Simply Abu Dhabi XXII

2 9 6 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I The stability control system cuts in quite early in Strada mode and still maintains plenty of understeer, as that’s considered by most auto engineers to be the safer option for novice drivers when building high performance cars. Sport firms the dampers (which can also be the magnetic dampers available as an option), but only a touch, in order to let the car lean on its nose on turn-in to corners, which generates quite a lot of oversteer with a touch of the gas pedal. Whilst our time with the car didn’t include any track time but did include some heavy rain in the UAE, we didn’t get to test it to its full capability. But we have it on good authority that Sport offers more oversteer than the other modes, making it ‘driftable’ as the company likes to put it. You get the picture. Corsa then firms the suspension and brings the car back to a more neutral setting for the quickest lap time. It’s also the mode that allows you to switch the ESC off completely and offers the fastest gear changes. If you want to drop it back a gear or two at high rpm in order to keep the power on the boil, then this is the setting to use. This one’s about efficiency and sharp, quick driving without the tail-out heroics, but if you do get into trouble and the tail jumps out, you’ll be left to rely on your own talent or luck to correct it.