Too often, supercars are used for a very superficial purpose. As a show of status or wealth, or simply just as an aesthetic accessory to one’s life. We at Heasmans are all about making cars more drivable and getting the intended use from these wonderful machines.
Ferrari-Maserati Sydney understand this predicament too and have realised that many owners simply do not have the opportunity for these tamed beasts to stretch their legs and unleash the primal instincts they were built with. The answer? Take a group of 50 Italian stallions to Sydney Motorsport Park and let them loose!
A very exclusive event that the team at Heasmans were specially invited to, we had the chance to help a few of our own customers realise the potential of their cars and turn the changes we carried out in the workshop into real, tangible results. With the help of our tame racing driver Nathan Antunes, we let him off the leash for the day to assist drivers and to also provide technical feedback to not only Heasmans staff but also the Ferrari technicians on hand at the day.
A Heasmans regular, which you may have seen in our workshop, is a white F430 belonging to Astra Limousines, also known as Astra Motorsports. This track day would be the first time the car had seen tarmac since they took ownership of the car. Previously an Australian Ferrari Challenge Cup car, this very aggressive race-only version was in our workshop prior to the day getting everything checked, retorqued and back to spec.
We also treated this beast to fresh Michelin slicks and a TRON alignment as well as corner weighting to make sure everything would be happy and healthy as it was broken in hard for the first time at Sydney Motorsport Park. Again with race driver Nathan Antunes at the wheel, he took the car to its limits and reported back that the limit was very, very far!
With an endless array of electronics and technology in the car to monitor and there was a Ferrari technician on hand in the case anything was to go wrong but to everyone’s great surprise – nothing! Even with a whole day of track work under its belt, not a single hiccup or failure on the F430
One of our customers brought his recently modified Ferrari California in for a test run at the track. Wider track thanks to the huge wheels and tyres, H&R lowering springs also helped provide better handling and rigidity. Even with the new aftermarket wheels and fitment, there were no clearance issues at all and Nathan Antunes commented that it was far better performing that the stock California, and drove very true thanks to the set up on our beloved TRON aligner.
We had also fitted a premium sports exhaust, which was very obvious as it was screaming around the skid pan and race track all day. Best sounding car at a Ferrari track day is a huge achievement and had it been a real award, it would have definitely been won by this beautiful California. The work we had carried out on this California to take it from the factory floor to the racetrack will be featured in an upcoming Heasmans blog.
All in all, each car and owner had safe and controlled fun and we’re sure each Ferrari and Maserati in attendance had a struggle leaving. It’s always a bit hard to leave home, especially when you finally realise where it is!
Photography by SELECTNINE