Valentino Rossi knows a thing or two about going fast. He’s won seven world championships and more races than any other rider in the history of grand prix motorcycle racing. But those have all come on two wheels.
The world’s greatest motorcycle rider has, however, been known to trade in his handle bars and foot pegs for a steering wheel and pedals from time to time, though. His latest outing was in the new Ferrari 488 Pista.
The latest hardcore eight-cylinder supercar from Maranello, the Pista debuted less than a month ago in Geneva as a further evolution of the 488 GTB. Its 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 is tuned to deliver 710 horsepower (720 PS) and 568 lb-ft (770 Nm) of torque. With more downforce, less weight and a tightening up of just about every component, it’ll run to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 2.85 seconds on its way to a top speed of 211 mph (340 km/h).
Watch: Official video shows the Ferrari 488 Pista driven in anger on and off the track
It’s a heck of a machine, in short, as “The Doctor” found out first-hand when he took a still-camouflaged prototype around the factory’s Fiorano test track. And you can ride shotgun along with him in the video below.
This wasn’t the first time, though, that Rossi has played the role of Ferrari test driver. He’s tested the Scuderia’s F1 cars several times before, and even considered switching from one form of grand-prix racing to the other.
If he ever did, he might stand a chance of following in John Surtees‘ footsteps and prove his mettle on both two wheels and four. But at 39 years old and with a freshly inked contract from Yamaha, this is rather unlikely.
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