You’ve probably heard about Ferrari’s track-alicious 458 Italia Challenge, the latest in a line of racers to emerge from Maranello’s production cars. Revealed to the public for the first time at the Bologna Motor Show last December, the Italian company has produced a new video of the hardcore supercar hot lapping the Monza circuit in the hands of the Stefano Gai, World Champion in the Trofeo Pirelli Italia 2010, with breathtaking footage from two in-car cameras.
The Challenge model is based on the road-going 458 Italia featuring competition-spec upgrades such as a specific suspension set-up with steel uniball joints, stiffer springs, single-rate alloy dampers and a ride height lowered by 50mm all round. It also gets a Brembo CCM2 brake system, centre-nut 19-inch forged rims wrapped in larger dimension Pirelli slicks and a variety of weight saving tricks and components.
The road-legal 4.5-liter V8 is sourced from the normal 458 Italia and remains strictly in production tune, with an output of 570 hp at 9,000 rpm, though Ferrari’s modified the gear ratios and calibration of its dual-clutch F1 gearbox to further improve torque at lower revs.
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