Tom bins mountain roads to go grocery shopping in the Ferrari Speciale.
| Driver's Log | |
|---|---|
| Date acquired: | February 2014 |
| Total kilometres: | 9,228 |
| Kilometres this month: | 1,013 |
| Costs this month: | $0 |
| L/100km this month: | Directly correlated with cumulative number of the rev lights illuminated on the steering wheel whilst emptying that tank… |
Some people are of the opinion that today’s supercars are becoming too soft. Whether this is related to the ever-increasing levels of driver’s aids, improved reliability, the removal of notoriously heavy clutch pedals or otherwise, the flipside of that coin is that these items not only ensure the car won’t instantly bite your head off the moment you make a small driver error, it also allows you to drive them both more often and harder than ever before without exploding into flames. Having driven lots of various supercars from the previous era, personally I prefer the current generation and happily accept some of this perceived softness in exchange for better reliability and, most importantly, more opportunities for mere mortals like the one listed below to get close(r) to the car’s limits than I dared to previously.
But since I couldn’t find time to drive the car properly in the last couple of weeks (I’ve never believed in New Year’s resolutions anyway), I decided to take the Speciale grocery shopping to see how it coped with that instead.
Actually, I came back pleasantly surprised. With the ‘Bumpy Road’ setting on, it deals with those notorious short speed bumps with aplomb. I kept the Manettino in ‘Race’ and the gearbox in ‘Manual’ (although I realize that ‘Manual’ is a bit fake in the context, knowing it only requires me to flap the paddles myself) and cruised around the mall car park to find a spot without issue. Even in stop-go traffic, the gearbox is flawless. I’d even argue it’s a safe machine for fellow shoppers, because – thanks to the Speciale rather throaty soundtrack – nobody accidentally steps in front of the car, typing away on their smartphone, oblivious to the world.
When I finally found a spot, it became a bit more challenging. For the first time during its ownership, I was reminded that I didn’t tick the rear-view mirror option when speccing my car. Rear visibility isn’t great, but knowing the car isn’t that wide, it was easy enough to reverse park. An automatically dipping side-mirror (something I got used to on my BMW) would have helped though. And during the 10-minute run back home, the groceries had heated up quite drastically in the front trunk. Whilst the Ferrari has demonstrated that it is perfectly suited for grocery shopping, it is less so to pick up some Italian gelatos!
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