GREEN FLASH

Ferrari's 458 Speciale is simply one of the greatest driver's cars there's ever been.Can the new 296 Speciale possibly live up to the legend? Here's where we find out, on road and track

- by RICHARD MEADEN PHOTOGRAPHY by DEAN SMITH

IN THE LONG HISTORY OF PERFORMANCE CARS, there have been few tougher acts to follow than the 458 Speciale. The holy grail of hotted-up mid-engined Ferraris, this exquisite V8 screamer — light, beautiful and spine-tinglingly sonorous — remains one of the very best road cars Ferrari has ever built. And now it has a successor.

Such is the weight of expectation that comes with the Speciale tag that Ferrari chose not to reveal its intended name to the team charged with delivering the new 296 flagship until well into the project’s development phase.

The choice of Speciale is telling. Where the other names associated with Ferrari’s sharpest mid-engined models — Challenge Stradale, Scuderia and Pista — speak of street cars with an overt track vibe, Speciale affords the latitude to create a more focused street car with a seriously expanded skill set that gives equal weighting to improvements that can be readily enjoyed on the road and fully explored on track.

The changes required to effect these improvements are as extensive as they are impressive, a fact demonstrated by Ferrari’s 65-page technical briefing document. Much of the content had been revealed some months ago when the Speciale was first announced, but they bear repeating because they describe a scope of works that touch almost every area of the car. Powertrain, chassis, brakes, aerodynamics and electronics have all received serious attention, as have the exterior and interior, which differ considerably from the standard 296 GTB’s while avoiding wholesale reinvention.