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    Riding shotgun in a Ferrari LaFerrari at Clipsal500

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    This morning I had one of those money can’t buy experiences. Amazingly I found myself in Adelaide at the Clipsal500, but there was no sign of 8 cylinders.

    I had the opportunity to ride in the passengers seat of a hypercar, the stunning Ferrari LaFerrari. Riding shotgun for 3 laps of the Adelaide track leading a motorcade of Ferrari’s best. LaFerrari, is the latest from Ferrari, and lead a cavalcade of 30 other Ferrari models. The Ferrari ‘Drive for Kids’ Cavalcade provided a dazzling display over the weekend, showcasing 30 Ferrari unique luxury vehicles from throughout the decades. Cars include Ferrari 246GTS Dino (1973), Ferrari Dino 308GT4 (1975), Ferrari 308 GTS (1978), Ferrari Testa Rossa (1989), and Ferrari F12 Berlinetta (2015).

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    Walking past two Ferrari F1 cars, the right side of the garage sat the stunning black LaFerrari. I knew there were two coming this weekend, but never imagined I’d find myself climbing in the passenger seat.

    Straight away you notice how low the car sits, obviously to achieve it’s stunning performance, aerodynamics (and keeping things low) is critical. Task one is to navigate your way into the car through those attention grabbing butterfly doors.

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    The seat hugs you like a glove and with racing belts, your held in tight for the impending GeForces. With your view now filled with an array of carbon fiber trimmings, you settle in for what’s about to happen.

    As the car powered up, it needed a couple of minutes to warm up. Nowhere near as long as I expected. This provided a chance to get to know the very lucky driver who got the car in October and has done less than 150km so far.

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    As the car pulled onto the track, an array of camera shutters fired furiously. This car turns heads everywhere it goes.

    When we got the thumbs up to begin, it was time to warm the tyres and brakes. Lap one was a quick introduction to the power that lays behind your head.

    There is no other sound like a Ferrari purr that quickly turns into a roar as the go pedal surges towards the floor and the flappy paddle on the right gets flicked time and time again.

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    The magic in this car is it’s hybrid power train that flattens the power giving you a seemingly limitless amount of power. The corners were fast, the braking was hard, but the acceleration down the straight in a word is, sensational.

    In just a lap we caught the back of the field in a graphic demonstration of the technology improvements made in the last 40 years.

    When I asked the driver about the colour choice of black over the traditional Ferrari red, he says black is a blank canvas and we can expect some well designed artwork to be added in the future. It’s also nice to know you get a reversing camera for all that money.

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    Check out the on-board video I shot of the hot lap, its a shame my camera skills weren’t as good as this car. It was certainly a challenge to hold a phone steady as the LaFerrari showed the Adelaide crowd why it is so very special.

    techau
    techauhttp://techAU.com.au
    This post is authored by techAU staffers. Used rarely and sparingly when the source decided to keep their identity secret, or a guest author who isn't seeking credit.

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