowing the 458 Speciale with a sub-3sec 0-60 time and a top speed of around 210mph.
To preview its more pumped-up McLaren 12C rival, Ferrari has released a video of the 458 Speciale in action on road and track. And while some official manufacturer promos are quite synthetic – slickly shot footage of a car being sedately driven in a straight line – this one is a little different. It reflects the Speciale’s more extreme nature with plenty of powerslides and drifts (showing off SSC, Side Slip Angle Control, new oversteer management electronics) and a launch control start. There’s even a gratuitous blare of exhaust noise through a tunnel.
Perhaps most interesting, though, is the demonstration of its active aerodynamics, with flaps contained within the new front splitter design and a moveable device under the rear diffuser. It’s pretty beguiling to watch and if you didn’t already want a Ferrari 458 Speciale, you surely do now. A price tag well north of £200,000 could prove prohibitive, though…
