: That's only for track testing, which the article doesn't
: really make clear. They wouldn't send a fleet of mechanics to
: accompany a group test if the car was only being road-tested.
: But testing a road car, even a "super" one, in an
: environment for which it's not intended, where a car would
: usually be accompanied by a team full of engineers? Yes, they
: send some then. As do Lamborghini, Mercedes, just about any car
: maker of size you care to mention. They want the data too, it's
: extra testing for them somewhere where they may not have tested
: the cars themselves.

: Fettling the car before a test? Been going on for decades. Any
: Jaguar E-Type owner trying to match the posted top speed of the
: pre-production cars used to set said speed would have struggled,
: as would the XJ220 owners of a couple of decades later. A 60s
: muscle car owner attempting to match rated power on a dynometer
: would usually be disappointed.

: Not saying any of it is right, or that I'm on board with Ferrari
: putting its name on everything or trying to skew tests in its
: favour, but equally, singling them out like that didn't seem
: quite right either.

It's not just for track testing, it's if you want to do any sort of timing or measuring of the car's performance. If a magazine isn't able to test private cars because Ferrari comes down on the owner and the magazine, how can any performance figures of Ferraris be taken seriously? The irony is that they don't need to do all of this, people will buy their cars anyway, no one cares. I don't know of the other manufacturers restricting access to their cars the way Ferrari does, or having such strict restrictions on how cars can be tested. Lamborghini have started to do the same but what else are they going to do, they're in direct competition with Ferrari. McLaren have done so too. Does it get to the point where every car being tested by a magazine has to be optimized by mechanics to compete on the same level as the other manufacturers so magazines have to publish a disclaimer to say that the performance figures gained aren't necessarily representative of what your car will do on a daily basis (unless you can afford to be followed round by a team of mechanics)? I'm not suggesting that your road car, serviced by the book, can't do the speeds and run the times magazines can get out of manufacturer-supported press cars. We'll never know. And yes, the E-Type with its plastic windows and blueprinted engine (and very long run up) set an impressive top speed, manufacturers have been helping their cars along for years. It's on a different level now though.
A track test isn't out of the environment a sports car is intended for. Ferraris for example are heavily linked to their racing cousins, am I wrong in thinking they have "Race" switches (I don't know if they all have them)? If you're going racing then that's one thing but it wouldn't be unreasonable to think an owner could take his car to a track and do a few laps. Road cars have been tested like this for years, journalists drive to the track, test the car and drive home. From what I understand, Porsche deliver a car to the magazine's office and let them get on with it. Perhaps that says more about their confidence in their cars, perhaps they're just more reliable than Ferraris, Lamborghinis and McLarens.