From full-throttled roar to lightning quickness, the Ferrari F8 Tributo is a masterpiece with noble bloodlines. By Adam Hay-Nicholls All the greats have tributes of one kind or another: rock bands, wristwatches, haute couture. Ferrari has gone further by paying tribute to itself, and it isn’t empty bombast. The F8 Tributo doffs its cap to what’s being hailed as the greatest internal combustion engine known to man. I put it to the test on Italy’s Varano circuit, near Parma, under sunshine, rain and, moonlight. The F8’s 3.9l twin-turbo V8 thunders down the straight, the exhausts crack on the dual-clutch downshift, and as the power is reapplied and air is forced into the intake, it makes a noise like Satan sucking unleaded through a straw – as opposed to its normally aspirated forebear, the 458 Italia, which was the devil slamming shots. Comparatively, it’s muted, but it’s 5dB up on the standard 488, helped by an in-exhaust resonator, and it’s more joyously raucous than McLaren’s opposite number, the pulchritudinous 720S. The front end is ravenously bitey. Colossal downforce and fat 305/30 rubber glue its 710 bhp to the road. Zero to 100 km/h NetJets 33
