My Ferrari F430 Spider F1 Ownership Diary

This is my service book, there are many like it but this one is mine. If I lose it a replacement will cost £500 (I kid you not) but Ferrari won't just send you a duplicate, oh no. The car has to go to an official Ferrari dealer where the car is cross-checked against engine and gearbox numbers, VINs and god knows what else before it's issued. It will also have duplicate stamps all the way through which is something Ferrari owners are terrified about as it's all about originality - always. The service advisor says that people treat them like family heirlooms and whenever someone says they'll post it in (owners usually have their car collected) he tells them not to do it and courier it in if they have to.

Leading on from that, you can see a post-it note on mine. Owners get upset when the ink transfers onto the opposite page so Marc (service bloke) always puts a sticky on it to stop it getting messy. Some owners will get upset if the stamp isn't absolutely symmetrical and some will insist on doing it themselves and won't let any staff touch it such is their, well, fastidiousness. He also told me that some owners refuse to have their car driven any miles by any member of staff at any time, even if it's had some work and needs a road test they will still not allow it. He said he's seen some cars come in for their annual service with about only about 5 miles more than the previous year.

Bonkers.

 

No lie, bloke told me that some owners bring their favourite fountain pen and write the figures in themselves for precisely that reason.

 

They're actually the courtesy cars...

 

A short video showing the difference in sound between the two manifolds:



Much louder on a spirited hoon and the start up can be a bit embarrassing first thing in the morning but hey.

Other than that, not much else to say really. Car is stored and SORNed but he's now booked in with GTO Engineering for mid-March and will have all the suspension bushes replaced, a full three day job. I'll also get the front air intakes repainted as well as the windscreen surround as they're looking a bit tired. At that point I'll have no money left so it'll go back into storage again (not really).

Now in the early stages of planning a trip to Italy in Aug/Sep and taking him home to Maranello via the Gotthard, Susten and Fulka Passes in Switzerland. Now that I cannot wait for!

 

A small update. Car hasn't been driven in anger since Dec last year so will unSORN in May for the warmer months, looking forward to that. It's just come back from GTO Engineering for replacement bushes all round as well as two lateral acceleration sensors, that little lot came to a cool £5.5k so I was bit grumpy today (still cheaper by almost 2.5k than a main dealer). Still, they'll outlast my ownership time so peace of mind that they're done. Next is a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4s and then that's it, I'm buggered if I'm spending more money (although it does need a teeny bit of cosmetic work), I just want to enjoy it now.

Small trip planned in June, a champagne run to Champagne which I'm really looking forward to. Also looking at taking it to Italy Aug/Sep but much planning to do. More to follow!

 

Can't lie, I was a bit 'FFS' when I got the bill but, well, there it is! Still, be good to be out and about in it when the weather gets warmer.

 

When I finally come to sell I'm confident I'll get my money back and maybe a little more (I bought well) but not all that I've spent on servicing and fettling. That said, Ferrari prices can be quite unpredictable, 458 Spiders are going crazy just now but not sure where F430s are going to go, I actually think they'll stay flat.

 

Thought you might like to see some phots of the bushes:



These came out of the wishbones so four on each corner. I suspect these are the originals so 14 years old, most of which time they've been sat around doing nothing. They absolutely take a battering as well when the car is used, ball joints are also an absolute consumable on these things, numbers 1 and 12 on the schematic above.

And here he is, being safely delivered home: