Supercar Review: 2019 Ferrari 488 Pista

Very nearly a full-blown race car, yet remains easy to appreciate and easy to live with every day

Derek McNaughton

May 02, 2019 • May 19, 2021 • 5 minute read • Join the conversation

MIAMI, FLA — Why does Ferrari even bother? Why would the automaker allow a handful of auto writers to drive its 488 Pista on a racetrack in Florida when every single one of these magnificent vehicles will easily be sold, even if the starting price is just shy of $400,000 CDN?

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Perhaps it’s vanity in being published — or perhaps there’s a deeper vein of purpose to expose the Pista for what it truly excels at: attacking corners with poise, storming straightaways like it was outrunning a hurricane, stopping like it was an F-35 landing on a USS Nimitz. Ferrari does not need publicity to sell this car. You can stop reading now.

That much was revealed, over and over, after multiple laps in the 488 Pista (“track” in Italian) at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 488 Pista takes the already formidable Ferrari 488 GTB and adds components, design elements, and a whole lot of hot sauce from the 488 Challenge race car. The result is a Ferrari with the highest transfer of technology from a racing car to a production car in the company’s history.

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From the outside, the Pista is hands down the best looking 488 ever, achingly gorgeous from every angle. From the driver’s seat, the Pista will enrich the soul of anyone fortunate enough to drive something so quick. How quick? 200 km/h arrives in 7.6 seconds after decimating 100 km/h in 2.85. While the sound from the twin-turbo V8 — the most powerful V8 in the brand’s long history — comes off a touch more muted than the naturally aspirated Ferrari 458, the Pista’s 710 horsepower and 568 lb.-ft. of torque more than make up for any aural deficit.

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Not that this car is a church mouse. The exhaust manifolds – crafted from inconel, a nickel-chromium-based ‘superalloy’ used on racing engines and aircraft – are thinner to allow for more sound and superior flow. An exhaust bypass increases the V8’s notes in all gears, resulting in a 8-db sound increase over the 488 GTB. There is no mistaking it for anything but a Ferrari, soothing as George Clooney’s voice at low speed, alluring as Adele’s at wide open throttle. Neighbours will always know when you’re home.

At any stage of WOT, however, the thrust from the 3.9-litre engine delivering power through an F1, seven-speed dual clutch transmission is as immense as it is inspiring, arriving early at 3,000 rpm and arcing like an arrow to an 8,000-rpm redline. Never is there any moment of hesitation or turbo lag from the pair of twin scroll turbochargers that come with integrated rev sensors. Hammer the throttle, and the response is a lightning strike of instantaneous power, pulling the driver tight into the firmly bolstered sport seat as the rear, 305/30 ZR 20 Michelin Cup 2 tires translate all that force into searing velocity. The tires and carbon ceramic brakes, boosted by a brake servo off the Challenge car, can also halt the car in a jarring 29.5 metres from 100 km/h.

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Gaining this kind of performance puts the Pista on something of a pedestal, giving the car the lowest power-to-weight ratio of any production Ferrari ever. About 90 kilograms lighter than the GTB, the Pista gets a carbon-fibre hood, bumpers and rear spoiler, and clear lexan for the rear window to expose the artwork of the engine bay. The engine, some 18 kg lighter than GTB’s, gets a lighter crankshaft and flywheel, titanium connecting rods, hollow valve stems and thinner cylinder sleeves, as well as carbon-fibre intake plenums. Optional carbon-fibre wheels cut weight even more drastically — all of which can be felt in the corners as the Pista constantly lets the driver feel what’s going on. Yes, it will understeer if pushed too early into an apex, but the lightness makes any transgression totally detectable, allowing the driver to back off and try to be more patient with a car that is somewhat impatient itself, constantly tempting and taunting its pilot to go faster. Steering is outrageously good — clear, concise and deadly accurate — just a touch shy with feedback. The steering wheel, adorned with red lights to alert the driver to the approaching redline, is brilliant. (But I wish the turn signals were activated by a stalk instead of being integrated into the wheel.)

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Massive improvements in aerodynamics, a revised cooling system with technology borrowed from Formula 1 and the 488 GTE, combined with that weight reduction, allow the Pista to stay securely planted at high speed. At Turn 11 at Homestead, the car will, if the driver is not careful, pull right and cut some manicured lawns before ending up backwards into the track’s banked wall. Ferrari says the Pista has 20 per cent more downforce over the GTB, something we’re thankful for at this dangerous corner. Here, the pull of inertia is strong as the car veers left into the turn at close to 160 km/h; but the new and very shapely S-Duct nose on the Pista, the new rear diffuser and tidy rear spoiler keep the car from spinning into danger. It’s also cool that there’s no large rear wing to spoil the car’s lovely aesthetics.

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Some sophisticated electronic backup from the Side Slip Control system (SSC 6.0), a Ferrari Dynamic Enhancer, and an altered rev limiter also play a role in keeping the car off the Armco, while at the same time allowing for plenty of freedom to let the car slide out in controlled exits. And the systems can be totally shut off for some Chris Harris style drifts.

But that’s just a small part of the Pista’s beauty. What makes this 488 so divine is the total ease with which it achieves, consumes and eliminates great speed. Confidence in the cockpit comes quickly, perhaps not quite as immediately as a 911 GT2 RS, but fast enough that any driver lucky enough to own a Pista will be rewarded with a Ferrari that is very nearly a full-blown race car — yet remains easy to understand, easy to live with every day and very easy to love.