Ferrari F50 Owners Manual

This is the owners manual for the US version of the 1995 F50.

2950 lbs, carbon fiber chassis and adjustable for shoe size!

from page 2/25

"Pedal Adjustment sole The driving position can be adjusted by varying the sole A as a function of the driver's shoe size: have this work done by and Authorized Ferrari Center."

This is the one Ferrari supercar which has not caught the public imagination for the simple reason that it paled in comparison to the contemporary Mclaren F1 which was lighter by about 400lbs and had an engine which was both more powerful (by 40hp) and especially much more flexible, some 480 ft/lb vs 345ft/lbs of the Ferrari.
It did not help that it looked like a red Batmobile either. On the other hand, you got two cars in one since it can be user configured as a berlinetta or a barchetta! (page 4.38)

And yes, like the US spec F40, it also had motorized belts.

I wonder if anyone knows how these cars are doing on the used market?

Download the Ferrari F50 Owners Manual here
(please, do not hotlink)

Are you kidding me?

"Fernando Alonso aquaplaned off the road in Fuji - even with traction control. The electronics still couldn't support him - and that will happen a lot more without traction control because Formula One engines are very peaky."

That's Super Dave Coulthard voicing concerns some drivers have about driving in the wet without traction control. Now granted, Alonso's accident at Fuji was a case of physics winning out over clever electronics but as Max Mosley correctly points out, it will be the same for everyone and the drivers will simply have to adapt and consider the edge of the envelope not just the end of the accelerator pedal travel. Mosley gets extra points for his "what if we had a Grand Prix on snow" analogy....Don't say it twice Mr. Max, Bernie might get some ideas for that GP of Moscow !

read about the best paid nervous drivers on the planet here..

Ferrari F40 Owners Manual

As promised.


Hmm, the USA spec F40 had Pagid RS4 Black pads and an automatic motorized seat belt!

LINK FIXED (sorry)

Download the Ferrari F40 Owners Manual.pdf here

Finally!!

Call me crazy but I find this exciting: BMW will finally be making available their wonderful diesel engines in US market vehicles in the fall.   The X5 will finally start making sense and a 335d wagon would be a fantastic family car type thing.

By the way, The Freep was first to notice that in a recent well circulated rave review of the BMW 135i, Jeremy Clarkson made a basic mistake with his understanding of the BMW 3.0 twin turbo gasoline engine.   

In the article he describes the two turbos as being of two sizes, one smaller and more easily spun for low r.p.m. and a larger for added thrust once the engine is up to speed.   In fact the 3 liter turbo has parallel turbos of equal size.   

What Clarkson did do is perfectly describe the BMW 3.0 liter Diesel 6.   At 265 HP and 425 lb-ft @ 1750 rpm BMW claims 23/33 mpg in the 335d and a slightly disappointing 19/25 for the X5, but then again not bad considering it weighs as much as a 50' Hatteras convertible.  

The engine is quite clean because of a process I was not familiar with,  urea injection. 

The Diesels will have an auxiliary tank for the urea solution (AdBlue in marketing terms) which when sprayed into the exhaust system will help turn nasty nitric oxides into nitrogen and water vapour.  Not really clear how involved replenishing the tank is but that's  certainly not an issue during the free service period.

Anyway....  sorry about this sensible motoring interlude, back to your regularly scheduled motoring insanity!

Ferrari 288 GTO Owners Manual

With just four days left until the official presentation of the 2008 Ferrari F1 car I thought I might dig up something of interest to maniacs like myself...  and no,  Nigel Stepney had nothing to do with this and no, I did not get any calls from Ron Dennis either.... The involvement of any Kinko's photocopy workers will remain redacted from the official report.

Here is the owners manual for one of the greatest Ferrari's ever, the last of the old school classics, the 288 GTO.   

Later, I will have the complete sequence of the Ferrari supercars, the F40, the F50 and the Enzo as well as the 360 Stradale and finally the f430.

It's fascinating to see the inevitable progression from a super thorough manual for the 288GTO where everything from ignition timing to shock absorber calibration is listed, to the more modern car where essentially everything is worked out with a visit to the dealer and a Ferrari diagnostic computer.

In any case, each manual is as fascinating as the car it describes and in each, the true fanatic will find something interesting for the next pub discussion:  did you know the 288 GTO weighed 2557 lbs (1160 kg), output 140.1 HP/liter and had "axle shafts connected to wheels and differential through homocinetic joints"?    I know...I had to look it up too.

Download the Ferrari 288 GTO owners manual .pdf

(please do not hotlink to the file)

Next up will be the F40

2007 Supercup Highlights

Some fun with "engine in the wrong place" racers.

courtesy of wheel2wheel.tk, highlights of global Porsche Supercup from 2007.

enjoy. ( don't miss that pass at Radillon!, 1:53)

(Sometimes Vimeo has issues...try re-loading the page)