The Ferrari 488 is such an incredibly great sports car, but somehow, the manufacturers felt they could make it even greater, and they did. The result of that audacious effort is the Ferrari 488 Pista, a street-legal track car. This Italian high-performance sports car has insane acceleration, handles memorably, and provides a completely comfortable cabin for two. Unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 2018, the highly-rated track-focused car couldn’t have been given a more ideal name in “Pista,” which is Italian for “Track.” Available as a coupe and droptop, the Ferrari 488 Pista's extreme capabilities can only be rival by a few cars among its peers. Also, this amazing track monster has some of the most astounding features ever seen on a road-going sports car.
10 Driven By Ferrari’s Most Powerful V8
In over 70 years of its existence, Ferrari has never built a V8 engine as powerful as that of the 488 Pista. The car is powered by a 3.9-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine – adopted from the 488 Challenge – that now produces an amazing 710 horsepower (50 horses more than the Ferrari 488) at 8,000 rpm and 568 lb-ft of torque, courtesy of extra mechanical modifications.
Such insane power needs a commensurate system of management, hence, an F1 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox was deployed.
9 Mind-Blowing Performance
While the 488 Pista’s powertrain is colossal, the resultant performance is even more enthralling. The Maranello-built sports car can go from rest to 62 mph in 2.85 seconds and to 124 mph in 7.6 seconds. Another independent test also returned a zero to 60 mph achieved in just 2.7 seconds.
Furthermore, the sports car has an amazing top speed of over 211 mph. All these amazing performance stats put the 488 Pista in the same class with the best of the world’s top-rated sports cars.
8 Ultralight Interiors
The 488 Pista’s interior has a prominent racing feel. All unessential elements were deleted, while lightweight and high-class technical materials like Alcantara and carbon fiber were fully adopted in crafting the interior.
Ferrari’s cockpits are known for their high sophistication and this can be seen in the tread plates, antagonistic hand-stitching, and gracefully formed door panels of the 488 Pista. The interior has a performance-themed design and, as common with cars in its class, it offers a mere six cubic feet of room for storing personal effects.
7 Carbon Soul
Although the Ferrari 488 is extremely light, the 488 Pista is lighter. Ferrari adopted an embarrassing use of carbon fiber in crafting the car’s exterior. Carbon fiber can be seen right underneath the rear wing spreading down to the taillight section and on the rear splitter diffuser.
The air intakes, side skirts, and front splitters are also crafted using carbon fiber. Ferrari felt they could still do more with the awesome weight-saving material, hence, the entire engine compartment is liberally built using carbon fiber.
6 Amazing Dimensions & Weight
The 488 Pista's heightened sportiness is seen in its amazing dimension and weight configurations, as well. It has a wheelbase of 2650 mm, a width of 1975 mm, and a height of 1206 mm. Also, the front track is 1679 mm while the rear track is 1648 mm.
Due to the extensive adoption of carbon fiber, the 488 Pista has an incredibly low curb weight of 1385kg and a dry weight of 1280kg – which is 90kg lighter than the standard 488. Weight distribution is 41.5% in the front and 58.5% in the rear.
5 Carbon Fiber Rims
Ferrari built the 488 Vista with the utmost sense of extreme purpose, as observed through the company's choice of features for the incredible sports car. One such feature is the car's optional 20-inch carbon fiber wheel rims, which save 40% of the weight.
While it significantly brings down the car’s weight, it’s also the first-ever carbon-fiber rims fitted to a Ferrari car. Amazingly, the specific pressure and temperature of each tire on the 488 Pista are displayed on a screen to the left of the gauge cluster.
4 Piloti Ferrari
As a tribute to FIA World Endurance Championship world titles won by Ferrari-built race cars, the company launched tailor-made specifications known as the Piloti Ferrari for the 488 Pista.
The exterior features include a new livery adorned with Italian flag color stripes, reminiscent of the iconic 488 GTE, while the interior is blacked out using Alcantara material. The special color scheme adopted on the Piloti Ferrari includes Nero Daytona, Rosso Corsa, Blu Tour De France, and Agento Nürburgring.
3 Trip Computer
Nothing on the 488 Pista probably tells more of how much of a track-focused sports car it is than the trip computer – accessible through a screen fitted right within the gauge cluster. Commonly used in rallying, the trip computer was first produced in the 1950s.
Modern versions, like the one fitted on the 488 Pista have a comprehensive function like showing distance traveled, average speed, maximum speed, as well as time spent moving and stopping, among others.
2 Navigation Destination
On the screen housing the trip computer, Ferrari also added a navigation destination system. With the navigation map, users can select a destination for the 488 Pista in numerous ways. These include simply searching and selecting a destination, entering the destination coordinate, or for instances when the destination can be seen on the map, users can simply tap to select the point on the screen.
Also, another unique destination entry method on the 488 Pista involves using people’s phone numbers to pinpoint their location. Amazing!
1 Auto Start-Stop Function
Fuel efficiency is a great challenge for high-performance cars. Therefore, manufacturers often incorporate several measures to make these cars as efficient as they can be. One of such measures adopted in the Ferrari 488 Pista is the auto start-stop function.
This simply shuts off the engine whenever the car comes to a complete halt and restarts when driving activities is detected, thereby helping to conserve fuel. The control switch for this feature is located on the roof of the 488 Pista.