Ferrari Mailing List: The 12 cylinder - Clyde

[rtpetrick (rtpetrick]

Clyde,

Thank you for your assessment of the 12 cylinder Ferraris. I very much enjoyed your insight and your humor.

For the record, I’ve had a 1985 Series 1 TR for over 10 years (2 belt services). So far at least, I haven’t had transmission issues and I will knock on wood. I do drive it carefully and never do burnouts.

A year ago, last September, I bought a 2004 575M F1. (Like you, I do not plan to sell my TR). At first, I didn’t much care for the F1 transmission, but that changed with experience and time. Today, I think the 575M would probably be a lesser ride with the 6-speed manual. Apparently, Ferrari feels the same way, as they discontinued any development on the manual transmission, perhaps 5 or 6 years ago, and today, they no longer offer a manual transmission for their new models.

I agree that the 575M is incredibly fast (for a road car) and has somewhat lessened the TR experience.  On the TR, I’ve improved the breathing so that it dynos out at 398 hp, making it slightly faster than the average Series 1….but just the other day, I remarked to my wife, that my 180 mph top end Ferrari Testarossa, felt……well……sort of slow. I am sure this “feel” is the result of driving the other car, which has 120 more hp.

Take care, stay healthy, and good luck in your pursuit of a 575M….

 

Regards

REMEMBER  IN  NOVEMBER 2012……AND  VOTE