Spy Shots: Ferrari 430 Challenge Stradale
Sports car aficionados don't appreciate that features like leather trim, sound deadening material and power everything add weight to a car, and that weight is the enemy of speed. After decades of trimming mere ounces off its race cars, nobody knows this better than Ferrari. As if its aluminum F430 wasn't light enough, the Maranello marque is preparing to, in the words of Jeremy Clarkson, "add lightness" to its high-revving screamer with the highly-anticipated F430 Challenge Stradale.
Stradale is Italian for "street", and like the previous 360 Challenge Stradale, the upcoming F430 CS takes the formula from the car prepared for the Ferrari Challenge race series and adapts it to street use, shedding unneeded pounds and picking up a few tricks along the way. The new CS gets an uptick in horsepower over stock thanks to a freer-flowing exhaust system (with outlets placed higher up in the rear grille) and a remapped engine management system. The anticipated boost in power to 525 prancing horses will be a helpful feature when gunning for the latest Gallardo from arch-rival Lamborghini. Larger brakes will be hidden behind bigger, lightweight alloys. The new wheels will also provide an easy way to differentiate the CS from its standard F430 sibling.
[Source: Motor Authority]
Ferrari's been keeping us on our toes about what the new rolling stock will look like. Previous spy shots snapped in Germany showed a yellow test mule fitted with the stock five split-spoke wheels at the back and the 360 Challenge Stradale's multi-spoke rims up front. This black test mule, spotted in Italy, has the same stock wheels in the back, but with chunkier Speedline-style five spoke units in the forward wheel wells This shot also shows the window rolled down, indicating that the new CS likely won't be ditching the retractable glass for a sliding Perspex window like its predecessor – expect the replacement of certain stock body panels with carbon fiber to help shed pounds and join the extra horses in the eternal pursuit of improved performance.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rwdmtparkingonly 4:07PM (2/19/2007)
"Add lightness" belongs to Colin Chapman, please don't mistakenly attribute in to that that loud douche bag Clarkson.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Chapman
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A 4:23PM (2/19/2007)
On national geographic theres a program about the production of the 599 (megafactories) i think it was called and i swear i saw a F430 with the stradale stripes on it. definatly wasnt a 360.
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rwdmtparkingonly 4:28PM (2/19/2007)
An even better Chapman quote: "Any car which holds together for more than a race is too heavy."
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NoNameDenton 4:50PM (2/19/2007)
Makes me wish I had the money to afford one
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TheChaz 5:19PM (2/19/2007)
Amen, rwdmtparkingonly. I couldn't agree with you more. Just because Clarkson repeated it once or twice on camera is no reason for people to forget that it was Chapman's entire design ethos, and basically the raison d’être for Lotus Cars.
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James 6:39PM (2/19/2007)
thank you, that is NOT clarkson's words, they're the words of the immortal colin chapman. Who actually had a brain and original though.
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Eric B 9:26AM (2/20/2007)
I also like Dr. Ing. Ferdinand Porsche quote that goes something like:
"The perfect race car would fall apart into its individual pieces as soon as it crosses the finish line." Or words to that effect...
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