The impossible dream

He’s called Salvatore and he’s a Ferrari test driver. Let me put it another way. He’s called Salvatore and he’s the best. Of the best. Because you don’t get to do that by being anything else.

And today, Salvatore’s job is to show me around the high-speed handling track at the Balocco proving ground south west of Milan. The reason for this is so I can appreciate fully the abilities of the new HS handling pack for the Purosangue we’re not allowed to call an SUV. But there is a problem. I’ve only driven a standard Purosangue once before, it was three years ago and featured not one inch of track. And there was no such car for us to compare it with. So if you read elsewhere anyone telling you they could immediately tell the difference, I’d smell a rat recently recovered from a large pile of bullshit.

So I really can’t tell you how effective the HS pack is, but it reduces the roll rate (but not ultimate roll) by 10 per cent, sharpens up the exhaust note and cuts gearchange times by 25 per cent. And it’s a £16,480 option when you come to spec your Purosangue.