Tag Archives: F355

Ferrari Friday – 9th Danville Concours d’Elegance

Geoffrey Horton attended this years 9th Danville Concours d’Elegance last month and kindly shared today’s collection of Ferrari photographs.

Ferrari 500 Mondial Spyder, Danville Concours d'Elegance

Pride of place belonged to this Ferrari 500 Mondial Spyder PF Series I chassis #0408 MD which featured on this blog some time ago.

 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, Danville Concours d'Elegance

I still have not established if the Ferrari 250 GT Lusso chassis #4237 like the one above is actually missing or not, if anyone has any information about #4237 please do not hesitate to chime in below.

Ferrari F355 Spyder, Danville Concours d'Elegance

Moving forward a couple of decades the Ferrari F355 was fitted with a Japanese starter motor in an attempt to bring the marque up to compete with and beat the Honda NSX on price, reliability and handling when it was launched in 1994.

Ferrari F360 Spyder,  Danville Concours d'Elegance

Ferrari’s 20th convertible the 360 Spider was launched in 2000, former Ferrari Formula One Team technical director Ross Brawn had one as his company car.

Ferrari California, Danville Concours d'Elegance

The Ferrari California, launched in 2008, was originally designed as a Maserati but sold only as a Ferrari to recoup the development costs

Ferrari 458 Italia Spider, Danville Concours d'Elegance

If stealth is your rocks your boat I guess matt black is the way to go, but I’m not sure I could ever get used to it, matt black to me looks like the new primer, something unfinished or a work in progress which is I am sure the last thing I’d think of in the event I ever bought a Ferrari 458 Italia Coupé.

Ferrari F12berlinetta, Danville Concours d'Elegance

Despite being launched last year to replace the Ferrari 599, I still have not come across a Ferrari F12berlinetta like the one above, I must get round to making an appointment with my local stockist.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs more of which will appear in next Wednesday’s blog.

Thanks for joining me on this “Ferrari Friday” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll resume this month’s 50th Anniversary celebration of the Porsche 911. Don’t forget to come back now !

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World Class – Ferrari 355 Belinetta & Spyder

From 1987 to 1991 the engine to have if you wanted to win the World Drivers Championship was a Honda during that period of dominance Honda also built a game changing super car that rendered contemporary Ferrari’s and particularly it’s nearest competitor the Ferrari 348 obsolete in price, reliability and handling.

Ferrari F355, BIAMF

Fortunately Ferrari President Luca di Montezemol had his engineers rise to the challenge presented by the Japanese upstart by commissioning the design of the F355 and in the process Ferrari was transformed into a world class manufacturer of automobiles.

Ferrari F355, BIAMF

The solution to meeting the Japanese challenge was in part by turning to the latest Formula One technology which included building the first road car to be offered with a ‘paddle shift’ electronically controlled gearbox, and selecting the best ancillaries known to man for the engine, including Japanese starter motors and the latest in German electronic engine management systems.

Ferrari F355, BIAMF

Out went Ferrari’s fabled indifferent assembly, industrial leather and off the shelf (FIAT) switchgear and in came carefully controlled build quality with bespoke switch gear and the finest leather interiors.

Ferrari F355, BIAMF

The F355’s motor was taken out from 3.4 to 3.5 liters AND given a pair of five valve per cylinder heads which combined to produce 375 hp which took a whole second off the GMC Syclones 1/4 mile time given by Car & Driver in the famous test between a Syclone Truck and a Ferrari 348ts that saw the GMC product perform surprisingly well.

Ferrari F355, BIAMF

The outcome of Ferrari’s efforts to match Honda’s super car was rewarded with 11,273 sales of the three basic types between 1994 and 1999 making the F355 one of the commonest of Ferrari’s yet seen, though the significance and legacy of the model lay in the foundations for success that the building and development of the F355 provided for all of the Ferrari road models that were to follow.

Thanks for joining me on the ‘World Class’ edition of ‘Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a very significant Lotus. Don’t forget to come back now !

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