- Ferrari introduced an Aero kit for its 488 Challenge car early this year
- The 488 Challenge Evo has more downforce, mainly on the front axle
- Its performance rivals that of a GT3 car, yet its remarkably drivable
Last month, Ferrari unveiled its latest creation, the SF90 Spider, a convertible version of the SF90 Stradale, a 986 horsepower hybrid supercar. That car sits along its contemporaries such as the 789 hp 812 Superfast, the 710 hp F8 tributo, and the 710 hp 488 Pista. And yet on a racetrack, the 661 horsepower 488 Challenge car will dominate them all, especially with its new Evo kit.
Introduced to the United States in January this year at the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 488 Challenge Evo competed in its first race at the Ferrari Racing Days event held at Road Atlanta in early March, just days before the country went into Pandemic lockdown.
Technically speaking, it’s not an updated car, rather an aero kit to update the 488 Challenge car introduced in late 2016 and has three racing seasons under its belt. With the kit, the 488 Challenge gets new body work in front, with a large and adjustable front splitter and a U shaped intake to provide cooling air to the brakes. In back, the kit provides a new wing; at the bottom, a newly developed set of Pirelli race rubber.
Challenge cars also now get the steering wheel from the 488 GTE Le Mans car, including integrated paddle shifters. Ferrari also further developed the anti-lock brakes and stability-control management systems and those systems are now part of the manettino on the steering wheel. Ferrari also worked on the Challenge car’s electronically locking differential in back.
But the big news is the aero and downforce, especially the 30 percent increase in front.
“When the 488 Challenge came out, the car was easy to drive, but set up with a bit of understeer, just to make it safer for the gentlemen drivers,” North American Head Instructor of Ferrari Challenge and Endurance Racing Ace, Didier Theys told Autoweek, “The Evo kit makes more downforce, mainly on the front, and the diffuser extracts air underneath the car better than before. The Evo kit makes a very good balanced car.”
Clearly, the new tires help as well. And as the car has competed throughout the year, Theys is seeing as much as a 1.5-second improvement in lap times at different race tracks across the U.S., most clearly at tracks with a lot of high-speed, more aero dependent corners. Laguna Seca, in Monterey California, showing the biggest increase in average speed thus far.
That’s all great -- of course more downforce increases a race car’s capability. It’s a truism, like the sky is blue, big rocks are heavy, and horsepower is good. But Autoweek also spoke with Alessandro Balzan, Chief Instructor of Ferrari’s Corso Pilota Racing School. He was running a program at Daytona International Speedway and the biggest surprise doesn’t come from the well-heeled Ferrari Challenge drivers going faster, but the up and comers still in school also going faster, proving the Evo kit equipped cars are also easier to drive.
“At Daytona, something happened that has never happened before, when the Evolution students jumped into the Evo car [from the road cars] for the first time, they were super comfortable right away,” Balzan said. “The down force level is much more than the previous generation. Even the non-professional driver can enjoy the car and feel comfortable behind the steering wheel.”
Truth is, as technology continues to improve, it’s easier than ever to develop performance for a car. Now, more effort can be put into using the performance. And with anti-lock brakes, traction control, and an advanced electronic diff helping distribute power, green race car driver’s have a lot of aids to keep the shinny side up and the front of the car ahead of the rear.
And, given all of that, it’s now also the case that one-make series cars, like this Ferrari Challenge Evo, have performance levels close to a GT3 car. At the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona, the top Ferrari GTD car (GTD is the GT Daytona class following GT3 rules) qualified 2nd in class with a 1:45.713 time. At the Ferrari Challenge Race, Cooper McNeil’s pole time, 1:47.126, was just 1.4 seconds off. And that was before the Aero kit was introduced.
In addition to running the Corso Pilota, Balzan is a race car driver himself. In fact he was one of the drivers competing in the aforementioned top qualifying GTD car that went on to finish seventh in class. So Balzan knows both the GTD and the Challenge cars quite well.
“The suspension on the GT3 car is completely different,” Balzan points out, “as are the aero, shocks, gearbox, engine placement, it’s a very different car. When I switch between the Challenge and the GT3 car, I recognize the DNA of the car. In the GT3 everything is more extreme.”
And here lies a little bit of irony. GT3 Ferraris are balance-of-performance limited to output not much more than 500 horsepower, so it has the least horsepower of any non-F1 Ferrari being produced and is still the quickest around a race track. But the Challenge car is now flirting with that title because downforce and drivability continue to increase as the horsepower advantage remains.
“In low speed cornering, the two are very similar,” Balzan explains. “In higher speed cornering, the GT3 car is still ahead.”
“But the braking capability of the Challenge car has been improved in an impressive way,” Balzan continues. “At Sebring, we are entering corners as much as 10mph quicker than a GT3, but the braking are pretty close. You are braking a little earlier, but you’re also entering the corners faster.”
With massive carbon brakes and new race rubber, not to mention ABS there to help, braking confidence is as high as ever. Indeed at Daytona International Speedway, Balzan saw students reach 185 mph round the Florida Roval. In his GTD race car, he says he’s lucky to see 175.
The simple matter is, technology is helping new Ferrari drivers find the limit of race cars much more safely and predictably than ever before. And that leads to two conclusions: First, it’s high time that GT3 gets a horsepower boost. Second, it’s a mighty fine time to go Ferrari Challenge racing, if you have the means.
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io
"car" - Google News
December 16, 2020 at 03:01AM
https://ift.tt/34hbNSA
One of Ferrari's Least Powerful Cars Is Also One the Quickest - Autoweek
"car" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2SUDZWE
https://ift.tt/3aT1Mvb
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "One of Ferrari's Least Powerful Cars Is Also One the Quickest - Autoweek"
Post a Comment