The slowest corner at our test track can be taken at over 160kph. This assumes using all the lateral-g available from this racing Ferrari. As for the even faster turns, cornering speeds were going to be astronomic.
This track test brings you not any old ordinary 458 Challenge car, but an up-rated Ferrari Challenge racecar — the GTR, courtesy of Ferrari specialists Evolution 2.
As racers know, it is not the winning that counts — it is humiliating the opposition. And this is what the Evolution 2 458 GTR is capable of. So far, it has won every race that it has finished; as well as achieving pole positions and fastest laps in the UK Ferrari Owners Club race series. The Evolution 2 Ferrari 458 Challenge car has benefited from highly effective upgrades. CEO of the company Geoffrey Finlay arrived at the test track with his racecar, which was being looked after by race engineer Chris Warne.
Time to put on race clothing. I never feel comfortable driving a racing car without wearing all the safety kit; so on with all the layers of fire-proof clothing, balaclava, a narrow slot full-face helmet and Hans device. Drop into the wrap-around race seat and my view of the outside world is so restricted that I cannot imagine this scenario to be safe. It is always the same; but once under way all is forgotten. Lateral view becomes irrelevant as the world is hurtling at you.
I have been racing several historic cars of late and the 60-year technological jump takes a little adjustment. For instance, a historic car slides sideways the moment you think about turning the steering wheel. This matters not, as everything happens in slow motion. One has time to gaze at the approaching scenery through a side window. One has time to consult a race driver’s manual, or phone a friend to ask for advice regarding steering angle and throttle position.
Persuading a historic car to change direction demands a distinct dexterity; the more modern and more efficient the machine, the less thinking time available. In cars like a racing 458 GTR the only time the driver is looking at the track through a side window is in the nanosecond before it whacks the Armco; or in this case, machetes its way at Mach 0.25 through a Surrey forest.
In a historic car you throw the car at a corner and then sort out the mayhem, with this new car, one has to build up to the grip limit gradually and repeatedly. Once downforce’s exponential characteristic has been considered, feel arrives, and man and machine are in harmony with pure mechanical grip in sub-80kph turns (of which there were none), and logarithmically increasing grip as speed rises. Any decent driver could drive
this car at nine tenths. To drive it at 10 tenths.., well, that is another story.
This Ferrari 458 GTR was built by the factory as a Challenge racing car. This is the global one-make series where everyone crashes into each other and the best man wins — such is the way with one-make series. Don’t knock it though. Show me a one-make winner and I will show you a winner.
Beware though; the winners’ spectrum varies from bullies to brilliant. Anyway, this escapee from one-make pandemonium has been saved by Evolution 2 and is currently dominating the UK Ferrari Owners Club Racing Series.
While it is based on a 2011 Ferrari 458 Challenge car, it has many upgrades designed and developed by Evolution 2 and available to customers worldwide individually or as a complete kit (cost on request from info@evo2.biz).
Perhaps the greatest improvement in lap times comes from the aero package. This includes an 80mm carbon front splitter complete with full carbon flat floor, to include all existing brake vents and utilising factory floor mounts and pick-up points. The front (boot) floor has been redesigned and strengthened. There are also front tapered carbon
aero dive planes. To balance out the increased front downforce, at the rear there is a full-width carbon, adjustable wing (four different positions), maximised end plates, billet alloy wing supports with carbon in-fills, and fully strengthened/adjustable pick-up points in the engine bay.
Evolution 2’s use of a wind tunnel not only improved the car’s aero package but the company learned much. This useful info has helped with their many upgrades available for street car packages, check out Evolution 2’s website (www.evo2.biz) for upgrades to your street 458 Italia.
The suspension upgrade is state of the art and includes four-way fully adjustable Multimatic dampers developed by Evolution 2 in test rig conditions with Eibach springs. With this level of infinite adjustment, to arrive at the optimum setting requires equally high tech know-how. In this case, the car was mounted on an F1 test rig, surrounded by geeks with sophisticated electronic sensors and boffins with calculators. Different set-ups apply for individual race circuits, both for damper and aero settings.
Evolution 2 usually runs the car with the wing in a mid-position, indicating a sound set-up. Small adjustments have large effects on lap times. For instance, any extra rear downforce will introduce understeer. Understeer will cost a few tenths of a second in a corner. The real loss comes later as understeer delays the point at which power can be applied. This means that the car will carry slightly less speed out of a corner; bad, but still no big deal. However, the car will be slower all the way down the next straight — disaster. A few tenths become a few seconds, just because of a slight adjustment.
Just one second equates to about 50 metres of track at most circuits. The racecar’s motor has been re-mapped with power up from 574bhp to 618bhp and a corresponding increase in torque to 793Nm. Stopping is via huge original carbon discs, but with race pads. The seven-speed gearbox has closer ratios than in the road car for third, fourth and fifth gears. Other mods include a V-Box data logger and multi-camera set-up, a two-way radio and a Momo carbon seat.
I can’t remember lapping our test track quite so quickly. Power delivery is linear; the more the revs, the greater the urge, right round to 9,000rpm. Lifting off mid-turn helps turn-in without any of that nasty snap-oversteer that often comes with rear-heavy cars. While the major controls make the car feel like a fly-weight, it still weighs 1,315kg dry, and more like 1,450kg with yours truly and some fuel. Nevertheless, its balance and poise make up for its mass. No doubt its slicks would have to be managed in
a long race.
Typically, there comes a point where the graph of grip level falls off a cliff. It would take a proper race circuit with its run-offs and safety features to explore the GTR’s outer limits, but it was good to reacquaint myself with such speed on this test track which is best described as Hockenheim-esque circa 1968.
Specs
Model Evolution 2 458 GTR
Engine 4.5-litre V8
Transmission Seven-speed dual clutch RWD
Max power 618bhp @ 9,000rpm
Max torque 793Nm @ 6,000rpm
Top speed 320kph
0-100kph 2.9sec
