IGHT HUNDRED AND thirty horsepower. Eight hundred! (And 30.) That is more power than Michael Schumacher had at his right foot when he won the first of his Ferrari-powered F1 titles in the year 2000. In a car with number-plates, two seats, and a stereo, cruise control and air-conditioning.
Right now, though, the Ferrari 296 GTB is whispering briskly along in eDrive mode, powered solely by the 167-hp electric motor sandwiched between its eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox and all-new twin-turbo V6. That millennium-era-F1-worthy total output comes from the combined might of motor and engine, for the 296 is a plug-in hybrid at the crest of Ferrari’s new wave of road cars. When you call on more power, the V6 harrumphs into life with a disgruntled burr, as if it is been grumpily roused from slumber.
It is the first V6 in a Ferrari-built road car since the Dino and if it does not sing or zing like Ferrari V8s of old, it is a nuanced sound, with depth and presence. And serious performance. The tiniest hint of a clear straight is all you need to dispatch dawdling traffic. Even in sixth or seventh gear, acceleration is mighty.
Nuance and depth: that sums up the 296 in general. There are a lot of layers to dig through in this car and not only in terms of its technology, its drive modes, and its interface. (The cruise control, music and air-con can be a nightmare to operate via fiddly and laggy touchpads. Sometimes there is no response to a command, despite tapping my thumb on the pads as if I am attempting a slap-bass solo; at others, they respond when my palm brushes them by mistake, putting the 296 into full-power “Qualifying” mode.)
As we cross the border into Wales, where most of this test is happening, the roads begin to tighten their sinews into complex multi-apex corners and flex them into open, undulating straights. The 296’s dynamic capabilities are quite astonishing. You can maintain motorway-speed momentum through even the tightest of corners, the ultra-fast steering needing little more than a flex of your palms to key it into a corner and then no correction thereafter: one corner, one turn. Gear-changes are synapse-instant.
The ride quality, too, is remarkable. This 296 is in track-focused Assetto Fiorano spec—less weight (with plenty of carbon-fibre inside and out and a polycarbonate rear screen), more downforce (from an enlarged rear spoiler) and different suspension, with adjustable passive dampers and titanium springs in place of the
