As is tradition, the cars set to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show are making their first appearances online. And Ferrari, not one to be left out of the party, just unveiled the 488 Pista, the most hardcore, track-ready version of the Italian V8 we’ve seen yet.
Judging by Ferrari’s history with this type of car — from the 360 Challenge Stradale to the 430 Scuderia and the heavenly 458 Speciale — the launch of a track-focused version of the turbocharged 488 was bound to come along. Ferrari took what it learned from racing the 488 GTE at Le Mans as well as other global endurance racing events and distilled it down into the Pista. Without the restrictions and regulations of modern-day motorsports holding it back, the Pista is even more intense than the race cars that inspired it.
The Pista’s 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 makes 711 horsepower — to put that in context, race cars are actually restricted to just 500 hp. The car only weighs 2822 pounds, which helps the Pista dust off the 0-62 mph sprint in only 2.85 seconds; it’ll go on to a top speed of 211 mph (the 488 GTE race car only sees 180 mph). If you’re wondering about the name, and you probably are, in Italian, “Pista” means ‘track’ — certainly apropos here. But the name doesn’t exactly translate the same way in every language — it can mean myriad things, from ‘pistachio’ and ‘piss’.
We’ll have boots on the ground the Geneva Motor Show this year to see the new Ferrari in the metal and get a closer look.
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