Living with the 2022 Ferrari F8 Tributo

• Introduction: How Do I Look?
• Month Two: I'm A Celebrity
• Month Three: Bring The Noise

Introduction: How Do I Look?

When buying a Ferrari comes with a caveat

As I reached deeply into my pocket to extract $50k large for a deposit on a new Ferrari F8 Tributo, a fight broke out inside my head.

“Who in their right mind spends close to $600,000 on a car?” I thought. “What are you thinking? What about a 992 GT3? You only live once. Will I regret this? You’ll look like a wanker”.

This last thought was the most powerful and disarming. Driving a Ferrari, Lamborghini or McLaren puts an owner right up high on the wanker hit list. But wanker or not, money exchanged hands, I was promised delivery within eight months and the sales guy was on his way to another commission.

14

Ferrari was largely to blame for getting me in this position, engaging me as it did in an exercise in Italian seduction by granting a few laps behind a carbon-fibre steering wheel at Sydney Motorsport Park. I had for some time been contemplating putting my original 997 II GT3 CS out to pasture, and I had sampled many beautiful alternatives, but nothing could drag me away from it until this red F8 walked into my life, dressed to impress and pouting extroverted red lipstick.

A Lamborghini Huracan V10 was the only European to have tempted me and after a brief race-track fling I left it grinning like an idiot, convinced that I had to have it simply because of the way the V10 sang and made me feel. As evocative and addictive as it is, I couldn’t quite justify buying it in my mind. Then I was offered another suggestion and it got me thinking.

The other Italian in my life, my Calabrian wife and chief consultant, said I should get the Ferrari and a Lamborghini. Of course, to her everything from Italy is better than everything from anywhere else. She is a perfect example, which is why I married her.

14

Frankly, I hadn’t given Ferrari much of a thought and I knew little about them, and still don’t. However, before going too far down that rabbit hole I checked out some essential facts.

Topping the GT3’s power by an additional 209kW to 530kW got my attention. Nearly doubling its torque to 770Nm at 3250rpm, 1000rpm before the GT3’s starts to get meaningful, made me wonder how it stays on the road.

Standard carbon brakes were noted, thank goodness, because with a 0-200km/h acceleration time of 8.1 seconds, 260km/h-plus speeds at Sydney Motorsports Park were going to need retardation.

Then I learned about Ferrari’s clever F1-Track and Side Slip Control which employ algorithms to manage all of the car’s dynamic parameters with the sole purpose of trying to ensure you get to see the start/finish line at least a second time. And it worked. Suddenly a $600,000 spend seemed like a good idea...

14

Fast forward 10 months and Gigi, as my wife and I have named it, arrived on our shores two months late and at a time when Covid rules restrict driving to no further than 5km. Dealer delivery has been completed, a $7000 insurance premium paid (with a $6000 excess...), $3000 worth of sleeper dash cams facing front and rear have been installed and it has been trucked to a specialist body wrap expert for $7000 worth of protection from road rash and grazing from race-track rubber.

My first drive is a week away, and so will begin my new life being viewed as a wanker. I’m just going to have to cop it sweet – the Prancing Horse has already bolted. And I can hardly wait. - PAUL LEONARD

Things we love:

• Performance
• Carbon brakes
• Upcoming drives

Things we rue:

• Lockdown limits
• Public perception
• It isn't cheap

14

Month Two: I'm A Celebrity

Instant local fame arrives with Ferrari delivery

Having been impressed by the Ferrari F8 Tributo’s thrilling race track performance, real life was bound to intervene at some point. The week before accepting delivery, troubling questions about the car’s everyday liveability began to eat away at me.

14

Still carrying the scars from a costly one-year marriage to another powerful and exciting Italian, an Alfa Romeo Giulia QV, I feared that this Maranello marauder was going to provoke another temperamental love-hate relationship and again lead to an expensive and bitter divorce.
My confidence wasn’t helped by an advanced reading of the owner’s manual which, as much as it told you how things worked, all too often followed it with advice on what to in case they didn’t.

Seeing specific sections on alarm devices for an overheating exhaust system or clutch, engine malfunction and how to do a roadside disassembly of the parking brake didn’t exactly boost my confidence and advice to use engine braking while driving down mountain roads to prevent the massive carbon brakes from overheating was remarkable. If the engine won’t start the owner is advised to look for a flat battery, faulty electrical contacts or ignition system or blown fuel pump fuses, just like we used to in the 1960s. In that regard at least, the Ferrari seemed reassuringly Italian.

The stab in my heart was to read that Ferrari recommended the car for only occasional track use. What on earth had I committed to?

14

But every fear instantly evaporated and living in the present was all that mattered the moment my wife and I turned onto a public road for the first time. Even with 720 horses behind our ears it was encouraging to discover that initial power delivery was about as intimidating as a Hyundai i30, making the F8 immediately feel road friendly. The suspension was pleasingly compliant, the steering deliciously direct and the brakes beautifully progressive.

Even the enormous width of the car at almost 2 metres – a full 99mm wider than a 991 Porsche GT2 – and 2.261m from mirror to mirror, proved not as initially cumbersome as feared with the pronounced raised front guards providing a reliable guide to the road ahead.

A quick explorative prod of the throttle led to a satisfyingly rapid torque-led rise in speed, but most initial fun was delivered from the front row of traffic lights for a sublimely rapid rush through the gears and equally delicious blips to the throttle under late braking.

14

The initial thrill of ownership continued with the instant celebrity the car seemed to bring. The F8 has the draw of a Hollywood A-lister given the lingering and at times stunned looks my wife reported from the passenger seat.

Arriving back at our suburban Sydney home three uninhibited neighbourhood kids spontaneously ran up our driveway to greet us and the car, dragging bemused but beaming parents and the family dog along with them, leading to short demonstration drives to cement their thrill and the start of a long list of neighbours now keen for a ride in the F8. Helping create a new generation of car enthusiasts is one of the heart-warming fringe benefits of Ferrari ownership.

Once in the garage, Rain-X was applied to the windscreen, revealing a mystery stone chip – from Ferrari’s post production test drive? – and GTechniq water repellent coating for the slotted rear Lexan engine cover, hoping it will also help to resist atmospheric fallout.

A pathway out of Covid lockdown brings with it the promise of country roads and race tracks. We’ll see what this Italian supercar reveals about itself along the way but in this environment I expect it to be an abundance of positive passion. - PA

Things we love:

• Presence
• Ease of use
• Kids adore it!

Things we rue:

• Scare manual
• Track limitations
• Windscreen ding

14

Month Three: Bring The Noise

Paul finally gets the chance to loosen the reins on the F8 Tributo

With a barely warmed engine over a miserly 309 Covid-19 restricted kilometres in seven weeks since delivery, the F8 remained a question mark in a sea of obvious exclamations and expected superlatives. A star performer in urban environments, it remained to be seen how accomplished it would be on imperfect open roads.

The classic mid-engined silhouette of the Manzoni-fettled bodywork, coupled with the soundtrack of the F154 V8 continue to garner awestruck and admiring responses from people everywhere it deigned to visit, while the savage 530kW twin-turbo powerplant has proven to be surprisingly mannered and refined when required.

14

An early frustrating quirk emerged in the information screen which displayed vitals such as fluid temperatures and tyre pressures. Best searched at a standstill, it disappeared every time the car was stationary but was soon remedied by a seemingly unrelated button in the dash below.

The day finally arrives for a long-planned 400km mid-week scenic rollercoaster ride from Sydney through Wollombi, to the picturesque wine country of Broke and back south along the legendary Putty Road. A bristling bark breaks the sleepy 6.00am neighbourhood silence and with nose lifter engaged to clear the driveway threshold, the F8’s sheer grunt and machine gun rapid upshifts thrill even with the manettino set to “Wet” on cold tyres in the initial rain.

14

On the motorway the F8 lopes along at 110km/h at a leisurely 2600rpm, keeping 5600rpm in reserve for its claimed 340km/h potential, but all is serene in self-shifting Auto mode, the manettino now on its supple ‘Sport’ setting and the cruise control calmly nuancing its 770Nm urge.

Road and wind noise are notably absent and even on coarse chip surfaces the cabin remains relatively quiet with the hum of the engine at low boost a more obvious and welcome companion.

Onto bumpy, winding and hilly country roads, the sharp steering demands smooth, accurate inputs and focus. Composure and grip are unchallenged at legal road speeds and the 398mm carbon discs provide good feel in most situations. However, in heavier applications they become troublingly wooden, feeling like a separate element instead of part of an integrated and harmonious whole.

14

Perhaps road speeds aren’t enough to bring the stoppers into their prime operating window.

Out on the open road otherwise dominated by double lines an overtaking opportunity presents between two corners. A modest throttle application sucks air heavily into the turbos to boost torque-induced shove but urgency demands a deeper press of the throttle, instantly shooting the F8 down several gears and rocketing it from serene to stupid, requiring deliberate braking to haul it back to a normal cruise. Ahem. Savage acceleration duly noted.

14

Threading its 2.27m girth through the narrow Armco-lined Galston Gorge, the F8 feels like an A380 trying to land at Bankstown Airport as oncoming traffic whizzes past alarmingly close, and a heart-in-mouth moment presents when someone suddenly transgresses my amply occupied centre lane to make a left turn.

The race track awaits and I suspect that, like a Ducati superbike, the F8’s depth of talent won’t be understood until it is pushed beyond personal levels of comfort. It’s where the discovery is made that you and your machine can achieve something you never before thought possible. But do wooden brakes forebode disappointment? As always, time will tell. - PL

Things we love:

• 530kW on tap
• Sharp steering
• Keen handling

Things we rue:

• Wooden brakes
• Sheer width
• Too competent?

14