More powerful than anything else to leave Maranello with a V8 engine at its introduction in 2018, the Ferrari 488 Pista brought the adrenaline of the track to every road, offering the thrill of absolute control. It was Ferrari’s special series sports car, encompassing the highest level yet of technological transfer from racing on the world’s circuits in the 488 Challenge and 488 GTE. In fact, the name, meaning ‘track’ in Italian, was chosen specifically to testify to Ferrari’s unparalleled heritage in motor sports. The Pista was a continuation of the track-ready ‘special series’ V8 supercar that stretched back to the 360 Challenge Stradale in 2003, but none of its predecessors represented such a titanic leap in performance.

The 488 Pista’s masterpiece is its 3902cc 710bhp V8 engine. An extreme evolution of the turbo engine elected overall International Engine of the Year in 2016 and 2017, the car’s engineers managed to develop Ferrari’s most powerful V8 in history. The 49 bhp power increase over the 488 GTB’s engine was also the largest ever leap in engine power for a Ferrari special series car and a remarkable 11 bhp more than the previous model, the 458 Speciale. In short, the V8 became the new benchmark not only for turbo-charged power units, but for all engines.

The aim of the Ferrari 488 Pista’s dynamic development was to produce a car that offered blistering mechanical performance in terms of lap times and standing starts. To achieve these objectives, Ferrari’s engineers had to work on several fronts. A new generation of the Side Slip Control System was introduced, the efficiency of the braking system improved and a new specific tyre, the Michelin Sport Cup 2, developed in conjunction with tyre partners Michelin. The 488 Pista was 90 kg lighter than the 488 GTB, which brought huge advantages in terms of its agility and responsiveness. To maximise on this the weight reductions were concentrated in the most weight-sensitive areas of the car, away from the car’s centre of gravity. The bodyshell was designed to keep the car as light as possible and featured ultralight materials such as carbon-fibre for the engine cover, the front and rear bumpers and the rear spoiler, and Lexan for the rear window.

The Ferrari 488 Pista made full use of Ferrari’s motor-sports experience in its design. Features from the 488 Challenge, such as the engine’s air intake and intercooler layouts, were fully exploited to guarantee performance, even in the wake of another car. Other racing solutions improved the 488 Pista’s aerodynamic performance, like the F1-inspired front S-Duct and the design of the front diffusers, which were optimised to increase downforce. The underbody vortex generators were also redesigned, the rear blown spoiler was higher and longer, and the rear diffuser incorporated the same double kink as the 488 GTE to increase the air extraction and downforce generation. The car’s underlying sense of extreme purpose was also highlighted by the adoption of optional new 20” carbon-fibre wheel rims for the first time on a Ferrari, while other carbon-fibre parts include the engine cover, bumpers and rear spoiler.

The interior of the 488 Pista had a distinctive racing feel, with all superfluous elements eliminated. The extensive use of lightweight, exclusive technical materials such as carbon-fibre and Alcantara worked brilliantly with the meticulous crafting and sophistication that is the signature of all Ferrari cockpits. Contrasting hand-stitching, tread plates and heel rests in triangular pattern aluminium and particularly fluidly sculpted door panels were fine examples of this.

This fine 1:8 scale model of the Ferrari 488 Pista has been handcrafted and finished in our workshops with the co-operation and assistance of Ferrari regarding original finishes, materials, archive imagery and drawings. The use of supremely accurate digital scanning of the original car has allowed us to perfectly recreate every detail at scale. Furthermore, it has undergone detailed scrutiny by both engineering and design teams to ensure complete accuracy of representation.

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