This Maranello test drive almost ended in tears for everybody involved as the driver of the Ferrari F430 managed to avoid what might have been a high speed crash with devastating consequences.



Now, before we jump in and call this guy (the driver) a moron for driving too fast, let’s remind ourselves that nobody sticks to the speed limit all the time – especially when they’re test driving a Ferrari. You’re not going to do 90 km/h (55 mph) in a car that can hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.0 seconds and reach speeds of up to 315 km/h (195 mph).

Furthermore, check out that Mercedes A-Class that they stumble across as it’s sitting a bit “sideways”. That means that it had just found its way in front of them, having pulled in from the left side of the road – which the driver of the F430 actually confirms in the YouTube comments.

Once that happened, he had to slam on the brakes and go around it, since there was no way of stopping in time with only a 50-100 meters distance at his disposal (according to him).

Lucky for both Ferrari occupants, the other Mercedes (the one in the other lane) avoided them too, giving them a bit more room to make sure they can make it back onto their lane. So yes, there were external factors involved.

But now let’s give it up for the guy behind the wheel as well. Not only did he not lose control of the car (credit the ESP too), but most of all he kept his composure and didn’t yank on the steering wheel like a mad man to avoid the first car.

That pretty much was the move that saved them. If he had just focused on avoiding the first car without thinking ahead of how to get back in his own lane as efficiently as possible, this video would have had horrible ending.

To anybody who’s ever driven a Ferrari F430, you’ll know that it’s a very “analog” car in terms of feel and maneuverability. You can be very precise with your steering input, even at very high speeds. In order to get the car back in line as fast as he did, he had to intentionally avoid the A-Class by only a few inches – and that takes a lot of skill and awareness.

There was also an interesting thread over at the YouTube comments between the driver, Eduardo Freitas, and a viewer nicknamed “benny360”:

benny360: One word, moron. Eduardo Freitas: The car got in front of me without looking, what do you expect me to do dumbass? benny360: What would I expect you to do? Drive at the appropriate speed for the given surrounding (driveways & traffic etc) and maybe use some forward vision? The rear vision mirror obscures the view but you didnt react to that car until the last split second, where were you looking? 5m in front of you? Pure luck and (by the looks of it) ESP saved your ass. You almost killed yourself and your passenger. Learn a lesson. Eduardo Freitas: I got your point about speeding and believe me, it was a lesson learned! But I don’t think you ready got what happened. The car in front of me got in the road 50-100 meters in front of me without looking if there was anyone else coming. I only had this 50-100 meters to react. I braked as far as I could and then did the maneuver. In my home country most of cars don’t have ESP so I wasn’t braking all the time, but sure the ESP helped.

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