Using your supercar as a... superchair, for example having it shine in the middle of the garage for a living, isn’t cool at all. Still, if you take it outside and drive it like you should, there’s always the risk of bashing its head against another car or some object on the side of the asphalt. The latest example of such a violent incident comes from South Africa, where a Ferrari 458 Speciale has literally suffered a facelift.
The Speciale, with its slimmer windows and its bucket seats, was made for the track and this is what the unlucky driver was using it for. The Rosso Corsa-dressed example was engaged in a track day event hosted by the Ferrari Club on the Kyalami raceway in Johannesburg. This is a truly challenging circuit, having hosted the South African Gran Prix between 1967 and 1985, as well as in 1993.
Local sources claim the accident took place in the Nashua bend, just ahead one of the track’s straights, a left-hander. Judging by the adjacent images, the 458 Speciale sustained serious front end damage, with the most damage appearing to be on the left side - this is where the bumper looks to be more affected, while the windshield is also cracked on this side.
We couldn’t find any footage of the crash and while the clues point to a case of oversteer overdose, but this is too much of a stretch.
The hood has seen better days and so have the headlights, as well as the none-stowed cooling system. The airbags were deployed, but the driver reportedly escaped the accident without a scratch. As for the 458 Speciale itself, the model isn't all that lucky, since people keep crashing it.
Update: Thanks to zero2turbo, we now have a video of the 458 Speciale’s unfortunate track moment. As it turns out, we didn’t stretch things all that far when we said this was a case of oversteer.
What the clip reveals though, is the source of thar rear end mishap - the driver entered the corner ahead of the accident spot a tad on the wide side, ending up with two wheels on the sand next to the track. The miu-split driving overloaded the Speciale, E-Diff hardware and Side Slip Angle Control software included, resulting in the undesired yaw that led to the crash.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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