FERRARI 296 GTB ASSETTO FIORANO

The new V6-engined nucleus of the Maranello supercar family is tested in the UK in dynamically upgraded guise

- RICHARD LANE

TESTED 26.7.22, CAMBRIDGESHIRE ON SALE NOW PRICE £267,480

Can certain supercar makers get away with offering an engine that isn't an event in its s own right? Undoubtedly, but Ferrari isn't one of them. You might therefore have reservations about the 296 GTB, driven here for the first time in the UK. This is a car whose hybridization and 250 LM-inspired design are big talking points but not the really big talking point, which is the engine: never before has a mere V6 found a home inside a Ferrari road car.

In cold terms, it represents something of a downgrade from the V8 configuration the company has used for its mid-engined mainstays since 1973. More to the point, when was the last time anyone gave us an outstanding V6, Alfa Romeo's Busso aside?

There are other non-trivial concerns. Compared with the F8 Tributo it indirectly replaces, the 296 GTB is 35kg heavier, despite its fewer cylinders. The steering has also morphed from electrohydraulic assistance (an attribute retained by McLaren for the Artura) to electromechanical, which is generally regarded as being less feelsome. Because of the need to integrate the retardation potential of an electric motor at the rear axle, braking is now by wire, too. Finally, unlike Maserati and McLaren, Ferrari still refuses to use a carbon fibre monocoque, which is something you might reasonably expect for £240,000 before even the box for £2880 upshift LEDs is ticked.

On paper, all this leaves the 296 GTB looking less evocative than its predecessors; less Ferrari. Yet this is possibly also the most complete supercar ever made.