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Ferrari steering wheel may hold key to rocket F1 starts

Ferrari's brilliant getaways at the Australian Grand Prix were key to its early victory challenge – and could well be the result of a unique approach to new start restrictions that Giorgio Piola has uncovered. Although Mercedes locked out the front row of the grid in Melbourne, it was a sensational getaway from Sebastian Vettel that helped the German swoop into the lead by the first corner. As team boss Maurizio Arrivabene said: "The start was super. I have to say both of the drivers, they start like two rockets. After that they were able to take an advantage, and that was good for us." Such great starts from Ferrari are nothing new – just look at Hungary last year – but as Piola's exclusive drawing reveals, the team may well have taken things to an all-new level in ensuring it does not miss any detail in this area. In-built advantage As early as pre-season testing, rivals had been alerted about what Ferrari was capable of by monitoring data from Barcelona. Red Bull boss Christian Horner said: "We saw that in pre-season testing their starts have been really strong." Even ahead of the race, there were rumours that Ferrari knew it would excel in this area. Its decision to not do a second run in Melbourne's Q3 was mainly fuelled by its desire to save a set of super soft tyres for the race. But another suggestion also emerged – that the team knew just how good its starts were so securing the second row of the grid was good enough for it to believe it had a shout of the lead on the first lap. A single paddle As Piola's comparison of Ferrari's 2015 and 2016 steering wheel arrangement shows, the team has been the most aggressive in changing its clutch configuration for this year. New rules mean that drivers can only use a single hand on a single clutch paddle for the race start – even if teams choose to keep a double-paddle arrangement for emergencies. Ferrari has opted for something totally different to its main rivals by abandoning a double paddle arrangement (see red arrows on above left image). Instead, it has a single 'rocker' paddle that stretches all the way across the back of the wheel. Investing in such a dramatic design change clearly points to it having unlocked a decent performance advantage. The exact reasons for this configuration are unclear, but it may be that it allows the driver a greater feel for the clutch bite point – and means he is better able to judge how to deliver the perfect getaway.

Ferrari 488 Pista Prototype Drive | Pants-soiling straight-line performance

Independent studies confirm that Lotus Elise drivers are 221.6 times more likely to spontaneously dispose of light-colored undergarments after driving on curvy roads. That's because the weight distribution of a mid-engine car encourages novice drivers to inadvertently ask the rear wheels to pass the fronts in the middle of a corner. Adding insult to staining, the layout's resulting low polar moment of inertia ensures that this rotation happens more quickly than the average person's sphincter-startle clench reflex. The flip side is that even the most powerful mid-engine cars have enough weight over their rear wheels to make straight-line acceleration a worry-free affair. Well, they used to. Full-throttle acceleration in the Ferrari 488 Pista is genuinely terrifying. Wheelspin is a genuine threat at any road-legal speed — and when that happens, its rear end steps out with the same violence as the car accelerates. And that is saying something. The 488 Pista is diabolically quick. Like, hallelujah-hold-on-tight, praise-the-lord, scream-like-a-child and slap-yo-momma quick. Or, in slightly more objective terms, the Ferrari's claimed 7.6-second sprint from a standstill to 200 km/h (124 mph) is but 0.3 second behind that of the 1,000-hp Bugatti Veyron 16.4. When we say quick, we mean QUICK. Perhaps too quick for the road, so it's a good thing the car is literally named after the track. The Pista is the latest in the lineage of harder-core Ferraris that began with the 360 Challenge Stradale. The 360CS, like the F430 Scuderia ("Team") and 458 Speciale ("Special") that followed, was a little quicker than the regular car, a little more devoid of creature comforts and a lot louder. The same basic recipe applies to the 488, though in its transition from GTB to Pista (say "peas-ta"), its engine gets a bigger power boost than any of its predecessors. Boasting 720 metric horsepower, or 710 American ponies, the Pista makes 49 hp more than the already absurdly powerful 488 GTB. The expected weight-savings measures are also present, accounting for a claimed 198-pound reduction in total mass. Ten-percent-stiffer springs and recalibrated magnetorheological dampers offer tighter body control, and Michelin Sport Cup 2 tires conspire with those changes to generate massive cornering grip. But more on that later — the star of this prototype preview drive was the engine, Ferrari's award-winning 3.9-liter flat-plane-crankshaft V8.

Ferrari reveals pair of tailor-made specials in Shanghai

For most people, buying a new Ferrari - heck, even a used one - would be a special occasion all on its own, not to mention a rare privilege. But to make the experience all the more special, the Prancing Horse marque offers its Tailor-Made personalization program. The service just reached the Asia-Pacific region for the first time with the new Tailor-Made Centre in Shanghai, and to mark its inauguration, Ferrari has revealed two new special editions - both based on V12 GTs and inspired by horses - specifically for the Chinese market.
First up is the F12 Berlinetta Polo Edition pictured above. The special F12 is distinguished by a white and blue theme, the exterior decked out in Bianco Italia Opaco (read: fancy white) with navy blue offset racing stripes, and the interior carrying an inverse take on the same featuring dark blue leather upholstering with white stitching, stripes and trim.
Those looking for more traction and versatility might be more intrigued by the FF Dressage Edition. The four-seat, four-wheel special gets a piano black exterior and a reddish saddle brown leather interior with grid-pattern stitching (pictured inset at right).