Ferrari 458 Italia Spider gets the Novitec Rossi treatment in pictures

If you can’t afford a multi-million pound Ferrari FXX or 599XX, but don’t want the ignomy of owning a normal Ferrari, you could do worse than to consider this modified 458 Italia Spider from German tuning company Novitec Rosso. 

The Stetten-based modding outfit has applied a few aftermarket tweaks that it claims, improve the appearance and performance of the iconic convertible sports car. Aesthetic tweaks include new super light forged wheels — 22 inches at the rear and 21 inches at the front — plus black tail lamps and a customisable interior.

More significantly, Novitec Rosso has dared tinker with the 458 Italia Spider’s aerodynamic properties by adding a two-piece front spoiler and side flaps that prevent the car lifting off at high speed. It’s also swapped out Ferrari’s standard plastic air scoop wings for carbon-fibre units. We can’t say whether the changes improve handling, but the company claims to have tested the tweaks in the University of Stuttgart’s wind tunnel to make sure they as effective as possible.

Novitec Rosso didn’t stop there, either. It has also fettled the engine by adding a special carbon-fibre air box with modified air routing. Then, it threw in a custom-built high-performance exhaust made of Inconel — an extremely strong, yet lightweight, martial used on F1 exhaust systems. The sound of the exhaust, incidentally, can be adjusted on the fly using the Manettino switch on the steering wheel.

All together, the tweaks increase the car’s power to 609hp. That’s roughly 39hp — or about half a Ford Fiesta — more than the standard 458 Italia Spider. Torque has also increased from 540Nm to 569Nm, and the car’s weight is reduced by 21Kg.

That’s enough to provide a modest increase in top speed from 198mph to ‘in excess of 202mph’. The engine is said to respond more aggressively to throttle inputs and revs moderately higher than it did previously.

Needless to say all of this won’t come cheap, but if you have to ask the price you probably can’t afford it anyway. Head on over to Novitec Rossi’s Web site for more details or have a gander at their epic creation in the images below.

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