Ferrari 458 Spider UK debut at Goodwood FoS

The new Ferrari 458 Spider is to make its UK debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, together with the new Ferrari California.

The Ferrari 458 Spider finally bowed in at Frankfurt 2011 – more than two years on from the debut of the 458 Italia – and is going to make its UK debut at the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed on 29th June. About time too.

With exactly the same power output as the 458 Italia – and less additional weight to carry than the normal convertible Ferrari thanks to the folding aluminium top on the 458 Spider actually being lighter – the 458 Spider does still have its performance slightly blunted by its extra weight, but only by 0.1 seconds to 62mph.

What it does have is the joy of an unsurpassed soundtrack with the roof down, thanks in part to the newly tuned exhaust. Sadly, chopping the roof off has meant hiding the engine away from view.

Also on offer at Goodwood will be the new Ferrari California 30 with its extra 30bhp of grunt and a diet that’s seen it shed 30kg of excess weight and the Ferrari FF but not, it would seem, the new Ferrari F12.

Ferrari’s GT cars will be out in force on the MMS day and on the supercar runs every day through the FoS. But it’s not just Ferrari GT cars on offer with Ferrari taking the 2010 F1 car along too.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed runs from 29th June to 1st July 2012.