italiaspeed.com

Ferrari gave the new F430 its Italian premiére at the Bologna Motor Show, where it took pride of place in a highly sporty line-up, packed with the marque's racing cars.

The Prancing Horse stand featured the new 575M Maranello Handling GTC and the 612 Scaglietti, while competition cars on show included the 360 GTC, which won the Italian GT Championship courtesy of the Loris Kessel team, the 575 GTC and the F2004, the 2004 World Drivers’ and Constructors’ title-winning F1 car.

A surprise addition to the display was the Fiat Panda 4x4 with the special F1 World Champion livery of Rosso Scuderia red, tricolour stripe and a logo celebrating the years in which Ferrari’s single-seaters have triumphed in the F1 Championships (1999-2004).

The new Ferrari F430 signals the arrival of a brand new generation of V8-engined Ferrari berlinettas. Every inch of the car was inspired by the engineering research carried out at Ferrari's Gestione Sportiva F1 racing division.

Ferrari gave the new F430 its Italian premiére at the Bologna Motor Show, where it took pride of place in a highly sporty line-up, packed with the marque's racing cars

The result is a highly innovative design, characterised by cutting-edge technologies perfected for use on a road-going car.

Two of these innovations are world firsts for production cars: the electronic differential (E-Diff) initially developed by Ferrari for its F1 single-seaters and designed to make the most of the engine's torque to optimise traction, and the steering wheel-mounted rotary switch (better known to the Formula 1 drivers as the manettino) which directly controls the integrated systems governing vehicle dynamics.

The F430's light, compact 4308cc engine is completely new and gives the car its name. It punches out 490bhp and delivers a specific power output of 114bhp/litre and 343lb.ft of torque.

Needless to say, performance is outstanding: acceleration from zero to 62mph (100km/h) in 4 seconds and a maximum speed in excess of 196mph (315km/h).