Some of you may remember during photography month we ran a guest blog from George Williams, a 17 year old photographer from the United Kingdom. George was recently in touch with me again to share his latest shoot, the first RHD 458 in the UK.
It's pretty rare around these parts that we'll run a photo roll on a relatively standard production car, but I think we can make an exception for this rather fine specimen of Italian design.
The 458 Italia is the replacement for the rather beautiful F430.
The F430 was of course the evolution from the F360. However, the evolution from the F430 to the 458 has been a lot more substantial than from the F360 to F430.
To me, it's probably one of the best looking Ferraris of modern times, it is just beautiful. What do you think ?
Mr. Williams has done an absolutely incredible job photographing a black car. Anyone who has wielded a camera in anger will tell you this is no mean feat.
You know an automotive photographer has succeeded at his job when all you can think about is just getting in and driving the car as fast as possible. This young man has a great career in front of him.
Enough about the aesthetics. The car is powered by a normally aspirated mid mounted 4.5L V8 producing some 560BHP and 400ft/lb of torque with an incredible 9,000RPM rev limit. The power is transferred to the wheels via a Getrag dual clutch seven speed gearbox.
It's cars like this that just inspire people. It's good to know that today's youth still have a respectable machine to hang posters of on their walls.
Paddy
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
great man , very nice shot and the rig
are great
naa i dont like it sorry..
I am standing in a puddle of my own drool. Freakin sexx on wheels.
Car is sweet
Not feeling that at all.
Best looking Ferrari to ever leave the factory is the 250GTO, hands down.
Absolutely incredible pictures, beautiful car, but black hides the lines too much on this car. Lighter colors are perfectly suited for this shape
Car looks sick. But dual clutch tranny? Boooooo!
please oh please dear LORD. i hate so hard on this site, but I absolutely love this photo set.
can we get huge versions of them? I need 1920 x 1200 desktop action so badly i can't stand it!
i need a freakin poster of this!
I'm warming to the design but I just cannont visually justify the single symmetrical round tail light set up. In my opinion, this car needs at least a quad tail light setup (or even 6 to mathematically match the 3 exhaust pipes). The dual setup just looks too naked....short of the mark. Other than that I think the car is very well designed, particularly the swooping roof-to-rear quarter panel segment.
i think the styling on this is just terrible... the f430 looked so much better
Nice pictures, photographer is super talented for a 17 yr old. And an awesome car. Usually don't like Ferrari's but this one looks nice...
Car is nice as are the pictures, but all of them are really similar. He doesn't seem to have a lot of variety.
don't like... design is too playful...somehow looks like a Hyundai
UGLY ferrari, only like the headlights, the rest looks like it was designed by Leepu from Chop Shop
maybe this is just me.. but personally i loved the looks of the F430 a hundredfold more than I like those of the F458. there's so many great things to point out on the 430's design that im not even going to try, but with the F458, it seems ferrari's "design evolution" is now (aesthetically) headed the wrong way. dont get me wrong, every piece and line on the 458 serves a purpose that contributes to its jaw-dropping performance. but compared to the F430 the looks are a bit disappointing.. for instance the classic bugeye taillights on past ferrari's were one of their most compelling design cues. however the most notable irritant of the F458 is the now single-eye taillights that make the rear fascia look like Bumblebee's face from Transformers.. the tri-tip exhaust may be a novel idea, but to me it only completes the "bumblebee face" (and the quad tips on the 430 look much better). and then of course there's the plastic-looking front spoiler and the strange hood inlets/fender exits, which may increase downforce, but imo decrease visual appeal. and while the decision to move the rear intake ducts into the C-pillar may decrease drag, i personally liked them on the flanks of the F430 much better. i think the F458 still looks good.. but definitely not great.
http://www.youtube.com/user/DRFTmonkeh
Really weird looking, but not in an altogether bad way. Too many Ferrari badges, too. Put the yellow one on the nose, a horse on the back and call it quits - everyone knows it's a Ferrari already!
Hey I saw that Ferrari driving behind me the other day. They look rather odd. I dunno, maybe its just me but I don't like it. The design doesn't flow for me. But great photography nontheless. It's really hard to shoot with a black car but these pics turned out well.
theres just something about this car that i dont agree with, the front looks aweful lol.
he has done well with the black... but the photos really do nothing for me, e.g. why is the car on such uneven ground in the 2nd & 3rd photos?
Well, I was a Ferrari guy a long time ago but went Lambo...this car totally gets me back to my original choice, it's a winner 100%. It is everything I want.
love it
no, definitely not one of the best looking Ferraris. Performance is, of course, fine.
Personally I like the car but the photos do nothing for me tbh, the thought of tearing up a gravel road in a Ferrari is so wrong!!!!!!
The second rig shot has a strange squiggle in the tarmac, which with the movement in the rest of the shot shouldn't be there and the last two pictures are too underexposed at the front of the car to make any shape out.
Is it just me, or does the headlights bare a striking resemblance to a Lamborghini? I mean honestly, just look at it.
SDS - I only had 45 minutes with the car, so not much variety was possible. It wasn't my first choice of location either but was close to the owner which meant I could do more shots...
And those of you who are not liking the looks of the 458. Go and see one in real life. It's hard to appreciate it from pictures. If you ever get a chance to drive it/have a ride in it you will realise that it is an amazingly engineered machine.
George, Amazing shots. FYI, they're all stamped with 2008 so fix your copyright date wherever you're tagging it.
It makes me puke, but I'd buy a 458 if it had the body and the interior of the 430 Scuderia, that would be make it one of the best cars in the world
wow man...i went this summer in a vacation to my dad in sweden, and I have seen 2 458. I was WOW! Great piece of engineering. The Best of The Best!!
Well done George,
SMKurt - Pistonheads/Facebook
Good photos but such an ugly car. Any past the f40 ( excluding the Marrinello ) just dont do it for me. And dam! tose wheels are gross! Companies need to make these types of cars more personal!Espcially at the price you pay....
Eww.
I don`t like the badges all over it either.. its like bragging.
Freaking gorgeous.
For the record... F430... Not too good looking in my opinion. Rear and profile was fine but from dead ahead it had the stupidest grin on it's face.
the exhaust kills it .
Not a fan of the 458 really. Some of the form and detailing, to my eye, isn't in keeping with Ferrari or Pinnifarina, but it does look bloody good in Black.
No offense to G.F. Williams but the majority of his shots look the same. He also re-used the exact same location for multiple shoots...
The first shot is really soft (not in focus).
Lets hope we see that one on Top Gear