I bought a 488 challenge car last year and am doing a few races this season. It is amazing fun and just wanted to start a thread about the challenge cars (of all types - 348, 355, 360, 430, 458 and 488) and about the races. Also can answer questions about Ferrari challenge for drivers wanting to get into it. Have a good handle on what is needed, logistics, how to train etc.
First let’s start with the car. Buying it wasn’t difficult, I told the dealer if he could find me a car I would buy one. The next day I got a text saying “your car has arrived!”
Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login This is when the car was brand new
The cars only come in a few colors. Red obviously, white, yellow and that might be it. You need a couple of sets of wheels and you need to install the VBOX system which I find amazing. It records video from a small thumb sized camera in the middle of the dash and additionally registers a whole host of parameters for you to review with the software like brake position, throttle position and literally dozens of others. E.g. g force, steering angle, speed etc.
For those that want to buy a car and just drive the car and practice, there is an amazing new program which is extremely inexpensive that allows you to run your car at all the Ferrari challenge weekends in dedicated sessions. It is called club challenge.
So what do you wear? This is a proper racecar, so you need the proper gear, which is part of the fun. You need fireproof undergarments, a suit, driving shoes, gloves, HANS device and an 8860 spec helmet, which is the same as the F1 standard.
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The first time I drove the car was st Road Atlanta, a pretty epic track. Certainly not the easiest and of relatively old design. It was amazing fun. So what is the car like to drive. Forget driving it for a second, how do you get in? I quickly realized you can’t get into it like a normal car. The only way I can get in is by reaching through the door and grabbing the roll bar by the roof of the car, standing on the seat, sliding my legs into the footwell and then sliding sideways into the seat. I have the hang of it now but I can’t say I’m particularly graceful. Once you are inside the cockpit is snug and the car disappears around you and it’s surprisingly comfortable. I have recently had a moulded seat insert made and that really adds to the comfort. Expandable foam is out in a bag, the excess is cut away and the insert is taped up. This pic was while the foam was setting. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Back to the driving. The car is fantastic, it’s a monster, it’s intoxicating, it’s direct, it’s loud, it’s responsive. The acceleration is impressive. The gearing is much shorter than the road car and you can redline the first 4 gears in 6 seconds. Like a motorbike. The first time you rifle through the gears it is literally laugh out loud fun. Whohoo!!!!
As impressive as the acceleration is, the braking is in a different league. You can throw out the anchors at 160 and get to 60 in a little over a second. You feel the g force from behind your eyeballs. It’s AMAZING. And addictive. As I have been working on my driving, braking is something I am doing well. It is so important for going quickly as you can gun it to the very last second and gain all that time until you brake.
Here I am with my coach at Road Atlanta. Yes you need a coach. These guys are amazing. Many professional racing drivers coach on the side. It is impossible to progress without someone to help you gradually and safely progress. My coach is the guy that looks like a racecar driver. I am the one that looks like a middle aged guy in a driving suit. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Since last summer I have tried to drive when I can, always with the coach and am doing a few races this season. I raced at COTA which was amazing. I finished both races which is was thrilled with. Prior to them I had never raced, not even in a tricycle race.
Here are a few COTA pics. Bottom pic shows the graceful entrance in action. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I wasn’t happy with the livery of the car, so reached out to a guy that designs car liveries and produces files to send to the printer for a wrap (who knew that existed). These are the renderings for the livery. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
And this is how the actual car looked last weekend racing at Sebring! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Starting last weekend st Sebring and for future Challenge races, the live races will be broadcast online. The link is: https://races.ferrari.com/en/corse-clienti/live/
Wait what? extremely inexpensive & Ferrari Challenge in the same sentence?! Please explain. Club Challenge? Never heard of it. All Challenge cars or just the 488?
Mark, super cool that you went head first into Challenge series having never previously raced. Go big or go home! And it appears you're doing pretty well in class, too! There's a specific forum on here dedicated to Challenge/GT cars - might get more action with this thread in that forum... https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/forums/challenge-gt-cars.185/ In addition to the colors you mentioned, the 488C also comes in silver (argento nurburgring) and I think possibly grigio titanio as well.
Yes inexpensive! The club challenge gives you 2 hours of track time per day at 5 Ferrari challenge weekends and I think it’s $9,000 to join the program and do 2 events for you to try, if you want to add the remaining 3 I think it’s just another $10,000. Compared to doing a Challenge season that is very inexpensive. Actually the first time I drove my challenge car (at Road Atlanta) last year it was under a similar program and it was a BLAST.