2009 Ferrari 430 Scuderia by Novitec Rosso

Novitec’s Wolfgang Hagedorn is a businessman from the German town of Stetten. After years of improving Fiats and Alfa Romeos, Hagedorn bought three Ferraris for tinkering purposes. At the 2003 Frankfurt Auto Show he revealed his supercharged Ferrari 360 Modena by Novitec Rosso and orders quickly appeared.

Since then, Hagedorn has really made his Ferraris true specialty models, much more than simple tuner cars. And so here is the newest Novitec Rosso, Hagedorn’s improved Ferrari 430 Scuderia, the V8 powered berlinetta that beats the laptime set at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track by the overly worshiped Ferrari Enzo.

How can Novitec Rosso possibly improve on a car already so impossibly super?

A look through the polycarbonate rear glass in the Ferrari 430 Scuderia’s rear deck reveals all. There are two compact, belt-driven, Rotrex centrifugal superchargers fed by two immense carbon-fiber air boxes. Two front-mounted water-cooled intercoolers help keep the intake air at the right temperature. The engine conversion is referred to as the Novitec Race Bi-Compressor Engine kit, and it runs $89,999 through Novitec’s full-service importer CEC.

Getting more out of the Scuderia evidently doesn’t take much, as each Rotrex screwgie hits its max boost at 7.0 psi. Its all available all the way to 8,350 rpm, where the horsepower surges from 503 hp to 708 hp. Meanwhile, the torque has been wrenched from a measly 347 pound-feet up to 533 lb-ft at 6,250 rpm. Novitec has managed to keep all the heat-inducing friction and combustion in control by applying competition-level cooling upgrades.

The Ferrari-engineered 136E V8 engine is otherwise stock. So is the Scuderia’s six-speed automated manual F1-Superfast 2 gearbox; and its shift times remain wildly quick going up or down (70 milliseconds in the Race, CT-Off and CST-Off settings of the manettino mounted on the steering wheel).

While the technicians at Novitec’s facility in Stetten have not fiddled with the wheel alignment, new stiffer springs all around slightly alter the over-the-road feel of the five suspension settings afforded by the manettino, and the overall ride height is 1.2 inches lower than that specified by Maranello. The Ferrari MagnaRide dampers are too complicated to modify, so the settings are the same as before.

Aside from being lower to the asphalt, the Novitec Rosso version of the 2009 Ferrari 430 Scuderia also features a wider track front and rear due to a combination of spacers and the very sharp, yellow-accented, 20-inch Novitec NF3 three-piece aluminum wheels. The Michelin Pilot Sport Cup Plus tires are 235/30ZR20s in front and 325/25ZR20s in the rear. The car comes standard with carbon-ceramic brake discs all around.

Even without any bodywork modifications, the Scuderia’s lower ride height adds approximately 80 pounds of downforce at both front and rear during high-speed dashes, while the stiffer springs and stickier tires improve stability at ultrahigh speed. Once Novitec’s taller final-drive gear is installed, the top speed climbs to 216 mph from 199 mph.

Within the car’s cabin, you’ll find all the familiar Ferrari touches, particularly the perfect Scuderia seats. Additions by Novitec include a flat-bottom, suede-upholstered carbon-fiber steering wheel, and it features the significantly larger carbon-fiber shift paddles, plus there’s a set of anodized aluminum pedals. The larger shift paddles on the steering column make a drastic improvement for flicking shifts at any point of the steering action, especially through and exiting hairpins.

This car has the ability to hydraulically lift the nose 1.6 inches to avoid a scarred chin in parking garages and driveways. Up to now the only Ferrari from the factory with this feature has been the Enzo.

Letting Novitec Rosso have at the Ferrari 430 Scuderia has ended in an even harder-core Scuderia. Its a car never meant for every day, and this genuine Ferrari-style concept thoroughly validates the leaner and meaner German approach.

Source: al-eds.com

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