The New Stratos has been a decade in the making yet, last year, production on the Ferrari 430 Scuderia-based supercar finally commenced.
To see what the car is all about, Motor Trend’s Jethro Bovingdon and Jonny Lieberman recently had the opportunity to test out the car on the latest episode of Head 2 Head.
The online series primarily sits behind a paywall on Motor Trend Demand nowadays, but this 5-minute video offers a preview of what they got up to with the New Stratos from MAT.
Also Read: MAT’s New Stratos Is Everything You Could Want From A Reborn Icon
Bovingdon was the first of the duo to jump behind the wheel of the retro-inspired sports car and put it through its paces on a damp, tight, and technical handling circuit. This test isn’t about how seeing how fast the Stratos can lap a circuit but rather to determine how it handles and whether if feels anything like the Ferrari on which it is based or the original Stratos that was the inspiration behind its creation.
The journalist’s initial impression seems quite good as he suggests that it does handle quite a bit differently to both the F430 and its original namesake. It still has a fierce attitude but, unlike the old Lancia, doesn’t feel as though it wants to kill its driver at every possible opportunity. Guess the much more modern underpinnings have a lot to do with that, despite the shortened wheelbase.
Lieberman then has the opportunity to drive the New Stratos along a kick plate which is used to help train drivers in the art of controlling a slide but that doesn’t seem to be an easy thing to do with this particular car.