Well I got the opportunity to drive a 2001 Ferrari Modena this morning - albeit a short one. A patient of mine (who also owns a vintage Maserati and Lotus V8 Turbo) gave me the opportunity to take his car for a spin after he found out that I was "into" cars and high performance driving. It was equipped with the F1 paddle shifter and had aftermarket Tubi exhausts.

First impressions were that the car is actually very small inside, despite it's large girth. The engine induction noise and cams are very very clear within the cabin - making the entire experience quite visceral to say the least. Just looking in the rearview mirror fills ones mind with lusty thoughts as you see the dual red valve covers vibrating back and forth with every input of the throttle. The interior was very nicely appointed with a solid feel to everything - leather abounds with visible stitching in perfect lines. The interior of the car smells like a fine leather jacket. The car I drove was dark blue with a cream interior. Motto bella!

The turn-in is very crisp and the suspension was surprisingly hard - about the same as my R with 400F/600R. Had it not been for the well bolstered seats - my fillings would have been much looser - but the suspension is stiff for a reason - and that reason is in the rearview mirror.....

With a tap of the accelerator pedal the engine comes alive like a banshee in heat. You can feel the torque curve start at about 2500 rpm but at around 5000 rpm things start to get really wild. Dan let me take the car up to about 8000 rpm which is about as loud as the Integra with an AEM (but a lot more basso profundo in the engine note I might add).

I found the driving position to be a little bit weird. The steering wheel feels really far away and the pedals are all squished to the right because of the massive front wheel wells. But otherwise - outward visibility is great - but it's really hard to judge where the nose of the car is....

So is it worth the money?? In my opinion no. The engine is crazy powerful and the body is jaw droppingly gorgeous - but the driving experience was not worth the price of admission. I would say from a bang for the buck standpoint in the supercar domain - it's hard to beat the Z06 with 405 hp.

But suffice it to say that Phat Bastard had an enjoyable start to his day....


[Modified by Phat Bastard, 3:26 PM 5/28/2002]

 

Bastard....

 

I've had this opportunity a few times as well, including once in a Ferrari Challenge version.....pretty much you'vr hit it on the head, but stillits a ferrari and thats just cool...also...I don't know how fast you got it up to but they respond very differently @ above 80-100 mph.

 

Lucky Bastard...

 

u r lucky hehe !!

 

Phat Bastard...

 

Nice.. A very close friend of my family is a Ferrari mechanic and works for a 360 Challenge race car. There is no sweeter sound than a Ferrari..

 

Wow, lucky

 

heh, thats pimp... this next sunday as a graduation present i get to drive a turbocharged 1994 NSX and a brand new porche TT (450 hp) ..!!!! i cant wait!

 

yup yup...no n/a engine sounds sweeter than a ferrari especially the 355 f1. surprised that you(phat bastard) weren't that impressed by the modena though...the track is probably the only place to actually let it really breathe though

 

You didn't tell us about its most important feature: the F1 gearbox. Were the up-shifts and down-shifts buttery smooth? Could you drop a gear mid corner and not upset the car? Did it come natural to drive, or were you concious of your shifting?

 

Maybe the lack of a clutch pedal put a damper on your experience... Like someone else mentioned, I don't think you can really appreciate the whole package unless you take it on track. So tell your patient to hit up the next track day with you!!

 

Ah yes, the gearbox ( on me) - I found upshifts to take longer than I thought with quite brutal neck-snapping engagement - but you expect this on a powerful V8 (I wasn't complaining). Downshifting is smooth though. Shifting was quite natural - but you have to look to see what gear you're in - not as intuitive as a stick IMO - but I have never driven regularly with a sequential box - I'm sure you get used to it pretty fast.

 

Bastard.

Have you guys seen the 360 in that light blue silver? Saw one a couple of days ago, what a sight. My jaw dropped as it drove by.

 

Ypu get used to the sequential. I only drove the 360....see above post...for a little, but I have raced shifter karts, legends cars and most recently F2000 and while you "Gear Count" in the beginning, after awhile it requires no thought.

 

drool

 

if i had the money to buy a modena i probably would, but it is hard to beat a Z06... especially if you use some of your left over $125,000 to do some suspension and motor work

 

forget performance, how many panties did u drop

 

Lucky Phat Bastard you

 

If you count each dropped panty as $1, then the Ferrari is a much better deal than the Z-06...

 

if i had the money to buy a ferrari, i think i'd rather buy the porsche turbo 911

 

a lot of the descrete touches and essence of a ferrari, only a highly tuned and experience racer can appreciate. i for one will admit that it's more car than I could ever handle... and I would never get near to pushing it to its limits.

for the price i'd get a gt2 though... adjustable suspension, killler looks and a great drivable car.

 

Are you sure you were in sport mode? I had the opportunity to ride along in an F360 at Buttonwillow Raceway for a full 30 minute session. The upshifts were super fast, as fast as I can imagine a human could do it. I think I remember reading the transmission has two modes, normal and sport, and that controls the agressiveness of the shift timing. I also remember Ferrari advertising that in the F355 F1, shifts were only .15 seconds in sport mode.

 

Nice!!!

BTW The red cover on the engine is not the valve cover, it's the intake manifold cover!!!

 

Your evil.