158 wheelsmag.com.au
Until the 456 GT, in my experience, testing a new Ferrari
involved a maximum five laps of Fiorano followed by a
couple of hours, under strict supervision by a test driver,
on the lovely roads in the hills to the south of Maranello.
For the 456 we’d requested Fiorano and two hours in the
evening to take advantage of the soft light, never dreaming
we could keep the car until the following day.
It was when Franco Gozzi, Enzo’s assistant and press
officer, smilingly consented: “You must have the car
back at 1:00pm tomorrow” that, without consulting
photographer Stan Papior, I decided there was no
alternative but to drive through the night. Wouldn’t you,
given the chance, in Ferrari’s first new, front-engine, V12
grand tourer in 20 years?
Just weeks earlier, competing in the retrospective Mille
Miglia, I’d found a magic road 1496 metres high on a
plateau in the Umbrian mountains. The little Fiat 1100
coupe struggled miserably to take advantage of the zig-zag
bends down from the summit to a long straight that led to
another set of corners hiding the village of Castelluccio
below the next peak around four kilometres away.
“One day,” I shouted across at my co-driver, Mel Nichols,“one day, I’m going to come back here in a Ferrari.”
Just 20 days later, just after dawn, the 456 hunted
through the same roads, tacho needle punching close
to the 7200rpm redline, the old-style (and still much-
missed) gearchange clanging through the chrome gate.
The 456 never troubled the mid-engine V8s on Ferrari’s
best-seller lists, but this was a terrific car and all the
better if driven frequently.
Gone was the dreadful old Ferrari long-arm/short leg
driving position, while the rear seat was sufficiently
commodious for this to be a serious four-seater.
Ferrari developed an all-new V12 for the 456/550 range.
In the 456 it made an effortless and smooth 325kW at
6250rpm and 550Nm at 4500rpm. Comfortable, with an
agility that belied its 1690kg, and plenty of grip, refined
(despite plenty of wind noise) yet combined with Ferrari-
level excitement, this was a superb touring car, provided
the 20 litres per 100km fuel consumption wasn’t a bother.
Today, responding to competitive pressure from McLaren,
Porsche, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Audi, Ferrari is
far more enlightened and test cars are readily available, at
least to the A-list journos.Midnight Espresso
PETER ROBINSON’S
FIRST PUBLISHED JULY 1993
EPIC TALES FROM OUR ARCHIVES
“THERE WAS NO ALTERNATIVE BUT TO DRIVE THROUGH THE NIGHT. WOULDN’T YOU,
GIVEN THE CHANCE, IN FERRARI’S FIRST NEW V12 GRAND TOURER IN 20 YEARS?”
- PETER ROBINSON, 1993
Classic
IT WAS MEANT AS A CHEEKY JOKE. GIVEN PAST EXPERIENCES WITH FERRARI,
THERE WAS NO EXPECTATION THAT MARANELLO WOULD AGREE TO MY
THROWAWAY LINE: “WE COULD KEEP THE CAR OVERNIGHT.”