24/11/2015
The new engine is smaller than its predecessor, and its displacement of 488 cubic centimeters per cylinder gives the car its name: 488GTB. Multiplied by eight, that works out to 3902 cc for the new 90-degree V-8, which is mated to, as was the 458’s V-8, a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. Despite the 0.6-liter reduction in displacement, the new engine makes more power: 661 horsepower at 8000 rpm, versus 597 horsepower at 9000 rpm for the 458 Speciale. Torque, predictably, is greater as well, reaching 561 lb-ft at a low 3000 rpm, far eclipsing the 458 Speciale’s 398 lb-ft.
Ferrari credits the engine’s extreme performance to a range of efficiency improvements over the 458’s V-8. For instance, an ion-sensing system helps control ignition timing and is a more exact method of detecting knock. High-tumble intake ports help air rush onto the scene of combustion crime, where fuel is directly injected at a pressure of 2900 psi. The oil pump pushes lubrication at varying levels on demand. Decreased friction in the valvetrain absorbs 10 percent less power.
Like the screaming, naturally aspirated 458, the 488 uses an engine with a flat-plane crankshaft that should help it retain the “seductive soundtrack” that Ferrari promises. The 458 lacks artificial aspiration, but the Maranello carmaker claims that the new car’s twin-turbocharged engine has “zero turbo lag.” The twin-scroll turbos themselves use premium componentry such as shafts mounted on ball bearings and compressor wheels hewn from a low-density alloy of titanium and aluminum. Ferrari even trumpets “a special seal on the turbine housing [that] ensures a minimum gap between it and the compressor wheel for maximum efficiency.”
Variable Torque Management helps get the power all the way to the rear wheels posthaste. Ferrari claims that the superquick seven-speed transmission will enable the engine to hit the rev limiter in fourth gear just six seconds after the car leaves from a stop.
The extra oomph shaves only fractions of a second from the official Fiorano lap time compared with the latest and greatest iteration of the 458, the Speciale A (which just debuted last fall). The 488GTB gets around Fiorano in 1:23.0, a half-second quicker than the Speciale A. The two cars both claim a 3.0-second zero-to-62-mph time. As speeds increase, however, the 488GTB shows its advantage, reaching 124 mph in 8.3 seconds, compared to its forebear’s 9.5. The 488GTB also is said to be capable of 205 mph, 3 mph higher than the now-completely-useless 458 Speciale A. Brembo Extreme Design brakes—derived from the LaFerrari’s—help haul down the 488 in nine-percent less linear space than the 458’s lesser binders could accomplish. These features and figures should help the Ferrari do battle with the Lamborghini Huracán and the McLaren 650S, the latter of which will beget a higher-performance variant, the 675LT, at Geneva.
