DARIOS Hand Controls On A Ferrari

Tim Rinaldi was a very successful drag racer of cars and bikes before becoming paralyzed in a lawn mower accident in 2007.  Not willing to give up his need for speed, Rinaldi decided that he needed a new car and bought a Ferrari 458 Italia.  Find out why he bought this car and how he adapted the car after the jump.

Rinaldi had his Ferrari fitted with the Kempf's DARIOS (Digital Accelerator Ring Optimized for Speed) hand-control system.  The unique trait with this Italian supercar is that it is fitted with paddle shifters for the transmission, unlike a regular manual transmission that is fitted to the two Porsches that Rinaldi currently owned.  The main advantage with paddle shifters over a manual is that it does not require a clutch pedal: the driver needs to focus only on using the paddles that are behind the steering wheel to change gears.

There are other hand-control that are capable of adapting this car to his needs: the main issue with many of these controls is that the installation of these controls are quite intrusive and can "destroy" his car, according the Rinaldi. The DARIOS system is less intrusive than other comparable systems with no metal parts near the driver's legs or knees: important when handling a car with this level of performance.  While Rinaldi had the DARIOS system fitted to a Ferrari, this system can also be fitted to a number of other cars that are fitted with paddle-shift transmissions.

Enjoy the pics below of the DARIOS-equipped Ferrari 458!