Ferrari 458 Spider & Ferrari California Goodwood

The Ferrari 458 Spider and the new California 30 have made their UK debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The hugely appealing Ferrari 458 Spider has made its UK debut at the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed alongside the new, more powerful California – the Ferrari California 30.

The new 458 Spider – which, if you could still see the engine at the back, would make you wonder who would still buy the 458 Coupe – gets a very clever, fully retractable aluminium hard top which is a full 25kg lighter than a comparable cloth top.

That means the 458 Spider can hit 62mph just 0.1 seconds slower than the 458 Italia and is just 4mpg slower, with a top speed of 198mph.

The UK debut of the Ferrari California 30 sees the entry-level Ferrari getting a little mode hard-edged with and extra 30bhp at its disposal – it now has 490bhp) and an extra 15lb/ft of torque. That, and a drop in weight of 30kg, means the California 30 can get to 62mph in 3.2 seconds.

Both the Ferrari 458 Spider and the Ferrari California 30 have already been up the Goodwood hillclimb and will be doing the same again today and tomorrow together with the Ferrari FF, And not just any old Ferrari FF either, but one of the first RHD FFs.