Neil’s Ferrari 488 GTB

MEMBERS RIDE: FERRARI 488 GTB

We catch up with member Neil about his Ferrari 488 GTB and its unique £80,000 Atelier specification.

Written by: Matt Parker

We at are a passionate bunch when it comes to cars. You might say we’re bordering on obsessive when we travel the length and breadth of the country at all hours for a drive with you guys or to feature something special, but that inevitably leads to a level of familiarity. It’s human nature that we get used to things we’re around, and whilst we will always love everything from an M3 to a Divo, it’s easy to get a bit spoilt and suddenly three red Ferrari 488s on a drive is somehow normal.

That’s why we love brave and out there specs on cars, combinations which would even make an otherwise ordinary car something special to behold, and I think you’ll agree member Neil’s 488 GTB is certainly out there. A 488 isn’t exactly a ‘normal’ car in any specification, but you can pretty much guarantee you’ll never see another one like this at an event, so we spent some time with Neil and his unique 488 to find out more.

“I’ve always been into Ferrari and Lamborghini since having posters of the Testarossa, F40 and Countach as a child”, Neil tells us, “My first ‘proper’ car was a BMW E46 M3, and a particularly memorable car was a Range Rover I had several years ago after I went fishing with a friend and spilt bait in the boot. The escapee maggots proceeded to hatch into flies at night, tripping the motion sensors and alarm every night for over a week!”, he laughs. “My first Ferrari was a California and I had a 458 so the 488 was the natural successor to that. I considered an Aventador S or SV as something different and also a Pista but I couldn’t get one of those”, Neil explains, “When I decided on the 488, I asked Stratstone Ferrari Wilmslow to find me a car with a unique spec and the buying experience from there was really good. So what is the spec of the car? “It’s an Atelier car in Verde HyKers with a hand-painted Tricolore stripe on the side vents which is a nice touch along with the Tricolore badge on the rear, the interior button surrounds and stitching on the head rests. It also has the carbon fibre racing seats and over £30,000 in other carbon options”, he tells us. The original owner certainly didn’t hold back, spending £80,000 in options on top of the £195,000 list price, making for one seriously pricey 488.

Safe to say it’s a mega spec and it really does look amazing, but how does it drive to someone who was used to the naturally-aspirated 458? “In terms of handling and comfort, it’s very similar, but the power increase from the new twin-turbo engine is huge. There’s so much more torque at low revs and there’s far more acceleration”, Neil tells us.

“The great thing is that it’s really easy to use both as a supercar and a daily driver. The engineering really is amazing to enable a car to perform so well as a comfortable cruiser at low speeds and a true supercar at high speeds and reliability has been excellent too. Even the running costs are low; it’s just £700 per year to insure with NFU and, whilst it obviously depends on how you drive, it will even do 30mpg on the motorway, but then the performance is incredible”. Even more subtle Ferraris turn plenty of heads, so a bright green one must get some serious attention, but is it all positive or is the colour a bit Marmite? “It does get a lot of attention and most do like the unique colour. Apparently there are only two Verde HyKers 488s in the UK — one GTB and one Spider”. A very special and rare car then, and personally, I love it. In fact, I remember being wowed by Neil’s car on Instagram before he even joined in March 2020. Whilst he’s a relative newbie to the fold, I’m keen to find out how his experience has been so far. “I’ve only managed one drive so far due to COVID. It was the Lakes drive and it was excellent — well organised and a great drive”, Neil remembers.

“I’d love to do the Tom Hartley BBQ, Cotswolds, Wales and Scotland drives in the future as I haven’t managed much with the 488 yet for obvious reasons last year, but in 2016, I did Edinburgh, London, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Milan, Monaco, Nice, Barcelona and Marbella in my previous 458 — seven different countries in seven days!”. Maybe it’s a bit early to tell, but we always have to ask if the car is a keeper, especially when it’s such a unique spec. Neil said no, and when asked why, he gave one very quick answer, “The Pista!”.