Ferrari 458: more details

Ferrari has released further details of the new 458 Italia on a promotional video.

The company says the car will be a huge leap forward for the company and will further differentiate the front-engined GTs from mid-engined models.

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“The 458 Italia represents a clear break with the recent past and makes an extreme generational step forward,” said Dany Bahar, senior vice president of the Ferrari brand.

Aerodynamics is one of the key elements of the 458. “The distribution of the downforce on the axle is very close to the weight distribution,” says technical director Roberto Fedeli.

All the major controls on the 458 will also be far more responsive than the already sharp F430 it replaces.“The project has been developed in order to improve driving fun as much as possible by minimising the response of all subsystems,” adds Fedeli.

The 458’s high-revving 4498cc V8 can also be heard on the video. It has very light internal parts and tiny piston skirts, resulting in low rotation inertia and a 12.5:1 compression ratio. It puts out 562bhp at 9000rpm, 500rpm higher than the 430. That makes it the highest-revving Ferrari road car ever.

It means the 458 Italia will be ferociously fast, and Ferrari claims it will sprint to 62mph in under 3.4sec on its way to a top speed of “over 200mph”.

While advanced engine electronics and lightweight parts underpin the extra performance, this will be the first mid-engined application of Ferrari’s direct injection fuel system, which appeared first on the front-engined California. It also runs Ferrari’s now-traditional flat-plane crankshaft.

The 458’s engine will be one of the most flexible in Ferrari’s history, too, with 398lb ft of torque arriving at 6000rpm. While that sounds peaky, it’s only two-thirds of the way through the 458’s rev range, and over 80 per cent (318lb ft) is available from 3250rpm.

The direct fuel injection has also helped cut CO2 emissions, producing a claimed 320g/km of CO2, even though it is faster and produces significantly more power than the 483bhp F430 and the 508bhp 430 Scuderia.

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