Ferrari F430

Today, I thought a Ferrari F430 would be in order since Ferrari manufactures such fabulous machines! Ferrari has typically been know for their supercars, and in Europe for their racing prowess. Not only are Ferrari's state of the art super cars, they are art works....exceptionally beautiful designs. Ferrari's are hand built in a state of the art plant located in Maranello, Italy.

Ferrari was founded in 1928 by Enzo Ferrari, the company was engaged in racing and manufacturing race cars before moving into production of street legal sports cars vehicles in 1947. Enzo never wanted to manufacture cars but he needed the cash flow to support his racing activities. Ferrari has raced mainly in Formula One, where it has enjoyed tremendous success.

After years of financial struggles, Enzo Ferrari sold the company's sports car division to the Fiat group in 1969 to ensure continued financial backing. Enzo Ferrari retained control of the racing division until his death in 1988 at the age of 90. Earlier that year he had overseen the launch of the Ferrari F40, the last new Ferrari to be launched before his death, and arguably one of the most famous supercars ever made.

The F430's all aluminum chassis was produced in partnership with Alcoa and is virtually identical to that of the previous model, the Ferrari 360. In the F430 it has been slightly re-worked and shares a lot of common parts including the same roof, doors, front windshield and passenger compartment to engine glass.

The MSRP for a Ferrari F430 is between $168,005–$227,000 in the United States. The F430 is sold starting at about £120,000 in the United Kingdom, approximately €175,000 in the European Union and $389,000 for the base model in Australia.

The brakes on the F430 were designed in coordination with Brembo, resulting in a new cast-iron alloy for the discs. The new alloy includes molybdenum which has better heat dissipation performance. Another option Ferrari is providing are ceramic composite discs. Ceramics have much higher resistance to heat and brake fade than metals, the F430's brakes offer not only excellent performance but also a longer lifespan. Ferrari claims the brakes will not fade even after 300-360 laps at their test track. Check out this Racing Flix video!

Car and Driver magazine found the car's performance worthy of the Ferrari heritage, and recorded a 3.5 sec 0-60 mph acceleration run in the F430. This makes it the third-quickest Ferrari road car ever made, following the Enzo and the 599 GTB. That particular recorded time was made on a European spec car, which has an unusual feature...launch control, which launches the car from a standing start at high RPMs. Launch control is unavailable in U.S. presumably due to liability issues. The U.S.-spec F430 can do 0-60 mph in 3.6 seconds .

Information in this post is via Wikipedia!