The Ferrari 360 Modena Sports Car

Ferrari 360 Modena Image

from Classic to Modern

THE CAR

The 360 Modena sports car was introduced by Ferrari in 1999, and named the car after the town in which the company's founder was born.

With a launch price of $140,000, the 360 replaced the successful 355 Series, and consisted of the two seater Modena Berlinetta coupe, the Spider convertible, and the Challenge variant.

Unlike the 355 which was fitted with a steel chassis, the 360 featured a new, slightly larger, aluminium space frame chassis, which benefited from the fact that it was up to 40% stronger, and yet was still some 100 kg, or 25%, lighter.

With styling once again in the hands of Pininfarina, there was a move towards softer lines, and included the removal of the pop-up headlights, whose demise was signalled in the 355.

The cabin of the 360 was much more spacious than that in the 355 Series owing to the increased dimensions of the aluminium chassis, and the interior was fitted with leather trim.

Amongst the optional extras were carbon fibre seats, and a racing exhaust system.

In terms of fuel consumption, it registered 13 mpg in the city and 19 mph on the highway.

The body panels were made from aluminium, and it used vacuum assisted 13 inch vented disc brakes all round and linked to ABS, plus coil spring four wheel independent suspension.

Air from the front ducts flowed below the under-tray to the two diffusers at the rear, and this produced a down force which gradually increased as the car accelerated. In this way, road holding was radically improved.

Dry sump lubrication was retained, as was a five bearing crankshaft, ASR traction control, and limited slip differential.

The dampers had their own electronic control unit to manage vertical or horizontal movement in the car.

By the time production ended in 2005, a total of 8,800 units of the Ferrari Modena sports car had been built.

THE ENGINE

Each of the 360 Series sports cars shared the same larger 3.6 litre, DOHC, mid-engined, rear wheel drive, V8 unit, with five valves per cylinder which, like the 355, utilised lightweight internal components, such as titanium con rods.

It was fitted with a flat-plane crankshaft to prevent uneven firing and timing issues experienced when using a cross-plane unit.

It developed 395 bhp at the redline of 8500 rpm, and 275 ft/lbs of torque at 4750 rpm, the majority of which was available around 3000 rpm.

The compression ratio remained at 11:1, it continued to use electronic fuel ignition, and was fitted with the latest Bosch ME 7.3 engine management system.

Linked to a six speed, all synchromesh, manual gearbox, or the optional F1-style paddle gear shift unit, it produced a top speed of 189 mph, and a 0-60 mph time of 4.2 secs.

The optional system had two paddles behind the steering wheel such that the right paddle changed up a gear, whist the left one changed down, with each gear change taking a mere 150 milliseconds.

With no clutch pedal, the electronic control unit in the gearbox managed the gear changes when matched to the engine revs.

Technical Data	360 Modena	355	348
Production	1999-2005	1994-1999	1993-1994
Engine, cc	3586	3496	3405
Cylinders, bhp	8, 395	8, 380	8, 320
Torque ft/lbs	275	268	238
Top Speed mph	189	183	175
0-60 mph, secs	4.2	4.7	5.4
0-100 mph, secs	10.3	11.3	12.5
Standing 1/4 Mile, secs	13.0	13.3	-

Ferrari 360 Modena Image

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COMPETITION

Typical competition for the Ferrari 360 Modena sports car included the following: Porsche 996 GT2, Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, and TVR Tuscan S. Ferrari performance:

Ferrari Porsche Aston Martin       TVR
Technical Data 360 996 GT2       Vanquish Tuscan S
Production 1999-2005 2001-2007   2001-2007 2002-2005
Engine, cc                    3586 3605 5932              3998
Cylinders, bhp                    8, 395 6, 475         12, 460 6, 400
Torque ft/lbs 275              455              395                 312
Top Speed mph 189 196 195 184
0-60 mph, secs 4.2 3.9                4.8 3.9
0-100 mph, secs 10.3 8.5               10.5 8.5
Standing 1/4 Mile, secs    13.0 12.6             13.6 12.7

SPORTS CARS FOR SALE

On the second hand market, a Ferrari 360 Modena, in good condition, would sell for around $60,000, whilst an immaculate example would command around around $100,000.

One of the classic cars from Ferrari.