RED MIST; The new 430 Scuderia is more than just a track-day car.(News)

Byline: WES RAYNAL

Credit Ferrari's Formula One engineers. They wanted to see how far they could stretch that V8 in the F430. "Let's see how much F1 technology can go into one of our road cars,'' they mused.

The result is the 430 Scuderia. The word (say "skoo-DEH-ree-uh'') means "stable'' (or, for the Prancing Horse's purposes, "team'') in Italian and is meant to emphasize the Formula One team's involvement in this project. It was introduced a few weeks ago in Frankfurt-by none other than Michael Schumacher, who spent time on its development.

It is tempting to think of the Scuderia simply as a lighter, faster F430. Yes, that is true, but it is not the whole story. The car is 220 pounds lighter. The bumpers and doorsill moldings are made of RTM, a strong plastic, though you can order carbon-fiber sills if you want. The rear window is Lexan, the floor aluminum. The interior door panels are carbon fiber. The car weighs 2976 pounds. The body wears a deeper front bumper, a slightly higher rear decklid edge and a bigger rear diffuser with a mesh grille, all contributing to more downforce with less drag.

Weight savings and better aero aren't the only things that make the Scuderia special. To think only that way is to underestimate it. The Scuderia is jammed with technology that didn't exist when the F430 was created, and this is a much better car for that added technology. "It is the best we can offer,'' said development engineer Roberto Corradi. "It is all we know.''

At the car's heart is the 4.3-liter V8 producing 510 hp, up 20 over the F430, with more torque at lower revs; maximum torque is up 4 lb-ft to 347. That's achieved thanks to the carbon-fiber air intake, lighter exhaust and slightly increased compression ratio. Carlo Della Casa, Ferrari's V8 boss, said time was spent getting the exhaust tuning right: "We wanted it to sound great at the higher revs but not be too intrusive around town.''

The car uses a second-generation F1 SuperFast gearbox, called SuperFast 2, which changes gears in an astounding 60 milliseconds. To put that in perspective, it is nearly twice as fast as the F430, twice as fast as the Enzo and only marginally slower (by 20 milliseconds) than Kimi's every-other-weekend ride. SuperFast 2 combines with the E-Diff electronic rear differential, which is integrated with the stability-control system. The traction- control system is from the Ferrari 599, with software upgrades. It is controlled via the manettino knob on the steering wheel, with normal, sport and race modes. You also can turn the traction control off and leave stability control on or turn everything off and have all the car control to yourself.