As the co-owner of a film and television vehicle rental company with his father, Charlie Graovac has always been passionate about cars. While he was never one for shows or meets, he did lightly modify some of the vehicles he previously owned.
Despite having never driven a Ferrari, Charlie’s longtime dream was to purchase one as a present to himself for his 30th birthday, and then customise it to his style.
Initially, Charlie set his sights on a classic Maranello model, looking specifically for a 348. However, he soon learned that ’80s Ferraris often come with ’80s Ferrari issues that could prevent him from enjoying the car as much as he would want. So Charlie shifted his focus to the F360, an early ’00s model that blends analogue and modern features.
But while on holiday abroad and looking through the online classifieds, Charlie stumbled across something even better – a low-mileage F430 F1 Berlinetta in Nero Daytona black with a custom white leather interior. There and then, he decided it would be his first real project car and went ahead with the purchase.
A few days later, Charlie’s wife Charlotte took delivery of the F430 at Car Audio & Security in London. A plan was hatched – the Ferrari would be modified, and the first time Charlie would see it was when it was completed in time for his 30th.
The build was originally going to be limited to air suspension and wheels, but it quickly spiralled into something much more when Charlie met with Jimmy Pearman from Liberty Walk EU, who showed him what could be achieved with some LB-Works enhancement.
Over eight months, the Ferrari underwent a dramatic transformation with Liberty Walk’s LB-Works F430 Ver.2 complete body kit, which on top of overfenders, added front, side and rear diffusers, and a ducktail spoiler. The final touch came with Morimoto LED taillights before Colourkraft in Northamptonshire finished the job with a full paint correction and Petronas Green accents.
Rotiform wheels originally graced the car, but Charlie has replaced those with a set of custom 6AD Forged 2.55 wheels wrapped in Yokohama Advan semi-slicks. To get the Ferrari sitting just right, the suspension uses Prazi air struts operated by Air Lift Performance 3H management.
A beautiful looking custom Deutsch Tech exhaust system allows the F430’s 4.3L Ferrari F136 E V8 engine to really sing. But when Charlie’s not wide-open throttle, there’s a full JL Audio sound system to enjoy.
For a bit of fun, the frunk lid inside features a custom comic by Jonny Fyvie in The Simpsons style, hinting at fabled ‘cease and desist’ notices from Ferrari and the ‘destruction’ of a collectable car.
Despite being a Ferrari owner for around nine months, Charlie didn’t lay eyes on his purchase until taking delivery of it in all its Liberty Walk glory on his “Three Zero” birthday – just as planned.
After meeting Charlie and Charlotte at Risenation in Belgium earlier this year, I was amazed to hear they regularly drive the Ferrari to events all over Europe. It’s definitely ignited a passion.
During our shoot, Charlie revealed plans for a ‘winter spec’ version of the car, hinting at driving through icy conditions early next year. So, keep an eye out; we might see more of this wide-body Ferrari soon.
Collin Tiemens
Instagram: collinclicksphotos
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Somewhat nice looking car aesthetically, but that's about all the LW fleet are good for. And that's if you consider this a good looking car. What I've noticed about a majority of the sports car publications on this website is they seem to focus on the looks, aesthetics, and ideas of what cars are rather than the speed or performance. It's a very odd person who looks at a sports car and thinks "let's bag it, throw 10 degrees of camber into the rear so it over steers atrociously, and then add weight to it with a big heavy sound system." People can do whatever they want, but it is a bit odd when you stop and think about how much the looks are the forefront of these "builds." A quick google search of F430 Challenge Car and I had to laugh at the unfortunate realization:
I bet the car in this feature is slower and worse performing than a stock F430. Kind of sad when you think how many hours go into building these things and how much effort Enzo put into his racing programs. Perhaps he was right. Maybe the road cars really are for the fools...
Amazing how good the race car looks by comparison.
There are still ways to enjoy the best of both worlds. Remember the Simoni Racing NSX? That's the kind of car I would build if I have the money: blending modern show car looks with proper racing modifications under the skin.
But in reality I'll just lightly modify my daily for the occasional B-roads and/or touge runs, mainly by just removing unnecessary weight and remap the ECU.
I like you Takumi. You’re a simple minded person like me at the end of the day despite all the nonsense. Hope your Proton is running well and you are in good health. God bless.
I agree with each word. This comment is valuable. These kinds of social processes have to be highlighted. Car cultures significantly pivoted to an anti-performance direction. The main focus is on shocking and gathering attention. This tendency has always been a part of car culture, as in the case of lowriders, show hot rods of the 80s, and so on. However, it was never focused on top-performance cars, and it was never so destructive of the main features of the vehicles.
Of course, this is a great battle in modern times. When youngsters who have no idea how to drive shout about every person's freedom of creativity and having fun. The discussion is not about limiting somebody's creativity. This discussion is a gentle suggestion to try to drive it for real, gain skills, have fun, and even break it at some point. But understand that every performance car is a tool for fun, hormones like dopamine and adrenalin. Even lower-level sports cars like Boxster are plenty of joy and fun. And the biggest paradox is that performance-oriented modifications look better aesthetically because you see what the thing is capable of. The beauty is in engineering.
People enjoy the feeling that they dare to destroy something valuable and think they offended somebody's feelings about it. This is partially true. But if we think further, the thing is valuable not because of the word Ferrari on it; it is valuable because these cars with this word are the cream-of-the-cream of performance. What if you dare drive it? Try yourself. Try your limits. Push it. That is the romantic feeling of being on the edge of skills driving open roads.
Think truly outside the box and educate yourself. It will bring a lot of fun and joy, especially when you have money for it.
You know exactly what you're talking about and understand my point 100%. Everyone else does not because they don't understand anything about performance driving or modifying things for speed. THANK YOU!!!! Not everyone here is a moron apparently. Hats off to you. Made my day! Cheers.
It’s almost like people use cars for more than just racing…
Sounds like this guy wasn’t satisfied with what Maranello built so he modified it to his liking. It’s a good looking car but I’d like to see yours to compare the 2.
That's crazy, I wish I got this as a birthday gift today, but sick f430
Ever since the first post, I'm a loyal reader of Collin's stories and features. Keep up the good work homie <3
The orange-peel laden fibreglass flares, haphazardly fastened onto the exquisite aluminum body, are sort of jarring. Image #19 is a little disturbing when you look at the pinched seal. Careless details like this are sort of a red flag to me. Hopefully the OEM fender shields were not damaged by this same careless technician, since they cost well over $1000 USD from Maranello.
Of course we can give the owner a pass on the aesthetic choices, since he's still relatively young - certainly much younger than most customers I see with these cars.
Apologies for an overall negative-sounding comment, but I believe if you post a car on a website with a comment section, then comments are warranted, within reason of course. I agree with Boffin's thoughts as well.
Credit to the paint dept. and detail dept. who both appear to have done a great job. The header also looks quite cool.
The way to combat a lot of this would be to tell us who you are, thus enabling a fair judgement of your credentials. As it stands, you post under multiple usernames, respond aggressively to other posters, and - in the midst of often interesting points about motorsport and its related engineering - spoil things for yourself. Jim McIlvaine posted in his own name. I post in my own name. Why not have the confidence to tell us who you are?
And as regards racing being the be all and end all. Maybe it isn't? Some of us lack time, money, space, or talent to race cars. I certainly don't have much time to spare, can't afford a dedicated racing car (even a clapped out Formula Ford!), don't have anywhere to store a racing car, and - having spent some time on track in my MX5 - lack the talent to compete. Maybe - and hold onto your hat here - it's possible for different people to enjoy cars in different ways? I think you do understand that - you're clearly an intelligent person - but you have tunnel vision when it comes to what counts as expertise/what non-experts can or cannot say/opinion versus hard reality/etc.
No disrespect, but you cant play the "I dont have time" card while as a comment on an article on a website. Thats not what people who "don't have time" do. Ijs.
Ah, yes, because taking a minute to comment online is EXACTLY the same as the time required to maintain, prep, transport, and run a dedicated racing car.
Yes. Like the addage says. "Time is money". Take all the time you waste on meaningless arguments online you might have time to actually maintain, prep, transport and run a dedicated race car. Lesser people do it all the time.
If you're doing it here........not dobut you're doing it on other sites and social media
My parents were doxd by people in the industry. This is why I comment under different names. Who I am is not important. What is important is the message. And apparently the message is so threatening I must be banned and deleted. The question becomes why. I know the answer. Do you?
I do know the answer, and it is because you treat everyone else in every comment thread with profound disrespect.
We got the message about twenty comments ago: "if the car is not solely focused on racing performance, it's a waste of time, the owners are idiots, and anyone who disagrees with me is not a real man and deserves to have slurs thrown at them".
You've been pretty consistent. The opinion, informed or not, is not the issue. The insults, threats, and peacocking are.
A much more eloquent post than the acerbic draft I had written. Nicely said Malcolm.
I mirror people. When I am accused of not knowing how to drive or build despite showing photos literally of engines I’ve built then we go to the next level which is me showing up somewhere with money. Which I have done a lot in the past. My time is worth money. If I’m going to prove to someone I am legit I prefer to do so for $$$ but everyone backs down. That’s fascinating.
I simply stated several months ago that a corvettte wouldn’t lap as fast around Tsukuba as a formula 4 or formula 3 which costs less and you guys collectively lost your minds.
I have proven everything I’ve said and built and you guys say “oh that’s just something you found on the internet.”
I don’t need your approval about anything I do. I literally raced with sennas engineer who designed the mp4/4 and he told me if I had come from a wealthy family I’d have been in formula 1. He also told me on the data I used the throttle very similar to senna.
After getting those kinds of compliments do you really think I need any of you guys to validate me. I’m just having fun expressing my opinion about what actually makes a car fast and you guys lose your minds.
It’s rather funny tbh.
lol, all you showed was a picture of a gokart and an autocross sheet with names blacked out. Same throttle as senna…lmao
You clearly want validation which is why you can’t stop commenting about yourself on this site despite claiming multiple times that you were done and leaving. You make up some cool story’s though Hansel, thanks for the laughs
Down to fly to your location. No one responds. Talk is cheap. Post address and a full name. Will book flight and post on social media after what happens to you. We can chat online or we can throw down. Done talking. Let’s throw down.
As I said in another comment, are you OK? Would you like someone to talk to?
I suppose you could fly to Manchester airport, drive along the M62 to where I live, and stand outside my house yelling "FIGHT ME!", but that would just be weird. And what would happen is that all the lovely people on our street would come out, ask if you need help, give you a nice cup of tea, and take you for a bit of a sit down while you compose yourself and work out exactly why you ended up in the north of England, on a random residential street, trying to start a fight. Because challenging people to fisticuffs over disputes on a car website really is very strange behaviour.
So, again, are you OK?
Anonymity is a luxury in 2024. And I like to enjoy every luxury I can in my life.
Does your apartment have many leather bound books and smell of rich mahogany? Your are Ron Burgundy and I claim my $5!
Oh, for the love of God. Stop. Please. Imagine having a conversation with yourself under different usernames, and thinking it's a flex. The cadence and vocabulary are so close, it's bleedingly obvious you're only blowing your own horn here.
Your list of supposed proficiencies and accolades is now so long it's gone from improbable to completely ridiculous. Nobody who has even half the CV you do would spend *so much time* droning about it on a forum like this - they'd be too busy actually doing it.
People will do what they want with their cars, and no amount of holier-than-thou sneering is going to stop that. Anybody with eyes can see: this is a build clearly not aimed at the track. Save your words, and your self-fellating bullshit, and take it elsewhere. We don't care. Go train thousands of imaginary drivers at whatever make-believe track you like.
Post address and location. I am down to go on a nation wide tour of ass beating at this point with you guys.
Dude, are you OK? Sounds like you need someone to talk to.
I think we're on a hiding to nothing here Lachlan. The funny thing for me is that having interacted with a fair few people who race, instruct, and build, none of them were like this. I was at a track day recently, just pootling around in a mate's car, keeping out of the way of faster drivers, and having fun. And nobody there talked or behaved like this. From the guy with the mad turbo Hayabusa powered Radical racer, to the folk from the Caterham Academy championship out testing, to rank amateurs like me. Everyone was lovely, knowledgable, and interested in cars.
I think you're right, it's a waste of time.
And this is the thing: I've heard nothing but good things about the track day crowd. Glad to hear that you've been able to confirm it in person and that everyone's there to have fun no matter what they're driving.
Thank you for the post…Blessed to have met Collin among so many other incredible people in the car scene!
A lot of people are saying that it's stupid to modify a performance car in this way, that it takes away from its purpose. Name me a car built with the purpose of modification?
Some people like to race, some people like to drift, some people like to drive all over europe in a car that sparks interest for its individuality.
He who blends in, gets forgotten.
Not a Ferrari guy but I like it! Wheels are nasty! In a good way. Like the mint green too!
Fellas, it’s great to know a lot about something (like cars and motorsports), or be good at something, or even just care a lot about something, but your prime activity should be enjoying what *you* like about it, not criticizing how *others* participate in it.
Unless of course, you enjoy criticizing others more than motorsports.
It’s all fun and games until you’re at a funeral because the back end came out at high speed due to having zero rear grip due to too much camber. Sounds like a lot of you guys haven’t subjected yourself to any kind of driving where everything needs to be perfect.
is there any going back, after cutting the rear body like this? was resale value not a consideration? clearly budget was an issue since they used a 20 year old car instead of a modern one
Sour-grapes comment from an ininformed individual
F430 have held on to their resale value very respectably, at least here in the US. You could argue they held on better than 360 and 458 considering the MSRPs. Must admit I'm fairly ignorant of the situation in other countries, but I see no reason why it would vary significantly.
These quarters are readily available and can be replaced fairly easily with an "invisible repair" ethos by any shop familiar with these cars. The only giveaway would be the paint thickness when measured with an ultrasonic gauge - but nothing would be on the vehicle's history unless insurance was involved for some reason.
If you don't like an aspect of the featured car, why not mention it - instead of taking a seemingly personal dig, and making yourself look rather foolish?
We cut a considerable amount of factory bodywork out for the arches to clear the wheels as the vehicle now sits at 7’2” wide. So going back isn't advised.
Why do you suggest budget has anything to do with the resell value. I quite clearly have no intentions on selling it. Plenty of sad people store these cars in their garages, keep the miles off them and hope to turn over a pretty penny. I own an entire fleet of commercial vehicles, of which i hire out. If i was doing anything for investment i would’ve just bought 4 more vehicles and pulled in £5,376+Vat per month
Noted. You’re not a legitimate driver. This is just a wrist watch for you.
How is this a budget issue? The guy clearly loves older Ferraris. It's the same as how so many people lust after 90s JDM metals, air-cooled 911s, etc.
I am, admittedly, a bit of a purist. I would argue though that this car was mostly diminished by the mods. The Ferrari engineers know what they're doing, leave it alone.
What a surprise... Reading through, it started out like "what a Ferrari noob", but then we get to the fact this car was built for the buyer, and the choices therein are purely for a lifestyle toy. Given it's a run of the mill 430, auto, and white interior, as the photos scrolled the whole look just... WORKS! Definitely unexpected and the wheels the colors just come together and make this fit right into the popular stance shows perfectly.
So this shopping list came together in a great way, and despite not being my own style, somehow manages to infect me with "getting it" - I get the person/crew that put this together, with all the imperfections and ethos rolled in. Love that this exists! It's about time some take the attitude right back to Maranello's snobbery, and maybe they might wake up and the Jay Leno's of the world would actually be able to enjoy buying a few.
Ballin'