Few people get the chance to fling a Ferrari F360 around a race circuit, but when a Shell V-Power presentation provided the chance to get close to this machine, we leapt at the opportunity.
Few people get the chance to fling a Ferrari F360 around a race circuit, but when a Shell V-Power presentation provided the chance to get close to this machine, we leapt at the opportunity.
By Hailey Philander
Allow me to say that the reason for my being at Zwartkops (located outside Pretoria) earlier this week was on invitation from Shell. In preparation for the Cleaner Fuels Programme, which comes into effect on January 1, 2006, the fuel giant briefed the media about the efficacy of its V-Power fuel in complying with the act. The presence of a track-homologated Ferrari F360 was just a bonus…
V-Power was first launched in 1996 and has been available in South Africa since April 2000. Wayne Kingwill, retail manager for Shell SA, noted that about 95 per cent of cars currently in use on our roads are able to support unleaded petrol. But he added that the company would be offering a lead replacement petrol (LRP) for those who are unwilling or unable to convert their cars to unleaded petrol.
And as part of its joint venture with rival fuel company BP, Shell invested more than R700 million in a shared manufacturing facility in Durban. Called Sapref, the refinery will be the first in South Africa to produce the “advanced fuel” (without heavy metal additives).
Shell’s V-Power Diesel, with low sulphur levels, is currently available in KwaZulu-Natal and will be rolled out to the rest of the country within the next few months.
Of course, listening to a presentation on unleaded fuel, as informative as it was, was not nearly as exciting as having the opportunity to view Shell’s drawcard for the day – its V-Power Race to Remember – or trying my hand at the awesome F360 Modena GT Challenge.
Reserved for track use only, few things can compare to the sound that the F360 makes on start up… Enough to elicit a collective leap from a pair of prepubescent girls standing near the car, and cause several others to turn and stare.
Sadly, several of the journalists present chose to pass up the opportunity to take the Ferrari for a spin around the Zwartkops circuit. But I soon got my chance to release the beast onto the track, decked out in Ferrari-red racing overalls, beneath a sweltering Highveld sun.
Ignoring the dull thud of my helmet hitting the roof as I clamber over the car’s roll cage and into the cockpit, all but my arms and legs were strapped tightly to the race seat. All the while, the 3,6-litre V8 happily burbled behind me, waiting for its chance to be let loose.
With a peak output of 294 kW at 8 500 r/min and a maximum torque figure of 373 N.m at 4 750 r/min, this F360 is capable of a sub-four second zero-to-100 km/h sprint. In a straight line, it will race across a quarter-mile in 12 seconds and reach its top end at over 295 km/h.
Under the guidance of Sergio Maffia, my instructor in the passenger seat, I cautiously exit the pit lane and head onto the track. I approach the first bend – and my first braking point – rather rapidly. Onto the next sweeping curve round the left of the circuit. Up into the long back straight… Too soon its time to step on the brakes while grinning at the melody of engine blips signalling the downshifts. Into another bend. Swiftly up the rise before cautiously rounding the final set of right-handers. And then its rushing back past the pits. Awesome.
With my confidence growing, I try to hide my irritation as Sergio calmly tells me to “brake more” on a lazy bend. However, he soon realised my “race-winning potential” and finally told me to let it all hang out along the back section, with the fiercely revving engine signalling the car’s similar objective.
My three laps around the circuit are over to soon. Despite the scorching heat building up beneath my race overalls and helmet, I want more, more, more.
Instead, I reluctantly dip back into the pits, sadly relinquishing my hold on the steering wheel to someone who has the gall to (nervously) ask me how my experience was. Three words immediately come to mind – better than chocolate…
Later that day, the action continued with the Shell V-Power Race to Remember staged between three spectacular machines, a Ducati 999R motorcycle, a Ferrari F360 Modena GT Challenge and a Zlin 50LS aerobic stunt plane, before the hordes of spectators piled onto the pit wall.
The deafening roar of three competing machines tearing along the straight at eye level was something really special. So too were the heart-stopping moments when the plane, piloted by Ellis Levine, would perform its death-defying dice with the stray power lines draped around Zwartkops, before shooting skywards in neck-straining agony, as the Ducati and Ferrari, piloted by Julian Odendaal and Andrea Taurino respectively, tackled the twisties with fervour.
Though the F360 put up a brave challenge and the plane provide plenty of “wow”-appeal, the Ducati predictably took the honours. Unfortunately, this feat went largely unnoticed as the plane was simultaneously being subjected to another round of aerobatics that had most spectators gazing up into the blue.
“Not bad” those present concurred after the day’s events had drawn to a close. However, we all agreed Shell would definitely need to host its fuel presentations on a more regular basis. Surprisingly, Shell hasn’t shown the same enthusiasm for this suggestion.
