Showing posts with label Ferrari FXX K. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ferrari FXX K. Show all posts

April 3, 2015

Ferrari FXX-K: Designing the ultimate track toy

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As a petrolhead you know the drill,  it was always Lamborghini that produced designs right out of the most outrageous adolescent automotive fantasies.  Ferraris, sexy yes but Lambos were the pinups.

Think again.


I'm sure you'll agree  laFerrari,  despite its horrible name,  looks the part as the world's most desirable hypercar of the moment.   But when Ferrari's Centro Stile was asked to turn it up to 11 and produce the successor to the FXX track only toy,  well... ciao Lambo.


What Designer Flavio Manzoni and his team came up with,  any 13 year old would proudly pin on his wall and dream about and be inspired by and start planning how to obtain later in life!

Yes you can chuckle at a car that serves no real purpose, that cannot be raced, that cannot be driven on the street, that you cannot even have in your garage.  But then, are you not always complaining  rules and regulations limit designers?





Possibly the most outrageous aspect about the FXX-K is the financial one: it's practically free.



Wait, what?

Yes, you need to have had a long history with Ferrari to even get on the list.  Granted you have to have bought one of each of the current street car offerings recently but it's pretty much guaranteed you will be able to sell your FXX-K on for at least what you paid for it,  most likely for enough of a profit to cover what must be some brutal tire bills!

So yes, as long as you have a few spare million, it's free!

Of course when the time comes, Ferrari will have the next generation XX car for the owner to keep his money invested in.  Think of it as the First Savings Bank of Maranello.

Brilliant!

February 13, 2015

Here's Vettel ripping in a Ferrari FXX K.

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The car is simply spectacular.  Sebastian seem to be having a good time (catch him go "broom broom" with his mouth as he downshifts?) and concludes the lap with an Italo-German utterance which might or might not translate into "Mamma mia this thing goes like a rocketship" but ...

Dear Ferrari,  can we talk about the person responsible for editing your clips?   When you have the best sounding engines in the world, with possibly the most exciting car of the moment driven by a four time F1 Champion and you still feel the need to add bad canned music well,  then we would suggest someone at the Scuderia needs to be put out to pasture!

Pure Sound next time please!

December 3, 2014

The Ferrari FXX K just landed.

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Looking like something from the future, the Ferrari FXX K  will make it's first public appearance in Abu Dhabi at the annual Ferrari World Final event.

1050 HP combined from the thermic V12 and the Electric Kers, active aero generating from 30 to 50% improvement over the LaFerrari.  The successor to the original Enzo based FXX is sure to dominate all track days for years to come.



Press release:


Maranello, 2 December 2014 – Ferrari’s new FXX K research and development programme receives its world premiere next weekend at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The laboratory-car is based on Maranello’s first hybrid model and will grace the world’s tracks from next year onwards. The K in its moniker is a reference to the “KERS” kinetic energy recovery system it adopts in maximising its track performance.



Unfettered by homologation and racing regulations, the FXX K will never be used in competition. It was, in fact, developed to be completely uncompromising, incorporating technological innovations that will guarantee an unprecedented driving experience to the exclusive group of Client-Test Drivers with whom the Prancing Horse will roll out a test programme over the coming two years.

The car’s enormous potential is attested to by two significant figures: a total power output of 1050 cv (860 cv delivered by its conventional V12 engine and 190 by its electric motor) and maximum torque in excess of 900 Nm.

The FXX K’s 6262 cc V12 features new camshafts and a modified valve train with mechanical rather than hydraulic tappets. The intake manifolds have been redesigned and given a special type of polishing treatment. The exhaust system has been modified as its silencers have been eliminated.

The HY-KERS system has been evolved specifically for pure performance with the result that the driver can control the function logics from the specific 4-setting Manettino on the centre console: Qualify, for maximum performance within a limited number of laps; Long Run to optimise performance consistency; Manual Boost for instant maximum torque delivery; and Fast Charge, for a fast recharge of the car’s battery.

A focus on delivering maximum efficiency at every stage of every track lap has resulted in extensive but integrated work on the entire car body in terms of both active and passive aerodynamics.

The front of the car is dominated by a twin-profile spoiler and a larger splitter, which is 30 mm lower, with a gap in its centre. This design is an application of the concepts developed to improve aero balance in the GT category of the WEC, which Ferrari has won for three consecutive years. Two pairs of vertical elements, an endplate and, externally, a dive plane, together with vertical fins channel the air towards the car’s flanks, generating a longitudinal vortex that creates a localised depression. This in turn sucks the wake from the wheels to the outside of the aerodynamic underbody. Along with the side skirts that extend out from the sills, the vortex helps isolate the airflow from the underbody to boost its efficiency.

The solutions on the rear of the car are highly sophisticated, too. The tail section is now higher and the mobile spoiler extends further for a total increase in extension of 60mm when fully deployed. A vertical fin and a small wing each side of the tail act as guide vanes in the low drag configuration and boost the spoiler’s efficiency in the high downforce one. This system also creates considerable downforce at the rear of the car, allowing the use of an extreme diffusion volume for the rear diffuser which optimises air extraction from the underbody. The section of the flat underbody just ahead of the rear wheels is also exploited to the full to generate downforce thanks to the reduced pressure in the wheel arch guaranteed by the direct connection to the rear of the car by a by-pass duct.

The result is a 50% improvement in downforce in the low drag configuration and a 30% improvement in the more aggressive downforce configuration, resulting in a figure of 540 kg at 200 km/h.

Vehicle dynamics are further improved by the adoption of Pirelli slicks complete with sensors that monitor longitudinal, lateral and radial acceleration, as well as temperature and pressure. This ensures an accurate analysis of the interaction between the tyre and track surface, providing even more vital data to enable the traction control system to guarantee maximum performance.

The intervention level of the E-Diff electronic differential, F-Trac traction control, Racing SSC (Side Slip Angle Control) – now specially calibrated to suit the car’s slick tyres – and the high-performance ABS can be controlled using the five-position Manettino on the steering wheel.

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