Ferrari goes superleggera on the 458

The acclaimed mid-engined sports car and recipient of numerous awards - including two time best engine of the year winner - rolls into the steps of its forefathers, the Ferrari 360 and F430. Christened the 458 Speciale, the reworked Ferrari 458 Italia has been given a power bump and has lost 90kg of weight - for a dry weight of almost 1.3 tonnes - over its stock sibling.

The car features reworked styling with a different front facia and rear body work. The smooth bonnet is now replaced with a more steep and aero-dominant design. Like a tub, the hood is shallow and flows down from the windscreen. And when viewed from the top, you can find two 'gills' in the centre - akin to a McLaren P1.

At that back, the diffuser is replaced with a more performance-oriented design while the F40 inspired centrally mounted triple exhausts are now replaced with a more traditional two seperate piece.  

Many sophisticated solutions are applied for the first time to an in-range car, including its advanced active aerodynamics, which will become a standard feature of all new Ferraris in the future.

After applying meticulous attention on the power unit, Ferrari has now built its most powerful naturally aspirated V8 ever with a power output of 597bhp with a specific power output of 133bhp/L - the highest ever achieved by a road-going naturally aspirated engine. Thanks to an equally exceptional power to weight ratio of just 470bhp/ton, the Ferrari 458 Speciale can sprint from 0 to 100km/h in just 3.0 seconds and 200km/h in 9.1 seconds.

Aesthetic changes led by Ferrari Styling Centre in cooperation with Pininfarina comply with the enhanced aerodynamic requirements of the car, making the 458 Speciale the most aerodynamically efficient range production car in the Italian marque's history.

The 458 Speciale will receive its public world debut at the 2013 Frankfurt International Motor Show.