Ferrari 348tb

 I spotted this gorgeous Ferrari 348tb not so long ago and couldn't resist the urge to snap a few shots...

This car, very close in styling to the Testarossa kicked me back to when I was but a small four or five years old brat.

It was quite a long time ago, and a lot of details are blur. I was in France, in a city, I'm not able to remember which one (probably Grenoble), but there's one thing I clearly recall: I was walking down the road holding my dad's hand, when this low growl made me spin around and there she was, passing slowly by, a gorgeous red sports car, with big slits on the side doors and the black grill covering the tail lights that are very clear in my mind even now. The low, close to idle rate of the engine struck something in me, and to my young mind, I had just encountered the ultimate car. My dad then told me it was a Ferrari Testarossa.

Ever since this day, I've always considered the Testarossa to be the best car the prancing horse brand ever produced.

Back to the present, seeing the 248tb, I couldn't help but seeing myself as a kid in that street. It might not be a Testarossa, but its design cues are quite close to it, reminding me strongly of that very special encounter.

The 248 gets her name from its 3.4 liter 8 cylinder engine (tb standing for berlinetta, Ferrari also made the ts, standing for spyder). Each cylinder has 4 valves and this longitudinal, transverse gearbox engine boasts about 300HP.

Like the Testarossa (by the way, meaning "red head" in Italian), the 348 is a mid engine, rear wheel drive car, with oil and cooling radiator situated on the sides, explaining the wide waist and the slits design on the doors, meant to channel the air to the radiators.

The reason for moving the radiators to the sides, giving this "triangular" shape to the car is to reduce the temperature in the cabin, as hot water hoses didn't need to go under the cabin to reach radiators in the nose of the car.

The 348 is equipped with a dry sump oil system, which is ideal to tackle high Gs corners without risking the engine to suffer from oil starvation and break. Incidentally, it also allows for the oil level to be checked accurately while the engine is running. The dry sump's advantage, other than the ones stated just before, is to allow for a lower center of gravity.

Numbers - Ferrari 348tb

Engine: DOHC, 32 Valve V8, 3405 cc

Power: 300 bhp (224 kW) @ 7200 rpm

Transmission: 5-speed manual

Chassis: Steel platform sub-frame

Suspension: Independent all round

Brakes: Disk brakes with ABS

Max. Speed: 275 km/h (171+ mph)

0–100 km/h (62 mph): 5.4 s

0–161 km/h (100 mph): 12.2 s

The 348 was a totally new approach to the way Maranello made cars, with a monocoque structure with a tubular rear sub-frame (giving an easier access to the mid mounted engine) compared to their then traditional steel tubes chassis. This made the 348 to be the first Ferrari to comply with international crash test regulations. When it came out at the 1989 Frankfurt Auto Show, it was a huge hit, and was named by the spectators as the best car in the Show. But then it was taken to the track and roads by the public, and was proven to be very hard to handle, with a wandering front at high end speeds, a harsh ride and a stiff gearbox. Test drivers didn't really managed to match the 275km/h and 0-100km/h in 5.4s that was stated in the owner's manual.

Then to make matters worse for Ferrari, Honda released the now legendary NSX, which offered better performance with a smaller, V6 engine, and a better ride quality. Ouch, very ouch....