GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Ferrari to offer handling kit for California T

UPDATE 27/01/2016 6:00pm: Ferrari Australasia has announced a $15,750 local price for the California T’s Handling Speciale, first examples of which are due here in the third quarter of this year, bringing its price to $425,638 plus on-road costs.

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Ferrari has announced it will offer a new handling pack for its California T roadster.

The new pack, called ‘Handling Speciale’ will be launched at this March’s Geneva motor show, aims to give the California a harder, more sporting edge.

Biggest change over the standard car is the Handling Speciale pack introduces new springs that are 16 per cent stiffer at the front and 19 per cent at the rear. The springs, as well as re-mapped magnetic dampers all contribute to a car with lower roll, dive, pitch and overall better body control.

Ferrari claim the changes “although marginally reducing ride comfort, results in even sportier feedback”.

As well as the suspension tweaks the California T’s seven-speed dual-clutch automatic also gets faster gear changes, although the Italian supercar-maker has not said by how much quicker they are.

Finally the Handling Speciale-equipped California T’s gets a new sports exhaust that's said to produce what Ferrari describes as a “fuller, richer and more involving “ sound although the turbocharged 3.9-litre V8 still produces the same 412 kW and 755Nm of torque. That means it still takes the same 3.6 seconds to reach 100km/h and tops out at an identical 316km/h.

The factory-fit option also introduces minor exterior changes. All Handling Speciale cars come with a matte grey grille and diffuser, plus matte black tailpipes. Inside, a special plaque indicates the presence of the new handling kit.

Pricing hasn’t yet been announced, but that first-gen California’s Handling Speciale costs around $8000 when it went on sale back in 2012.