Club Membership
by Chris Goffey (15 Dec 05)

The first thing that grabs you by the throat is the sheer artistry and line. Sure, Pininfarina Ferraris have almost always looked good, but it's only when tip-toeing round this urbane and supremely elegant device that you come to realise the F430 Coupé is as close to a civilised, well-finished, two-seater F1 car as you can get.

Lithe, low and smooth, the body clothes and softens the brutality of the massive front air intakes and lip spoilers, and those diffusers under the tail. The power plant lurks under a glass panel behind the seats ­ the brand new, lightweight 4308 cc V8 unit is actually located well down in the chassis and you can't really see it from the top.
 
What you do see are the crackle-red covers of the plenum chambers on top of the long intake stacks, which reprise the original Testa Rossa cam covers and simply shout "Ferrari". Little details catch your eye, too - the wing mirrors, for example, outrigged on twin mounting arms which act at speed to channel airflow directly into the engine intakes.
 
Massive ventilated millstones of carbon ceramic seem to fill the insides of the huge 19" wheels, together with the enormous six-pot front calipers in bright Ferrari red. The brakes were developed as part of Ferrari's Grand Prix programme, and the links with that side of the factory are more and more apparent as you go through the specification of the car.
 
Take the manettino, as the F1 drivers call it. Adopted directly from F1, this red thumb switch on the steering wheel controls the suspension settings, the settings of the stability and traction control from the electronic differential (something Ferrari claims as a world first) and the speed of the clutchless gearshifts via the paddle controls each side of the steering wheel. You can set it for maximum grip on icy roads, for greasy conditions on open roads with the most comfortable ride settings, and in Sport, where the e-diff and CST (Control Stability and Traction) allow you to fully exploit the power.

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