Will Kimi's move boost Ferrari popularity in Finland? HS tests a Ferrari F430 Spider

Thus far only one specimen registered in Finland, but what will the future bring?

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By Veikko Lautsi
     
      Before very long, Ferrari is going to be as common a topic in Finnish coffee-table discussions as pizza or pasta are on restaurant menus. The pride of Italian auto manufacturing has hired the services of one Kimi Räikkönen, currently at McLaren-Mercedes, to drive the red Ferrari in the 2007 Formula One series.
      Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, which has hitherto been the employer of Michael Schumacher and therefore the sworn enemy of all fans of Finnish F1 drivers such as Räikkönen and Mika Häkkinen before him, is now suddenly on the verge of being everybody's darling.
     
In Germany, Schumacher's phenomenal success at the wheel gave a huge fillip to Ferrari's popularity. Fans bought cars and set up Ferrari user-clubs.
      But is there any way the Ferrari could become a new people's car in Finland, too? It may be that a few more of them find their way into the Finnish vehicle registry, but the hefty price-tag will probably ensure that the Ferrari does not exactly become a highway fixture. In September of this year there were just 96 Ferraris registered in Finland, and 12 of them were museum-pieces.
     
We have arranged a meeting with a Finnish owner of the manufacturer's mid-engined V8 convertible, the F430 Spider F1. Thus far the car is the only specimen of this model registered in Finland.
      When the car's owner Christer Lybäck approaches our rendezvous point on the shore by the Kaivopuisto Park, the dulcet tones of the 490 bhp engine can be heard from afar, and it splits the air long before the red beauty itself comes into view.
      As we all stand around drooling and gawping at the shapely creature, a police patrol van appears practically to order, and cruises past us very slowly. The two police officers stare with obvious interest at what we are doing. One has the feeling that we could only command a greater level of attention if we were wearing biker leathers with full Bandidos club colours.
     
Buying a Ferrari is not something Lybäck has done with a shrug and a wave of his chequebook. It has been a considerable investment. "This car, with the various optional extras, cost around EUR 300,000. And of that sum I suppose tax accounted for around EUR 100,000", he says.
      But if you want something badly enough, then you have to shell out for it.
      "This is kind of like the fulfilment of a personal fantasy. I've been dreaming of something like this all my life. And it's not as if it was easy buying this car. I'm not rich in the way that I didn't have to do a lot to get my name on the owner's documents. This has been a project maturing over many years", says Lybäck, a sports physician, orthopaedic surgeon, and traumatology specialist, who is also part-owner of a private clinic in Helsinki.
      Lybäck's previous convertible was a Mercedes-Benz SL, so the Ferrari was in more ways than one a logical next step.
     
So what is it all about, what is the attraction? How does the Ferrari differ from cars you have driven before?
      "Oh there's a huge difference", says Lybäck without a moment's hesitation. "No comparison. After you get behind the wheel of a Ferrari, nothing else feels like anything."
      He has owned the car since the spring, and he has already clocked up more than 20,000 kilometres. A good many of them came on a summer vacation trip that took the car down through Europe and all the way to Malta.
      "The F 430 attracted enormous attention everywhere. The Ferrari brand and image is colossal - more than for any other make of car. In Italy in particular, people were very enthusiastic - they were all over the car."
     
Lybäck reports that ownership has already brought one setback, too. He had only had it for two weeks when a drunk-driver reversed into him and re-arranged the look of the door on the driver's side.
      Lybäck admits that the incident was a pretty painful experience.
      "I was sitting in the car at the time. Fortunately the guy didn't get away. The insurance companies handled everything, so I've no idea how much it all cost."
     
When you get behind the wheel of a Ferrari, the initial sensation is perhaps not unlike sitting on a rodeo horse. Your mind runs over ways in which you are to keep the bucking black mare of the Ferrari logo in some form of discipline.
      There really is no need for these worries. The car is all compliance, behaving just the way the driver wants it to.
      As we turn onto a narrow street, lo and behold, the first vehicle to appear from the other direction is a police car. I politely give way and let him past. It is in any case just after 4 p.m., and the afternoon rush-hour means that nobody is going to be threatening any speed-limits.
     
From the very first metres the car gives a very well-trained and stable account of itself. The steering is precise and sensitive.
      It does not take very long to learn how to change up and down using the steering column shift-paddles. This is automatic manual transmission. There is no clutch pedal.
      In the queue snaking along Länsiväylä [the "Westway" urban motorway out into Espoo], the Ferrari purrs along serenely and apparently contentedly in sixth. Believe it or not, this car works in everyday driving.
     
Because the Ferraris' torque curve shows its best side at higher rpm altitudes, Lybäck calmly advises me to shift down to second.
      Whoa! Then the prancing steed is up on its hind legs and away. A small jab at the gas pedal tells one that yes, Signor, the Ferrari is perfectly ready to leap over the entire string of cars in front at a single bound. Just give me the word.
      We should, however, be on a track to explore the real character of the Ferrari, which will take you from 0-100 km/h in slightly longer than it takes to sneeze - 3.5 seconds.
      And when you do ask the engine to work harder and the revs start to climb towards the 8,500 rpm red line, the Ferrari bursts into the motoring equivalent of bel canto. That semi-civilised purr from the four exhaust manifolds becomes a moody snarl that morphs into a rasping thunderous roar that rips the fillings from your teeth - Ferraaaaariiiiiii!
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 14.10.2006
     
Listen to the sounds of the F430 in action at the link below. From bottom up, the commands are: Switch off, switch on and idle the engine, "normal" acceleration, and "floor it". There is also a link to a short video sequence that shows how the distinctive Ferrari sound is audible to the driver as well as to people on the sidewalk.

More on this subject:
 Technical Specifications - Ferrari F430 Spider F1

See also:
  Listen to the Ferrari sound
  View video clip

VEIKKO LAUTSI / Helsingin Sanomat
veikko.lautsi@hs.fi