Dark Horse: Twin Turbo Ferrari 360 Modena

For most enthusiasts, a stock Ferrari 360 Modena offers adequate performance. Its 3.6-liter, flat-plane-crank V8 pumps out 395 horsepower at shrieking 8,500 rpm. That's enough to motivate the Italian beauty from 0-to-sixty in 4.3 seconds. With a sufficient stretch of open road the Modena will top out at 185 mph. Its shine may have be dulled by ever faster and newer Ferraris but the 360 is still a valid performance machine..

However, there are always those Ferrari enthusiasts that want a little more, something that will set their already exotic machines apart from the pack. In the case of Hubert Tsai, what began as a little more turned into a lot more by the time he was done transforming his Modena. In reality, Tsai's quest to stand out from the herd (as it were) began before he even had a Ferrari in his possession. He knew from the start that he wanted a 360 in an unusual shade as well. In other words not red.

"Many people own Ferraris," says Tsai. "What I don't like seeing are the same cars over and over… red Ferrari here, red Ferrari there, another red Ferrari there. That's why I decided to get a less common Grigio Titanium car over the standard Rosso Scuderia red." Of course the color choice was only the beginning of a process that took around two years from start to finish. Exactly how different is this 360? It starts with a bodykit inspired by the factory 360 N-GT roadracers, continues with a transformed interior and is topped off by no less than a twin-turbocharged powerplant. Just about every aspect of this Ferrari has been altered in some fashion, from the wheels to the engine bay on full view beneath its glass cover.

Prior to the 360, Tsai had never even owned a car at all, Ferrari or otherwise. "I never personally owned a car," he says. "During High School I drove my parents Acura Integra and Volkswagen Quantum." After college Tsai went to work as an equities trader in New York city. He decided it was finally time he purchased a car of his own. Ferrari of Long Island was also the nearest dealer to his home in Manhattan so he paid them a visit first. "I didn't have to look long to find the car I wanted, since there was a 360 in Grigio Titanium paint, which was my first color of choice, sitting on the showroom floor the first day I made my trip down to the dealer," recalls Tsai. He was a little nervous, as it was the first time he had set foot in an exotic dealer as an actual buyer. The 360 in question was a year-old, second-hand Modena with 3,000 miles.

After seeing the 360 in person, Tsai returned a week later for a test drive. "I remember the salesman asking me slyly, 'are you sure you want to get into the car? Because I know if you do, you'll want to buy it.'" The salesman was right.  As soon as they returned from the drive, Tsai signed the paperwork and became the Modena's new owner. The Ferrari was immediately put into service as a daily driver… in Manhattan no less. "This was my 'beater,' everyday car since I only had one car at the time," says Tsai. We'll forgive the term 'beater,' since the 360 is far from the image one usually conjures up when that descriptor is thrown out, though in reality that's actually not too far from the truth. "I wasn't afraid to get door dings or rock chips on the car," he saysi. "I actually had 24 door dings on my passenger side door at one time." But hey, who's counting?

Shortly after acquiring the 360, Tsai attended a New York Ferrari gathering. There he met Jim Pan of P-Factor Automotive Group, the U.S. distributor for German company Imola Racing. "He showed me a catalog of Imola Racing products for the 360, which I thought made the car look even more sleek and sexy compared to stock," says Tsai. The kit in the pictures was Imola's GT-Evoluzione body kit, a reproduction of the components that Ferrari's 360 N-GT racer wears. The Ferrari was immediately sent to a bodyshop so the kit could be installed.

The carbon fiber kit included restyled front and rear bumpers, sideskirts and carbon-fiber radiator grills. Along with the revised bodywork the 360 also sprouted a pair of Imola carbon-fiber mirrors. At the same time, the stock wheels on the 360 were replaced with a set of HRE 841R three-piece, forged wheels. These measure 19x8.5-inches at the front and 19x11-inches at the rear that wore 245/35-19 and 295/35-19 Yokohama AVS Sport tires. With the cosmetic transformation complete, Tsai continued to use the Ferrari regularly on the mean streets of New York.

"I drove the car to bars, clubs, restaurants, movie theaters, golf driving ranges, grocery stores, you name it, everywhere," adds Tsai. The low slung Ferrari did have a few incidents during its use as a daily, mainly involving shattering the vulnerable carbon fiber front bumper and spoiler. The first time was from a metal pipe lying in the middle of a street that was under construction. "On another incident I ripped off my bumper when the lip got caught underneath a metal plate commonly found on New York City streets when they do roadwork."

"Another day I stalled right when I got into the Holland Tunnel going towards Manhattan," continues Tsai. It turned out the culprit was a loose battery ground that had been dislodged when the 360 went over a sharp dip in the road. A cop pulled up and offered Tsai a police escort so he could limp the barely running Ferrari to a safer parking place. Though it might seem that the 360 was used and abused, the Ferrari ran happily day in and day out. And that probably had a lot to due with its frequent use. "The car itself has been virtually maintenance-free as far as it not breaking down due to mechanical failures," claims Tsai. "I think this is due to the fact that it is not 'garage-queened' like most Ferraris. I believe in keeping the most important part of the car- the engine- in superb condition."

The next step in the car's evolution was triggered when Tsai found out that Classic Coach of Elizabeth, New Jersey, the shop that maintained his 360, was developing a twin-turbo system for the 360 Modena. "Every time I stopped by the shop, I made a point to enquire about their progress," recalls Tsai. Ultimately, Tsai's was the third 360 to be turbocharged by Classic Coach. The heart of the conversion is of course the pair of Garret GT-30 ball bearing turbos paired with a Tial 44mm wastegate. On the intake side of the motor is a ram air intake that uses K&N sport filters, custom aluminum intake piping and a carbon-kevlar intake manifold. Classic Coach also installed larger 42 lb/hr Proton fuel injectors, while the engine's ECU was reprogrammed with the appropriate fuel and timing curves.

The motor breathes through a set of 360 Challenge headers, high flow catalytic converters and a custom exhaust fabricated out of stainless steel. Ensuring that everything stays as cool as possible are water-to-air intercoolers and an additional aluminum radiator. These are backed up by a high-powered pair of cooling fans. In developing the turbo conversion for the 360, Classic Coach's head technician Felix Medina decided to leave the engine as is, including the relatively high compression ratio of 11:1. The aggressive compression ratio in turn dictated a low boost setting for the turbo. On Tsai's 360, the boost is limited to five pounds, though Medina says that he has been able to run 10-lbs on other turbo 360s he has built. All told, according to Classic Coach the changes to the 360's powerplant have resulted in 538 rear wheel horsepower at 8,500 rpm, while peak torque is a useable 400 lb/ft. In order to cope with the increased power on tap, there is a carbon/Kevlar racing clutch,

The Ferrari's brakes were replaced with a Brembo GT kit that uses 355 mm front rotors and 345 mm rear rotors clamped by yellow four-piston Brembo calipers. Pads are Ferrodo HPs, while the fluid is pumped through Goodrich stainless steel lines. The suspension on the 360 was upgraded with adjustable Ohlins coilovers that utilize Imola Racing sport springs.

Since Tsai likes to show the twin-turbo 360 as well as drive it, the interior was gone through as well. The modifications to the cockpit are too numerous to list, and include a full complement of Imola Racing accessories, from alloy pedals to the carbon-kevlar center console, door panels, gauge cluster and A/C panel. Seating is now provided by Imola Sportivo seats that were reupholstered to match the rest of the interior. Smaller touches can be found in the Grigio Titanium shift paddles, alloy vent rings, Defi auxiliary gauges and red-painted tach. Not even the Sparco fire extinguisher escaped unscathed. It's now upholstered in red Connoly hide to match the rest of the interior. There is also an extensive custom sound system and, appropriately enough a Lidatek radar detector.

Ferrari 360 Modena

Of course a high-powered sound system is far from our mind as I slide into the 360's interior, the V8 producing its own soundtrack as it idles behind us, its exhaust burbling impatiently at a high idle. Pulling back on the right-hand paddle with our fingertips brings a "1" icon to life on the gauge cluster, signaling that the Modena is ready to go. Despite its extreme state of tune, the 360 pulls smoothly away from a stop like any other well-behaved modern Ferrari. Squeezing the throttle as low as 2,500 rpm produces instant forward progress at the same time the whine starts to build from the spooling turbos, so for the first couple miles we short-shift up through the gearbox until we're better acquainted with the car's behavior.

A freeway onramp offers the perfect spot to unravel the 360's leash. Throttle response from the 3.6-liter V8 remains pin-sharp thanks to the stock compression ratio. By 3,000 rpm the silver Ferrari is really moving and by 4,000 rpm and beyond we're being pinned back in the seat, the motor's song morphing into a deep howl until it reaches a Formula One-like shriek at the 8,500-rpm redline. Setting the 360 to Sport allows the gearbox to shift even quicker. Each tug of the right side paddle near redline sends a wallop through the car and the driver as the Modena lunges forward on a wave of forced-induction horsepower, all the while accompanied by the shrieking exhaust and subtle whoosh of the turbos. The driving experience is brutal but impressive, the combination of searing acceleration and eye-blink shifts combining to make it nearly unpleasant. We don't have any hard numbers, but based on our experiences driving other high-powered tuner cars, it isn't a stretch to say that Tsai's 360 does the zero-to-60 dash in the mid-to-low three second range.

Around a series of bends the Ferrari is nimble and surprisingly light on its feet, the light steering responding to inputs as quick as we mentally decide to perform them. Cornering is completely flat and nicely balanced thanks to the mid-engine layout. At freeway speeds and beyond, the 360 feels more like a competition car than a streetcar, hunting nervously back and forth, requiring an attentive hand on the wheel to keep from straying into the next lane. The other setting that Sport mode changes besides the shifting speed is the valving of the shocks. In Sport, the 360 jiggles and bounces over bumps and irregularities in the road. While it no doubt expands the Modena's performance envelope, the Sport setting is more ideal on a race track or smooth road.

Left in normal mode however, the twin-turbo 360 proves surprisingly easy to tool around in. The paddle shifters make changing gears a seamless process and the Modena's decent outward visibility ensures that it's easy to keep an eye on the traffic around you. In fact, Tsai admits that he never uses the Sport mode, since the performance of the 360 is already so impressive in the default mode. The Brembo brakes are also impressive, hauling the car down with immediate conviction from triple digits. With its graphics-splashed, racecar-inspired bodywork and an exhaust that even at just above idle can be heard a city block away, this is definitely not the car for those who are attention averse, something that it's owner obviously is not. There may be faster tuner cars roaming the landscape, but for sheer thrills, driveability and visual drama, Tsai's 360 is a hard act to follow.