2008 Ferrari F430 F1 Spider

When Ferrari launched the F430 Spider, they took the film crew to the desert. Quite why a car built for Mediterranean coast roads needed a backdrop of empty tarmac and heat haze is anyone's guess, but it was the style of the era: clean light, wide shots, nothing to get in the way of the metal.

Two decades on, camera resolution and production polish have moved a long way. What hasn't moved an inch is the appeal of a naturally aspirated V8 spinning to 8,500 rpm with nothing electronic standing between the right foot and the noise. Some things really were better analogue.

Ferrari's own design notes for the car point to two specific influences. The twin nose intakes trace back to the 156 F1, the car Phil Hill took to the 1961 World Championship, while much of the rear styling, tail-lights included, borrows from the Enzo. Pininfarina shaped the whole thing, refining the aerodynamics with the same simulation software the F1 team used at the time.

Behind the seats sits a 4.3-litre V8 producing close to 490 hp and spinning to 8,500 rpm, an engineering approach lifted almost directly from Ferrari's F1 programme of the time. The electronic differential, first developed for the Scuderia's Formula 1 cars, sharpens traction and roadholding, while the steering-wheel-mounted manettino, the same control the F1 drivers used, lets the driver switch the car's whole character in an instant.