Driven – Ferrari 355 F1 Spider serie Fiorano

Ooof! It’s a in bit ‘in your face’ isn’t it? The Ferrari 355 is a bit of a Nineties favourite of ours and when MotorPunk Mark called to say he had one we thought we ought to have a go. This is no ordinary 355 (if there is such a thing), it is a limited edition ‘F1 Spider serie Fiorano’. This translates to ‘paddle shift, cabriolet, fancy suspension’.  With carbon fibre knobs on.  Here you go;

The specification is rather special. It’s one of the very last 355s to be made and originally destined for the Americas, where it was bought by someone very senior at Apple who shipped it to the UK and didn’t drive it much. The serie Fiorano bit is what makes it special. This means lots of factory mods including carbon fibre, a lightweight ‘challenge’ rear grill, reworked ECU and seriously uprated suspension. This car is number 94 of 100 made and it is pristine, down to the bespoke luggage and what Mark calls the ‘sex gloves’ in the frunk. I hope they’re unworn. Some stats; 0-60 in 4.6 seconds, 375BHP and 183MPH Vmax. Here are some engine shots;

And the cabin, mmmmm, nineties!

As we’re not driving it back to back with a standard 355 I can’t tell you what the Fiorano extras mean in comparative performance terms but nowadays these cars (sadly) aren’t bought to be driven – Ferraris make canny investments. I’m not sold on the looks though. The front overhang looks gawky, the colour screams ‘chase me!’ and it’s wrong hand drive. If that doesn’t draw enough attention you can put the roof down. We didn’t. We’re ugly. This didn’t prevent Mark and I from driving it around a quiet corner of Leicestershire though, tippy-toeing over speedbumps and sidestepping farm slurry. Today our horse didn’t prance, it minced. This car is too valuable to be covered in cow poo and Mark knows it. If you’d like to buy it email him at mrhillage@btinternet.com for details.

If you like lairy Italians, check out our Alfa Romeo SZ feature. Thanks for reading.

Pics; me. Stunt driving; him.