Can't believe it's been so long since I wrote something. I'm going to spend some time in an airport tomorrow so an ideal moment to craft something, thanks for reminding me! And yes, I still have it albeit with a few more miles on it...
It’s been a while, apologies! To pick up from where I last wrote something, the Italy trip was great and on the whole, well worth the effort. The Alps, however, were something else entirely and it’s going to be hard to put it into words but I’ll give it a go. After a quick photo op in Reims-Gueux and an overnight stop near Strasbourg we took the B500 from Baden-Baden through the Black Forest towards Freudenstadt and then picked up the Autobahn for a straight run – or so I thought - to Wassen, Switzerland via Basel. I’d heard lots about the B500 and it being a driver’s road but the weather was a bit crap and visibility poor in places so perhaps not as good as it could have been. Still, it was quiet and with the roof down you still got the noise and racket as you were barrelling around so still well worth it. I didn’t realise that the B500 was split in the middle and actually continues down to the Swiss border – next time. Got to the border, bought a vignette and all was good. Shortly after Waze took me off the motorway but my wife stayed on so I just thought that Waze was more up to date than the nav in the FFRR so thought no more of it. I think it was about an hour later after I’d stopped that I thought something might be up because I could see that she was way ahead of me on the other side of a lake. Turns out I didn’t set Waze properly and it was avoiding toll roads (motorways) so I was taking the scenic route. Balls. As a consequence I arrived in Wassen about two hours after her much to her mirth. An interesting journey, especially when I managed to disable and lock myself out of the car with a disconnected battery. In short, there’s a master switch in the frunk that disconnects the battery and I was using this to clear the CEL on the dash (because it was annoying me). I’d stopped to use the commode and decided to clear the CEL whilst I abluted so popped the bonnet, turned the switch off, closed it and toddled off to the loo completely forgetting that I needed power to open it again. Got back to the car and swore a lot when I realised what I’d done and also started to flap a bit. Quick look at the manual stored on my phone and found a manual release so sorted in fairly short order. Phew. Anyway, bloke in hotel let me keep the car in his garage – excellent. Wassen is a fairly non-descript town but it sits at the beginning of the Susten Pass so after a short rest, we went out for a quick hoon as the sun was setting. It was pretty cool but the roof came down and away we went. I mean what can you say apart from just wow. I was pretty careful as it was a bit chilly and we didn’t manage the whole pass as it was also still a bit late but the tunnel run at the top of the pass gives you a flavour if nothing else! After that quick blat we legged it back to the hotel for a beer and bobos, ready for the next day. Next day we did the Furka and Nufenen Passes, I skipped Grimsel as we were running out of time. It’s difficult to tell you what it’s like so I would have uploaded a few clips from my GoPro but numbnuts here accidentally deleted almost all of them, what a clown. Traffic can be a bugger though, especially going up Furka so you have to be patient but the run down was better. The Furka Pass was of course in Goldfinger and is a stunning as you think it is. It’s hard to do the experience justice but this was probably the greatest driving moment of my life. The car just came into its own; braking, accelerating, constant gear changes, flow, grins, a V8 bellow and shriek. It was just so cohesive and so joined up that you almost became part of the car, it almost seemed to talk to you and tell you what it was going to do before you’d even thought about it. I really can’t explain it. I swear it also started rev matching which it bever did before. It was just an astonishing experience and this is an ‘old’ Ferrari. God knows what it’d be a like in a more modern one. The interesting thing though is that I didn’t drive at ten tenths, you just didn’t have to. You’d run out of road part from anything but it just didn’t need to be thrashed. If you get the chance to do it in a sporty car you absolutely must do it, I promise you won’t be disappointed. Looking towards Grimsel Pass, you can just see the ribbon of road in the far distance. We then drove an uneventful drive down to Italy and stayed in Gavardo for around ten days. I actually didn’t use it that much in Italy which is a bit odd on reflection but there you go. We did drive to Verona to see La Traviata in the Arena di Verona which was good fun though. Unfortunately, the stupid sensor came loose again so I found a Ferrari dealer in Brescia and asked them to look at it. They were properly perplexed by the whole thing and refused to touch it which was a bit annoying so I just had to live with it. It also developed a barely heard rattle (my ears are finely tuned now) that sounded like the radio was on but at very low volume. It eventually turned out to be a worn power steering pulley that was replaced by DL at cost. The return journey was frankly quite dull as we used Autostradas and Autoroutes all the way home although I never tired of launching it like a madman out of the French toll booths. One thing I will say is that although you can do a long European trip in an F430, it’s no GT car. With the Challenge manifolds it’s pretty noisy so you turn up the music to compensate but you just end feeling aurally battered. Still, we stopped every two hours to stretch and walk the hounds so it wasn’t too bad but twelve hours in an F430 is not recommended. When back in the UK I reached an impasse with DL over the o2 sensors and it was a case of put the old manifolds back on or weld the sensors in place. I asked them to spot weld them but it was still throwing a CEL so I called my indy and asked him about it. He just said to bring it down and he will fix it as it’s not an unusual problem. He threw away the Fabspeed sensors and reprogrammed the ECU to make it think that the pre-cats were still in car. However, what he did find was that DL had tied one of the o2 cables in a knot(!) and that was what was probably still causing the CEL. The cables are quite sensitive and don’t react well to being manhandled so they were highly likely to be damaged. He replaced those and all has been fine since. After a crap service by DL year before last (they didn’t tighten a sump plug correctly) I’ve taken it out of main dealer network and now have it serviced at my indy. I trust him more than Ferrari. Since then, I haven’t really done an awful lot with the car. We found a new place to stay in Italy but unfortunately there’s no way I can get it down the track to the house which is a shame. It’s had regular maintenance in the form of pads, balljoints, tie rod ends, rocker covers (expensive labour, the parts were pennies), suspension bushes, all normal stuff really. I’ve had some cosmetic bits touched up such as the front air intakes, A pillar trims, rear scuttle panel. I had an argument with a wall so had to get that sorted as well. Oh, and two potholed wheels, same wheel, exactly one year apart! So what’s next? I’ve got a trip planned with a friend back to the Alps this year as he’s just treated himself to an F-type 400. He’s very excited. I’ve also got my full membership with Goodwood so planning on joining a few more drives and of course the Member’s Meeting and the Festival of Speed. I keep toying with the idea of a 458/488 but I can’t really stretch to either of those just yet, probably never. I’d absolutely love a 458 Spider in Triple Giallo but they’re incredibly rare (in that colour) and also still big money. It’s hard to believe that they were introduced in 2009, 16 years ago! I bought my F430 when it was 14 years old. Dealer prices for a Spider are about £150k for around 12,000 miles, big money in anyone’s book and beyond me really unless I decide to live on beans for the rest of my life. Ironically, the 458’s replacement, the 488, is generally cheaper than a 458 on the used market. Much of that is to do with it being turbocharged but it is qualitatively a better car but not NA. I’d also love a V12 at some point but the running costs are just too terrifying to contemplate. Changing the plugs on an F12 is around £1k at an indy. Eye watering. We did test drive a California but we didn’t really like it very much. A run down to Goodwood for the annual Ferrari Owners’ Club bash. Lining up for a track parade that got binned after one lap because of idiots arsing about. If anyone says you can’t get a Spaniel in a Ferrari, here’s proof!
Thanks @The CO for taking the time to post all of that! Sounds like it's been an epic time with the Ferrari - everything and more than what you originally hoped? Still look back fondly on the partially arranged meet at DL Swindon when I bought the Cayenne GTS and then the complete randomness of bumping into eachother on the M4 services not long thereafter. The kids also remember the time "the man with the grey Ferrari started it" BTW - do you watch Seen Through Glass on YouTube? He's got a 360 Challenge Stradale and he uses one firm exclusively for all its maintenance and the chap just seems to live and breath Ferraris. Worth taking a look if you haven't already. Wishing you many more happy miles!
Apologies for leaving it so long Spuff, very remiss of me so thanks for the reminder! Really good question about whether it's everything I thought it would be and in typical car fashion, yes and no. It's not a refined car by any stretch and I thought it would be more, well, comfortable or easier to live with. In many ways it is very easy to live with but that monster under your right foot is ever present and when you open it up it really is very analogue. No bad thing of course but it took me a while to get used to the noise, buzzing, vibration and general racket. It's all perfectly normal but I wasn't convinced to begin with! I've had it nearly four years now and thought I would only keep it for 12 months so that probably tells you everything you need to know. STG (Sam) and I use the same bloke, Aldous at AV Engineering. I've never met him although I keep seeing his 360 CS in the shop so one day perhaps. Aldous is one of those guys that just seems to know absolutely everything about 360/430s that one could possibly know and then a bit more. Quite incredible really so he now looks after the car. It's just a bit of trek to get there unfortunately. I saw your new van - wow! Look forward to hearing about your adventures with that monster!
What @Spuffington says . Thanks for sharing, the trip through the Alps looks epic and what the Spyder was made for. While not in the same league keep thinking of dusting off the Porsche and doing similar but wife thinks it’s too noisy, rattly and worried it will breakdown (even though it never has!) so more likely in the boring, in comparison, 6 series. Anyway thanks again and please don’t sell it unless for another Ferrari!
A fabulous write up, definitely worth the wait! The photos are wonderful, I can only imagine what the experience was truly like.
The latest update, an exhaust repair (I'll try and post more regularly). One of the characteristics of the F430 is the amount of NVH it generates, almost nothing is off limits from suspension to brackets to engine bits. There are a few videos on YouTube with a camera mounted in the engine bay and the amount of movement is very noticeable. Common problems are tail light mountings snapping, exhaust brackets cracking and exhaust tips coming loose. You get very tuned into the various noises coming from the back and when to expect them so when a new one appears it's very obvious. Last summer I became aware of a new buzzing sound that occurred above 4k RPM that was very pronounced to my ears. It didn't sound terminal so let it be until I took it for a service. When I finally dropped it off I explained the symptoms and they immediately went to the exhaust, started the engine, revved it and pressed the end of a stick on the silencer - noise gone. Dropped it off a few weeks ago and picked it up yesterday and all sorted hopefully. Not an an uncommon problem, the join just works loose because of the excessive NVH and whilst you could buy a new silencer for 3k, a quick TIG weld is a cheaper option!