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A disconnected handbrake and a faulty steering-wheel start-stop control were the two problems Ferrari technicians reportedly identified on YouTuber Mat Armstrong’s crash-damaged Ferrari 296 GTB. SlashGear’s October 6, 2026 account says the car returned to road use after those faults were addressed, although Armstrong’s wider rebuild was still underway at the time.
From a crash in Cyprus to a UK rebuild
SlashGear reports that Armstrong bought a Ferrari 296 GTB its owner had crashed in Cyprus and brought it to the UK for repair. His plan was to modify the road car with inspiration from the Ferrari 296 Challenge, a track-only model. According to the account, Ferrari stopped him from buying additional Challenge parts but agreed to inspect the car after it was complete, rather than while it was disassembled around the workshop.
Once the rebuilt car was ready for diagnosis, it spent a week with Ferrari dealer technicians. SlashGear says they identified two separate faults behind the problems Armstrong was trying to solve.
The two problems Ferrari reportedly found
A handbrake-related charging problem
Armstrong’s team had disconnected the handbrake to make the car easier to move during shipment from Cyprus, but had not reconnected it. The technicians reportedly found that the vehicle’s safety systems interpreted the handbrake state in a way that prevented the plug-in hybrid system from charging. This was the reported diagnosis for this car; the account does not establish that it applies to other Ferrari 296s.
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A failed steering-wheel start-stop control
The touch-sensitive start-stop control on the steering wheel also did not work. SlashGear says replacing the wheel resolved that fault. The article attributes damage near the button to airbag deployment in both the original wheel and a used replacement Armstrong had tried.
How the car returned to the road
After addressing the charging and steering-wheel issues, Armstrong reportedly completed the cooling system, fitted the remaining parts and drove the Ferrari on the road. SlashGear’s account, published October 6, 2026, says the UK re-import legal process had been completed and Armstrong had taken the car to the mainland for track testing. At that publication date, he still planned to remap the vehicle to address a remaining warning light; those details describe the project’s status then, not a current update.
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The chronology and diagnosis above are reported by Mark Cowley’s SlashGear article. It is the single substantive account identified for this story, and the repair findings were not independently confirmed with Ferrari or Armstrong’s original video.
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