FERRARI 296 SPECIALE

Evolution of V6 plug-in hybrid supercar is billed as the "most fun to drive, emotionally charged" Ferrari yet

- RICHARD LANE

There are facts the first-time 296 Speciale pilot needs to consider. One is that this car has the lowest polar moment of inertia of any current Ferrari. Another is that it is the most powerful purely rear-driven model the company makes. It doesn't take Adrian Newey-level intelligence to realise this combination could result in something profoundly thrilling - or just frightening.

Chief test driver Raffaele de Simone assures me it's the former, but suspicion lingers. The night before my drive of the 868bhp Speciale at Fiorano and in the Apennines, I ask if it’s all getting, y’know, out of hand. Remember that the regular 296 GTB makes 49bhp less, weighs 60kg more and is set up more conservatively yet will light up its rears in fourth-gear corners. Fifth, even.

The next morning, I take to the track in glorious sunshine, and before lap one is complete de Simone is vindicated. Even more resplendent than its Verde Nürburgring paint is the way the Speciale makes 550bhp per tonne unnervingly manageable.

There's an animal wildness to the 488 Pista’s heavier yet superior successor, and you could of course have a sizeable incident in any car of this ilk. Yet my sense is that you would need to be driving like a pillock for things to go badly awry. The Speciale has all of the GTB’s forgiving exuberance, only with more mechanical transparency and raw theatre. And speed.

God, the speed. It’s breathtaking.

So, while you can debate the wisdom of spending the £100k surcharge the Speciale demands over the GTB, you can’t deny that it is an outstanding supercar and one that is, I’m very pleased to report, emotionally fulfilling, childish stripes and all.