Ferrari F430 Scuderia goes up in flames on new owner’s first drive

A BRITISH Ferrari owner has had his new ride go up in flames – an hour after he’d picked it up.

South Yorkshire police reported earlier today that they’d received a callout to a single-car crash along the M1 that had created traffic chaos for commuters.

“Officers were deployed to a single-vehicle collision with reports that the vehicle had left the carriageway and burst into flames,” a social media post from the Yorkies says.

“Road conditions were wet at the time and as officers arrived on scene it became clear there was a vehicle well alight and colleagues from South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue were in attendance, squirting water all over some kind of sporty motor some 50 or so meters down a banking.

“As we are an inquisitive bunch we found the driver and were amazed to see he only had minor cuts and bruises.”

But then comes the bit that hurts, and something that’s, well, not surprising given the rate at which they’ve previously been known to flame out.

“Officers asked the driver what sort of car he had to which he replied: ‘It was a Ferrari.’ Detecting a sense of damaged pride, he then said: ‘I've only just got it, picked it up an hour ago’.”

Not just any Ferrari, as it turns out, but a Formula One-honed Ferrari 430 Scuderia - the successor to the 360 Challenge Stradale - that was revealed by F1 ace Michael Schumacher at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show.

Unmelted, they still swap hands here for about $500,000. Without the charred bits and molten metal, it should look like this.

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Only about 1600 of the lighter, more powerful 375kW version of the 4.3-litre V8-engined Scuderia - meant to go head-to-head with the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera - were made. Before its sacrifice to the gods of flaming supercars, this particular one was capable of bursting from rest to 100km/h in around 3.6sec, and winding out all the way to 319km/h.

Thankfully for the driver, testimonies from witnesses grilled by the South Yorkshire rozzers led them to believe that speed wasn’t a contributing factor to the fire.