Novitec Rosso Ferrari 430 Scuderia Spider 16M

The Ferrari 430 Scuderia Spider 16M is an exceedingly rare car. Ferrari's "makes no sense" combination of the hardcore 430 Scuderia model with the "look at me!" convertible 430 Spider is only being replicated 499 times.  So judging the Novitec Rosso Ferrari 430 Scuderia Spider 16M on the fact that it's a heavily modified version of a race-bred, 499-example by-God Ferrari makes using logic difficult.

For one thing, a regular Scuderia 16M makes a more-than-adequate 503bhp at an astronomic 8500 rpm, and accelerates to 60mph in... well, under four seconds.  Who's counting?  On top of this, German tuning company Novitec Rosso adds twin belt-driven superchargers running through beefy air-to-water intercoolers.  With boost set at only 7psi, the V8 churns out an alarming 696bhp at 8400 rpm.  Torque with this setup goes from 347lb-ft@5250rpm to 503lb-ft@6300 rpm. They also include larger fuel injectors to keep up, a new intake manifold, coolant system upgrades, and a custom re-mapped ECU.

Performance is quite impressive: a 3.5 second 0-100km/h time is fast, but a 9.7 second 0-200km/h is faintly absurd.  The Novitec Scuderia 16M tops out just north of 205mph, which will ruin your $300 haircut faster than you can say "I've got more money that brains!"

On the outside, Novitec tries it hardest to make the 430 Scuderia Spider 16M look even more intimidating.  They've landed somewhere around "carniverous."  To that effect, they've blacked out the taillights, sidemarker lights, and reflectors.  They've also fitted the Scuderia 16M with some gorgeous staggered-width 20" black-coated Novitec NF3 twin spoke wheels, 8.5" front and a massive 12" wide rear, mounting some serious steamroller rubber: 235/30/ZR20 front and 325/25/ZR20 rear for increased lateral acceleration.  Which is just what a race-derivative Ferrari sports car needed, right?

Other neat details abound.  For instance, they've fitted a hydraulic lift system on the front axle that cranks the nose up approximately 40mm, so you can clear driveways and speedbumps and the kind of floatsam that normal cars don't even notice.  This is compensate for the fact that they've fitted their lowering springs, which I find hilarious considering that Ferrari track-tuned the Scuderia's suspension on their own personal race track.

Then there's the interior, which is an orgy of Alcantara and real carbon fiber.  Check out that steering wheel - I'd bet that's a $10,000 steering wheel.  Just simply gorgeous. This is how all sports-car interiors should look, and you know it.

But, if you use logic, it starts to make less sense.  Why not fit all these parts to, say, a regular 430 convertible?  Why mess with the Mona Lisa?  I understand it's hard to leave well enough alone (believe me, I really understand) but if you're starting with a masterpiece, what do you end up when you're done with it?  It seems like a nice creation, but what it really seems like is 16 less Scuderia Spider 16M's for us to enjoy.  Still, to each their own.