From a lost pic set taken some years ago.
A nice red Ferrari 488 GTB spotted in Glasgow, front and rear.
518 G would appear to be the perfect choice to fit nicely into that handy space in the nose.
Sadly, like so many fine registration numbers, 518 G has suffered an embarrassing loss of status.
It now languishes on a stinky diesel SUV, a silver 2025 Range Rover Evoque.
Could be worse.
I’m never sure about Ferrari’s that don’t carry one of the factory’s trademark shades of red.
On the one hand, it’s nice to see the difference, on the other, there’s a certain feeling of ‘missed opportunity’, since the factory has only produced a limited number of those shades for its products.
Although not the subject of this post, I’ve always had a liking for black, and have seen a few black Ferraris. It’s a surprisingly good choice, given its usual home on larger, flatter, limousines. I would have failed to predict it, but the Ferrari’s curves work well with the glossy/glassy finish, possibly because they eliminate the usual mirror-like reflection from flat surfaces.
This one, however, is blue 2017 488 GTB with a 3.9 litre turbo V8, and that means 661 BHP.
While I’d like to spend a year with one for obvious reasons, given it has twice the power of either of the cars I had, yet has figures of 17-33 MPG, I’d really like to find the Real World MPG. In round number I had one larger naturally aspirated engine, and one smaller turbo yet, even driving as if there was an egg between my foot and throttle, neither would return better than 16 MPG – with little or no difference from different road types.
Back in the real world, this naughty one seems to have lost its front number plate.
Incidentally – look at its height compared to the hulking great Volvo behind.
I remember the days when the idea was to reduce CSA (cross-sectional area) and cut losses due to drag and air resistance, not compete to see who can make the tallest ‘brick’, and shove a huge fuel drinking engine into it to push it through the air like a sports car.
I think there was something called a ‘Fuel Crisis’ at around the time.
No plate, no problem, provided one can turn quickly enough after the lights change, and the traffic moves.
Secret Scotland 