Pinnacle of power

Gautam Sharma gets into the driving seat of Ferrari’s all-new luxury masterpiece and engineering marvel – the F8 Spider.

Ferrari’s F8 Tributo coupe is a car we’ve sampled before and loved – so much so that we figured it was near impossible to improve on the recipe. Yet, incredibly, the prancing horse of Maranello has just rolled out an offering that’s even more tantalising.

Say hello to the new Ferrari F8 Spider – an open-topped derivative of the Tributo that serves up the same mind-blowing performance as the latter yet adds to the fun with its alfresco cruising capability.  Press a button and the metal roof disappears from sight in just 14 seconds… and this is something that can be achieved on the go, at speeds of up to 45kph.

Stamp on the throttle and you’ll experience the same spine-crushing acceleration as the Tributo, with 100kph flashing past in a scant 2.9sec. Top speed is a dizzying 340kph, so the Spider represents one of the most rapid ways to get your hair blow-dried.

As with the Tributo, motive power comes from Ferrari’s award-winning 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8, which thrashes out a titanic 720hp and 770Nm. All this grunt is transmitted to the rear wheels via a seamless seven-speed dual-clutch manual gearbox that can be left to its own devices or operated manually via the flappy paddles behind the steering wheel.

The F8 Spider manages to perform the double act of being a manic supercar or relaxed tourer, depending on the mood you’re in. Get it out on a racetrack or sinuous mountain road and it can transform into a tarmac-devouring beast, monstering the straights and carving up corners at warp speeds. Yet in the urban jungle it’s a highly civilised animal, trundling serenely in stop-start traffic and cruising comfortably down Jumeirah Beach Road. Bellissimo!

The article was first published in L’Officiel Arabia in November 2020.