Inden Design F430 Spider

Inden Design Makes a Ferrari F430 Spider

What you see here is a Ferrari F430 Spider that has been modified by an outfit called Inden Design. It’s got all sorts of bells and whistles, and, if you listen to Inden, is better, faster, more well appointed and handles better than the original.

Sure, I guess they could be right. I’ve got no reason to doubt them, but my question about people like Inden Design and other outfits that think it’s a good idea to mess around with stuff like Ferraris and Porsches and etc., is why?

OK, here’s what Inden Design has to say for itself:

In an effort to make the F430 hit 186 MPH (which I already thought the car was capable of stock), Inden Design added a modified front-spoiler to increase the downforce on the front end. The modified side skirts attempt to seal off the lateral edges of the car (although without a complete seal down to the tarmac, I doubt the efficacy of this and always have) and out the back the carbon fiber diffuser and rear valance work together to accelerate the underbody air out the back as rapidly as possible.

Inden Design also added lightweight wheels and gave the F430 an extra 35 HP via a stainless steel sports exhaust system, and replaced the catalytic converters with sound control and test pipes.

OK, but like I said, why?

Sure, taking any car and making it go faster is a fun thing to do, but there’s an interesting conceit at work here and with other tuners that take on Ferraris and other exotics.

Essentially Inden Design (or anyone else that does this) is saying, “Yeah, those guys from Maranello know a thing or two about cars, but I know what can make their cars even BETTER!”

Oh really?

You know better than the most successful team in Grand Prix racing history? The company that has more drivers’ titles, and more constructors’ than any one else in the world? You know more than a company that has THREE wind tunnels running 24 hours a day and think that they got it wrong with their aero kit? You’ve got a server farm that takes up more square footage than an average house that’s dedicated to nothing but computational fluid dynamics to work through the subtleties of the greenhouse tumblehome, do you?

Look, when I win the lottery (or get a raise from Chris, whichever comes first), I’ll be buying Ferraris left right and center. The LAST thing I’ll do is be pretentious enough to look at one of my new rides and say, “Could be better.”

Source: TopSpeed.com

  1. I've never really been against tuning companies doing this, but you make a good point. I guess the idea is that you have a better F430 than the guy down the street. Me…I'd probably keep it stock too, but the guys that tune them also want more personalization than comes from the factory. If you're in say…Germany, where every other car is a 911, you'd want to stand out among the crowd with a RUF-tuned 911 or something I suppose.

  2. for sure, I see what you're saying, I'm just saying that doing better than Ferrari is a tough nut to crack (just ask McLaren).

    Now Ruf, on the other hand is a whole different story. LAst I heard, they had full TUV certification, and were regarded by the German gov't as being their own manufacturer.

  3. A lot of tuning companies do that, but I'm not sure I agree. They take a Maserati GranTurismo and call it the "Novitec Tridente GTS"

    That's implying Novitec is the manufacturer, not Maserati.

    I know RUF does the same thing, but that's like saying Saleen is their own manufacturer (before the S7.)

  4. Yeah, I thought of mentioning Saleen.

    He's an interesting guy, but essentially most of his road car work has been with beefed up Mustangs.

    I guess one of the main differences is that there's a lot of room for improvement with a street Mustang versus a street Ferrari

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