Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona and 308 GTB at Fiorano – car pictures of the week

Driving a vintage Ferrari on the hallowed grounds of Fiorano. Does anything sound quite so alluring? 

In issue 318 of evo, we step back in time with two iconic models from Maranello – the 365 GTB/4 Daytona and 308 GTB – to rediscover the joy of driving a classic, analogue Ferrari with a manual gearbox. Pick up your copy of evo 318 in-store or online via the evo shop to read the feature. 

The click-clack of an open-gate gearshift is synonymous with old Ferraris. Driving a classic supercar entails a level of physicality and mechanical connection that’s missing from today’s models, not least in the current era of twin-clutch gearboxes, e-diffs and Slide Slip Control. The last Ferrari offered with a manual gearbox was the California from 2008, and while that car isn’t exactly a shining star among Maranello’s road cars, it marked the end of an era. 

What are we missing? Driving the company’s first mid-engined V8 Berlinetta and one of its greatest-ever GT cars sounds like a good way to find out. Fiorano was almost flooded during our visit, but the slippery conditions only served to magnify the unfiltered driving experience of both cars. Beginning in the Daytona, evo’s Yousuf Ashraf said:

‘I ease it around the track with smooth but deliberate inputs, soaking up messages through the seat and that comically large wheel. There’s an industrial-grade heft to the gearshift as you manoeuvre around the open gate but it feels wonderfully mechanical, and you get a clear sense of how hard you’re working each contact patch as the Daytona rolls onto its outside tyres and squirms out of corners. It’s utterly captivating if you drive at its natural pace’.

To read the full feature, pick up a copy of evo 318 in-store or online.