Osie tries life with the Scuderia on home turf and ponders ‘how fast is FAST’ courtesy of a 1993 Ferrari 348TB.
[Not a valid template]Greetings from the Emerald Isle.
This is the first time I’ve penned a crankandpiston Journal from home turf and I’m really missing my Porsche Cayman R since the roads here are literally ‘bite the back of your hand’ stunning during the summer.
Having said that, my good buddy and lifetime friend has a mint 1993 Ferrari 348 TB in which we took a tour of the great roads we grew up around when we first got our licenses (this back in the day when a Fiesta XR2i was considered ‘high performance’ and 16-inch rims on a car outrageously large). Now in a stunning mid-engined Ferrari, we get a chance to really see what these little coastal b-roads are like in spectacular high-speed fashion.
Lifting tarmac off the road in the glazy summer heat, the run made me realise just how much fun my little R would be in the same situation: no traffic; no radars; cold air; no air conditioning; and most important, hundreds of kilometres of the most stunning black top along the North East Antrim Coast to discover.
You can’t have everything though. With a full tank of super unleaded retailing here for $125 and insurance triple what I pay I’d in Dubai, it’s doubtful I’d be running the same car here. My mate says my Cayman R would be faster over the same road than the 348 with PDK etc, but from where I’m sitting, the 348 at full chat is pretty fierce and certainly has the feeling of drama down to a tee.
On that note of ‘go-fast Ferraris’, it got me thinking of how fast is fast? It’s a big question that’s been going around my head recently. After having what I thought was fast being completely obliterated after several passenger rides in fellow Journals contributor Tom’s Ferrari 458 Speciale, I’ve started to question the true meaning of the word. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a road car that quick in terms of cornering speeds, braking g-forces and general mind altering ability of both car and driver (the next day I had significant bruises on my shoulders from the harnesses where I’d neglected to properly tighten them). The LaFerrari brakes showed no mercy as I came out of my seat under a hard braking manoeuvre, and I reckon it would make a perfect tarmac rally car Group B style.
Even coasting back down through the gears, the Speciale felt magical and has the same passion shot through it like my mate’s 348 has, pops and bangs on the overrun bordering on almost anti-social behaviour. It doesn’t matter that the 348 and Speciale are more than 20 years and 300bhp apart, they still make ‘fast’ feel just that, and terrifyingly so. It’s a true privilege to sit as a passenger with such talented pilots to really get the most out of these cars.
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