I'm heading to Laguna Seca to drive the Ferrari 488 Challenge racer -- 670
horsepower, under 3000 pounds. Just an absolute killer spec series race car I
haven't been on Laguna Seca in a while and so I figured I'd play the Project
Cars 2 game that has Laguna Seca as one of the tracks and the Ferrari challenge
racer right down to the North American specification. I figured it's gonna help
me at least learn the line of Laguna Seca again and even maybe that much more
comfortable when I actually get onto the track in the real Ferrari 488 challenge
car ah well that was a that was a fast immediate wipeout
I feel like video game crashes aren't an ideal preparation for heading onto a
racetrack but project cars too did help you remember the racing line now it's
time to take this from the virtual Laguna Seca to the famous circuit in
Monterey California I am suited and booted and ready to
drive the Ferrari 488 challenge racer here at Laguna Seca
it's a fantasy race weekend before a gentlemen's racing series and these are
some gentlemen I'm telling you this is about a three hundred and thirty
thousand dollar car from the factory versus 265 grand for the basic Ferrari
488 what do you get for that money 661 horsepower 3.9 liter twin turbo v8 the
first turbocharged Ferrari racer in the Challenge series is a series that's 26
years old I have to be driving a car today with someone you might be familiar
with Michael under the actor he might know invest as
young magneto in the x-men series and up for re the nice that they're lettin me
share his car here for some personal testing it's that white one back there
with the hood off
hold more forward okay now back one there right yes exactly so
no problem my man have fun yeah yeah
heading on to Laguna Seca to warm up here just past the end ready hairpin now
with 661 horsepower on tap even a little too much throttle is a recipe for
instant wheel spin but already I could tell that these slicks are much grippier
than the showroom rubber Ferraris twin turbo v8 sounds spectacular it's got all
the Italian spirit not to mention the sheer volume that we prefer in the
showroom 488 so let's talk about some of the things that makes this different
from a production house that they had to totally redo these radiators here the
radiators are tilted back towards the rear and you get better airflow over the
radiators and less drag as we won drag as well course big big much larger
splitter and flicks on the side here some weight savings they took about
maybe 40 pounds off the engine give or take another 20 pounds off the exhaust
system the PS did resist on this big big wing this huge airfoil took some lessons
from the Ferrari 488 GTB that won the FIA endurance championship behind rear
splitter of course big intakes big engine
with my trusty coach Craig stand beside me and picking up the pace now just
putting up smooth consistent laps this challenge card definitely drives like a
Ferrari 488 only better the steering is direct and not too heavy the brakes are
powerful but very easy to modulate when I trail off and roll back on the
throttle if we peer over this massive rear wing
here we see the nerve center of this car the mid-engine
3.9 liter twin-turbo v8 first turbocharged racer in the Ferrari
challenge incredibly this car races in hardcore the genuine race car form in
the GT Daytona series that race car makes significantly less power
100 150 fewer horses than the 661 horsepower and his car so this gentleman
racer on some tracks is actually faster around the track than the full-on pro
Daytona version a lot of the modifications in this Ferrari 488
challenge racer of course involved the interior all the luxuries leather all
ripped out it's still a little bit of Alcantara here I see of course the roll
cage welded in and then everything you need for racing it really interesting
part of this the typical Ferrari manettino kind of the control switch for
your various driver modes is replaced by to manatee nose we've got one on the
right for various levels of traction control there's like a rain setting
that's very sensitive now this is like kind of considerate the
threshold of traction control you know what it gets the amount of slip when
it's going to be triggered and this is kind of like a fine-tuning one for kind
of the level then of intervention so it's kind of onset and then how
aggressively it's going to manage traction or as you dial all these things
off and you're basically on your own you might think that this 488 challenge
racer is the harder get compared to a street Ferrari in some cases it's
exactly the opposite customers have had a hard time of course getting on that
vaunted for our waiting list for a car and but if they buy a challenge racer
they might find themselves actually shooting up the list and be closer to
the head of the line for one of the street cars
the Formula one bass electronic differential is definitely doing its
thing to control wheel spin and max out power to the pavement but the system
isn't getting in my way but the biggest difference between the show roofer re in
this challenge racer is the incredibly short gearing accelerating from a dead
stop in first gear through the top of fourth gear takes six seconds flat feels
more like a motorcycle than a conventional car
those little apps yeehaw thank you now what have we learned
video games are much cheaper and you'll never require an emergency room visit
but for a Ferrari 488 challenge racer at Laguna Seca there's nothing like the
real thing