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2020 Ferrari F8 Tributo First Drive Review | Italian warp drive

MARANELLO, Italy — What's in a name? Quite a lot in the case of the new Ferrari F8 Tributo launched at this spring's Geneva Motor Show and on sale this winter at for delivery. Tributo is a tribute to the Ferrari V8 – though to nitpick here, Ferrari's first V8 was actually a Lancia, designed by Vittorio Jano for the 1950s D50 grand-prix cars, which were handed over to Enzo for a song when Lancia faced financial collapse. That said, the first road-going V8 Ferrari was the Dino GT4 of 1973. Either way, just four years after the launch of the 488 GTB, Ferrari felt it had license to produce a new version.   “There was space to do a new 488 for the customers of the 488 GTB,” says Raffaele de Simone, FerrariÂ’s chief test driver, “there were enough new parts and know how. We had an opportunity to open a gap in which we can work and use.” In fact, the F8 sits somewhere between the 488 GTB and the limited-run 488 Pista. Consider it a stiffened-up version of the former, or a softer version of the latter; Take your pick.  All told, the F8 is the most powerful production mid-engined Ferrari, and at the heart of the matter is the F8Â’s F154 twin-turbo V8, criticized for its weedy exhaust note and not much else. It's won three handfuls of awards since it was introduced in the 488 GTB. Peak power is 710 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and peak torque is 568 pound-feet of torque at 3,250 rpm. ItÂ’s almost a straight lift from the 488 Pista, and thus makes 49 hp more than the 488 GTB. However, Ferrari shaved a remarkable 40 lbs off of the engine for duty in the F8, thanks to bits like a lighter flywheel and titanium connecting rods. The engine drives the rear wheels via a Getrag seven-speed, twin-clutch transmission and Ferrari's own electronically controlled limited-slip differential. This is likewise nearly unchanged from the Pista, although its gearchanges have been made less abrupt than that carÂ’s. Ferrari engineers referred to them as “gunshot changes”. Top speed is 211 mph, with 0-62 mph in 2.9 seconds and 0-124 in 7.8 sec. A warning note, however, is that these performance specs are predicated on a reduction in curb weight of 88 lbs over the 488 GTB (to 3,163 lbs), and this number includes optional lightweight parts, of which 22 lbs are derived from a set of carbon-fiber wheels that are not currently available and donÂ’t have a price tag yet.

Buongiorno Roma! What the beautiful GT means for Ferrari's future

The new Ferrari Roma was seen in the flesh during its unveiling in Rome yesterday, and I can confirm that it is not only one of the most beautiful Ferraris in recent memory, but one of the handsomest of any contemporary sport or luxury car. Its details are predictably rich, well rendered, and pointedly, alluring and accessible. But it is not just the details in a car from the famed Italian sports car manufacturer, and one that is expected to start at around $250,000. "If you now go in the market, and you ask someone who can afford (a Ferrari) — because this is not a cheap product —why don't you buy a Ferrari? They are tempted, but most of them are a bit afraid. 'I don't know if I can drive it, it's very aggressive,'" said Enrico Galliera, the brand's chief marketing officer, in an interview with Autoblog. "And that's one of the major answers. It's not, 'It's too expensive,' or 'I don't want to have fun driving.'" There's a kind of fear of the brand's reputation for aggression and showiness. The Roma is intended to soothe these concerns, and entice new clients into the Ferrari stable. This is accomplished by making everything at once more sophisticated, more mature, and more enticing. On the inside, one is especially drawn to the big, curved and crystalline LCD instrument panel and large center screen, the cozy and coddling leather seats, and the new aviation-inspired metal toggles that act as the transmission selector. Less impressive are the capacitive haptic "buttons" on the steering wheel, but judgment will be reserved on those until we have a chance to experience them while driving, instead of just while sitting on a stage making embarrassing vroom-vroooooommmmmm noises. But it is the outside that really has me drooling. This is not just because the Roma has classical rear-drive GT proportions, with a fiendishly long hood, a selfish not-quite-four-place cabin that the brand describes simply as a "2+," and a truncated Kamm-back tail. It is because the design is so improbably clean, devoid of the strakes, scoops, spoilers, or even ancillary lines that corrupt so many modern cars. Especially evocative is the treatment of the front and rear, both of which are impossibly low, without ever feeling threateningly so. It all feels of a piece, and there's not a bad angle. "We want to transmit this idea of harmony, and a beautiful dynamic in balance," said Ferrari head of design Flavio Manzioni.

Supercar parade entering highway is mesmerizing

In what must have looked and sounded to motorists on the M6 like an invasion of The Swarm, a parade of 50 enthusiast gems leaving a charity event were caught shooting down the on-ramp and merging into traffic. There were plenty of Porsches joining the 959 and Ducktail above, Aston Martins going back to the badboy V8 of the last millennium, a Ferrari Testarossa, a TVR and numerous other Easter eggs.
There were not, however, plenty of turn signals, with someone counting just five among the fifty engaging in proper use of the blinker. One reason put forth for that is the same reason we're posting this video, which is from last Summer, below: "because supercar." Enjoy.