The Ferrari 296 Speciale has arrived, and it could be the most thrilling Ferrari ever

Just how high is Ferrari aiming with the 296 Speciale? ‘The brief was to have the highest driving thrill ever on one of our cars. The biggest smile on the driver’s face ever achieved with a Ferrari,’ says Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Enrico Galliera. Wow. In effect, that means building a more exciting car than the F40, F50, LaFerrari, even. And perhaps the most captivating Ferrari of them all – the stunning, incomparable 458 Speciale, the only car to win eCoty unanimously and one we rank as the most significant launched during evo’s lifetime. That’s immense pressure to put on the 296’s crisp 250 LM-style shoulders, but through extensive reengineering of its engine, chassis and aero, Ferrari is convinced it can deliver.

Challenge Stradale, Scuderia, Speciale, Pista. It doesn’t get more evocative than Ferrari’s line of mid-engined road racers. They perhaps haven’t been as consistently world-beating as a certain other family of hardened track cars produced in Stuttgart, but at their best, they’re nothing short of spectacular. The 458 Speciale is the pinnacle, the purest essence of what a Ferrari should be – more exploitable than the 360 CS and 430 Scud, and delivering a kind of manic thrill the 488 Pista never quite could. It’s surely not a coincidence that for what is tipped as the most exciting Ferrari road car ever, the brand has chosen to bring the hallowed Speciale name back, rather than continuing the trend of introducing a new one. It’s the most memorable badge among Ferrari customers, too. ‘We received calls from our clients asking ‘when is the new Speciale coming’?’, Galliera says. ‘So we thought let’s go with a name they are expecting.’

 They’ll be expecting big things from the car itself, given how good the source material is. Despite how worrisome the concept of a downsized, turbocharged, hybrid Ferrari may have seemed, the (now off-sale) 296 GTB was a superb modern supercar, taking that typical Ferrari poise and agility to another level while somehow making 819bhp usable through two driven wheels. Concerns about the V6 engine being a step backwards didn’t materialise – it made all the right noises and spun up to a frenzied 8500rpm, a higher peak than the V8 in the F8 Tributo. Naturally, the Speciale is lighter, sharper and even faster, taking learnings from the F80 to bring the package to another level. The figures are almost difficult to comprehend, approaching those of full-blown hypercars from not long ago. Ferrari’s junior track car produces not far shy of 900bhp, laps Fiorano seven tenths quicker than a LaFerrari and reaches 200kmph in 7sec. 

Engine, gearbox and 0-100 kmph

A heavily redeveloped 3-litre V6 sits at the heart of the 296 Speciale, splayed out with a 180 degree V-angle to lower the centre of gravity and mount the turbochargers between the cylinder banks, as in the GTB. Technically speaking, Ferrari maintains that the V6 is the best solution for this type of car, primarily because of its compact size and enormous power potential. The link with Ferrari’s Le Mans-winning, V6-engined 499P prototype and current Formula 1 regs is also a bonus for the marketing team, but some will still struggle with the concept of a ₹4.56 crore (in the UK) Ferrari that doesn’t have at least eight cylinders. To those people, Galliera says ‘Sit in the car, drive it, and then we comment. Among our product range already the 296 is the car that is delivering the highest peak of emotion.’

On its own, the Speciale’s engine generates 690bhp – 36 more than the GTB. That’s possible thanks to a seven per cent boost in combustion chamber pressure and a new boost management strategy, as well as a revised knock control system to squeeze more from every combustion cycle. To deal with the extra energy inside the cylinders, the pistons have been strengthened and titanium conrods from the F80 have been fitted, which are also 35 per cent lighter than the old steel units. The turbine housing insulation has also been borrowed from the F80 to keep engine bay temperatures down, while the turbos themselves are 1.2kg lighter than before. The crank has been lightened too, as has the engine block and crankcase by shaving away excess metal – similar to the process used for the 499P. The fastidious lightweighting process even extends to the fastener screws, which are now titanium, and the head studs. Overall the engine is 9kg lighter than the one used in the GTB, and it should sound better too thanks to a new exhaust system (with an optional lightweight titanium alloy finish) and ducts that transmit authentic engine noise into the cabin. The GTB already had these, but the Speciale gets twice as many to amplify the V6’s mid to high frequency notes.

As before, there’s a single electric motor mounted between the V6 and eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox, and this too generates more power. Refining the motor’s cooling strategy has freed up an extra 13bhp, bringing the total to 178bhp with torque peaking at 302Nm. Maximum electric power is delivered from 6000-8500rpm when using the Speciale’s new boost mode, which is borrowed from the SF90 XX. With the eManettino switch in the all-out Qualify setting, the boost function deploys electric energy for a quicker slingshot out of corners, and does so strategically at the most beneficial points during a lap. It monitors the system’s thermal limits to ensure it can provide enough bursts to complete a full lap, but on a shorter circuit like Fiorano it can be used for more than one.

When you’re not trying to outpace a LaFerrari, there are three other eManettino modes to choose from – eDrive, Hybrid and Performance. The first is self explanatory, providing 26km of electric drive from a full battery (the same 7.45kWh unit as the GTB), with Hybrid automatically switching between electric and ICE power. In Performance the engine stays on and the battery remains charged and primed to deliver instant power. As well as aiding outright performance, the Speciale’s hybrid system helps speed up gearshifts, sustaining acceleration during each change and working with a new, faster upshift calibration from gears first to seventh.

Ferrari says it’s getting close to the limit of what’s possible with rear wheel drive with the Speciale, which is partly why it’s only a tenth quicker than the standard 296 to 100kmph. Still, it gets there in 2.8sec and runs to over 330kmph, and what made its forebears so great wasn’t the raw numbers they could achieve, but how electrifying it felt to use the performance on offer. The new Speciale gets a comprehensively reworked chassis to harness its extra power, working with an extensive aero package to generate more grip and stability at speed. But it’s not just about quicker lap times. The Speciale’s software systems have been designed to make the handling predictable and fun for all skill levels, and wildly exciting when the time and place comes to fully explore it. It sounds impossibly complicated, with an array of systems – Side Slip Control 9.0, SCM, FDE2.0 and an eDiff, to name a few – working in the background to coerce the Speciale into following your commands, but if the GTB is anything to go by, their operation should feel seamless and give the driver complete freedom when they want it. There’s also ABS Evo, which acts on the carbon ceramic braking hardware and uses a ‘6D’ sensor to gauge the optimum level of slip and make best use of available grip. It can even adjust the braking force side to side to compensate for bumps and changes in surface between the wheels. 

Chassis and technical highlights

New mechanical elements for the Speciale include Multimatic dampers derived from the 296 GT3 race car, titanium springs that are 8-10 per cent stiffer than standard, a 5mm lower ride height and new suspension linkage geometries, resulting in a 13 per cent reduction in roll and improved camber control compared to the GTB. Meanwhile, bespoke Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres, developed using learnings from the F80, improve overall grip and make the Speciale capable of four per cent higher lateral acceleration than the base car. The Speciale’s lighter body helps too – when specified with optional lightweight items like carbonfibre bumpers, carbon wheels and a titanium exhaust it comes in at 1410kg dry, 60kg less than the GTB. We’ve weighed the standard car at 1611kg with fluids, so call it 1550kg for the Speciale. The Speciale A, meanwhile, carries an 80kg penalty but similar structural rigidity as the coupe. At 249kmph, 435kg of downforce drives the tyres into the ground – a fifth more than the base car – which has been achieved by tweaking and contorting the exterior and underbody to work the air harder. There are road racer elements all over the body, such as the louvres on the bonnet and FXXK-inspired side wings at the rear, but it’s far from the wildly aggressive, bewinged form of a GT3 RS. If you’re curious, the Porsche generates 860kg but at a higher speed of 285kmph.

In contrast to the track-ready 911, the Speciale isn’t singularly focused on function. To keep the exterior free of large splitters and wings, the underbody takes on a major role in generating downforce, starting with what Ferrari calls an ‘aero damper’ at the front end. It works in a similar way to the S-duct seen on the 488 Pista, in that it draws air upwards through the floor and out of the bonnet, and helps generate consistent downforce even as the car’s ride height changes under load. It also gives the underbody vortex generators a more stable platform to work with, and there are sill covers in the front wheel arch area to extract the air driven by the vortex generators to create more suction. Further back there’s a new rear diffuser, which works with the aforementioned side wings and the 296’s active spoiler to increase rear downforce. As well as the GTB’s low and high downforce settings, the pop-out spoiler now has a medium setting to stabilise the car at speed, as well as shorten the transition time between the two extreme positions. The Speciale A generates the same 435kg of downforce as the coupe, but careful consideration was given to the potential turbulence generated by the new aero devices to reduce buffeting at speed. The main difference to the coupe is a headrest flap that guides air towards the rear tonneau cover, and the trim behind the seats, which has been shaped to stop turbulent air funnelling towards the central tunnel area.

Of course, the Speciale’s extra performance generates more energy and heat, so the bodywork has been opened up in places to direct cooling air to the powertrain and brakes. The area of the front radiator ducts has been increased by 12 per cent, while the underbody has been designed to direct more flow towards the radiators. This clever use of aero channels has allowed Ferrari to achieve the required cooling performance without changing the position of the radiators or making them bigger. The brakes, meanwhile, are cooled by larger ducts integrated into the headlights and air channels beneath the car, plus deflectors below the suspension arms. The flow of cooling air to the brakes has doubled as a result.

Interior and tech

Climb inside the Speciale and you’re presented with an odd mix of plain, barebones elements and high tech ones. You sit in hard-shell carbon seats with minimal, strategically-placed padding, with the 296’s familiar fully digital dial pack ahead. Look down and you'll notice plain footwells with no carpeting, a carbon central tunnel and Alcantara coverings for most of the surfaces. Apart from the door panels, which are gorgeous one-piece carbon items with holes cut into them for the Hi-Fi speakers to fire through. Media and navigation are still accessed via the digital dash, but you no longer need to stroke your fingers against fiddly haptic controls on the wheel – these have been replaced by real buttons as in the F80, which look a little cheap, but should be far easier to use. Sadly the engine start button is still an unceremonious touch pad in the centre of the wheel.

If you want a Speciale, there are fewer hoops to jump through than you might expect. To be eligible, you must be one of Ferrari’s ‘active clients’, which is those who have bought a new or pre-owned car through its official channels within the last 5 years. There’s no limit in terms of production numbers either, although the Speciale will only be available for a limited time – roughly half the lifecycle of standard models, which tend to be on sale for 4-5 years. Things are a little trickier for the Speciale A, however. Ferrari won’t disclose what the production split between coupe and drop top will be, but states there will be a lower volume of the latter, and the process of securing a Speciale A build slot will come with ‘different rules’. First deliveries will be in the first quarter of 2026 with the Speciale A following shortly afterwards, and those who fit the criteria and can spare ₹4.56 crore (in the UK) will no doubt be getting a remarkable supercar. One as brilliant as the so-far unsurpassed, original Speciale? Time will tell.