Stallion Job - Ferrari 360 Modena GT [Racecar Engineering | July 2003]

8/3/2019 Stallion Job - Ferrari 360 Modena GT [Racecar Engineering | July 2003]

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F e r r a r i 360

he increasing competitiveness of Ferrari's360 Modena in GTracing around theworld is evidence that it's not just themystique of the marque that is appeal ing.

And that should not come as too much of asurprise. After all, the 360 appears to have ahighly suitable layout for racing purposes andteams that have invested in the development ofthese Ferraris presumably recognised a soundbasis for that effort. In other words, they musthave thought them capable of winning againstPorsche's highly developed product right from

Is the Ferrari 360 Modena really a crediblealternative to the ubiquitous Porsche 9 11 Carrera

on the GT3/N-GT stage? Team MaranelloConcessionaires certainly thinks so

now known in deference to i ts commercialarrangement with the famous Ferrari UKimporter, Team Maranello Concessionaires.Racecarpaid the team a visit to discuss the

Championship N-GT class campaign this year.The 360 Modena was unvei led at the 1999

Geneva Motor Show. The car boasted significantweight reduction over the previous F355model,in part through the use of aluminium for theent ire chassis frame and most of the bodywork,and a new v a engine 'for the zrst century.'ased race team VeJoqxMotorsport, or as it is

the very start. engineering that went into its zooz British GTOne such team is up-and-coming Brackley UK- Championship GTO class-winner, and how the

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team was preparing for a full FIA GT

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F e r r a r i 360

The car also offered effective underbodyaerodynamic treatment, which, it was claimed,generated 176SN(3961b)of downforce at290km/h (IBomph)with an equal front to rearsplit. And perhaps most invitingly the

" T H E F A S T E R S H I F TA L O N E F O U N D U S AS E C O N D P E R L A P "

fundamental layout was classic mid-enginedwith a rear transaxle offering a 43per cent front, basis of an N-GTcar, and Sam Li made the57per cent rear weight distribution. A furtherinnovation that initially seemed to havesome potential was the option of a 'formula Itype electro-hydraulic' gearshift system on theroad car.Team Maranello Concessionaires principal

Sam Li and chief race engineer Steve Ridgers arein no doubt about the 360'Sgood points as the

observation that, 'based on the technicalexcellence of Ferrari's formula I and road cartechnology, when everything is in place for a GTprogramme it could be unbeatable: Itwillindeed be fascinating to watch how Ferraritackles Porsche in particular, the renownedGerman manufacturer having a big head startin the business of developing its road-going

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cars into fast and reliable racecars.Steve Ridgers goes on to list the key areas

that he believes make the 360 into a goodracecar 'The engine is superb. It has a lowcentre of gravity; good throttle response andreasonable power. And for l003 Ferrari isworking on torque and power delivery, althoughpeak power tends to be restricted by the twin30.Bmm (i.zin) induction system restrictors.'Interestingly it seems the POTSche(911CarreraGT3)was a little quicker down the straights thanthe Ferrari in 200l.

'The car does have a good weight balance andlow centre of gravity too, and its basic layout isclassic. The suspension is very good, and ..

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F e r r a r i 360

drive rs who ha ve drive n both the Porsche a ndthe F3 60 lin GT ra ce ca r spe ciflc a tion l sa y theFe rra ri ha ndle s re ally w ell. The drive rs a lsolove the bra ke s. So the Fe rra ri is ve ry g ood in toa n d throug h the corn e rs bu t n ot qu ite so fas ton the stra ig hts, which g ive s a n in te re stin g m ixof pe rform an ce be twee n the ca rs: sa ys R idg ers .

C on tribu tin g to the Fe rra ri's c orn erin gpe rform a nc e is its a erody na m ic s (5400 hou rs ofw in d tu nn e l tim e we n t in to the roa d ca r de sig n )not le ast the sta nda rd fu ll-le ng th tw in tun ne lun de rbody . For ra cing pu rpose s a splitte r isa dde d a t the fron t a n d a sin g le e lem en t w in g a tthe re ar. H ow eve r, S te ve R idg ers re ma rke d tha tthe sm a ll bu t sig nific an t spe ed disa dv an ta gecom pa re d to the Porsche is down to e xtra dra gin cu rre d by the Fe rra ri's b igg er fron ta l a re a, a nda lthou g h the 3 60 is lowe r tha n the Porsche it isa ls o c on side ra bly w ide r.T he F erra ri's a ll-a lu m in iu m c ha ssis is a nothe r

of the ca r's a dva nta ge s, Sam Li sta tin g tha t it is'be tte r tha n m ost com pe titors, a nd a lthoug h the T h e a l l a l lo y F e rr a ri V 8 n e s tl e s d e e p i n t he 3 6 0 's e n g in e b a y - it p rod uces4 30bhpa t 8 5 00 rpma nd 275 lb .l t a t 4 750 r pmstiffn e ss is n ot on a pa r w ith a n LMP prototype itis n eve rthe le ss qu ite a ma zin g for an N-GT c lassracecar.' S te ve R idg ers a dde d tha t, 'the c ha ssis is

"W HEN EVERY TH INGIS IN PLACE FO R AG T P ROGRAMMEIT COU LD BEUNBEATABLE' ,

a lso ve ry stron g, as is the su spe ns ion , thednveline a nd so on . Thin gs ve ry ra re ly bre ak.'C le a rly pa rt of the a ttra c tion of ru n n ing a

F erra ri is tn e i ma ge , w hic h e ng en de rs ze al ra re lylin ke d to a ny othe r m arqu e. Ste ve R idg ers: 'th isis pa rtly why the m echa n ic s love workin g onthe se c a rs, thoug h the y a re n ot a ll tha t ea sy towork on : So in spite of on e or two poin tsa ga in st the 3 60 Ste ve R idg ers c on clu de s tha t'the re a re ve ry fe w re al proble ms.'The )60 GT c ars w ere orig in ally de ve lope d

a nd pre pa re d for Fe rra ri by M ic he lottoAu tom obili in Pa du a, Ita ly , a nd a lthou gh Fe rra riC ors e C lie nti (the c ustom e r ra cin g de pa rtm e nt)n ow offiC ia lly ru ns the pro je ct an d bu ilds thec ars, M ic he lotto is stil l he av ily in volve d inlia ison w ith c lie nts a nd prepa rin g ca rs. Sa m Li isfu ll o f pra ise in pa rtic ula r for M ic he lotto 's Lu ig iDindo, 'H e ha s va st e xpe rie n ce of GT rac in g a n dis a ve ry sm art m an . H e is a g re a t a sse t toM ic he lotto an d Fe rra ri, a nd he ce rta in ly knowswha t it ta kes to be c om pe titive a nd w in ra ce sw ith in the lim ite d re sou rc es a nd in ve stm en tg iv en to a ny pro je ct.'The 3 60 GT was ac tu a lly a de ve lopm en t of the

c ar bu ilt for the on e-m ake Fe rra ri C ha lle ng e

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A d ri ve r c h a n g e d u ri n g t e st in g - V e lo qxMo to rsp o r t n o w r a cesu nd e r t h e evo ca t iv eTeam Mar ane l lo Concess io na i resname

Ye l oq xh as d ew lop ed the r e la t io nsh ip i t l or ged w i th Dun l o p in British G T s a n d n ow l yre s a re d n elo pe d l or th e w m

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F ro n t a n d r e a r b r a k e s a r e r a c in g s pe c c o u rt e sy o f B rem b owh i le t he s u s pe n s io n i s s ta n d a rd F e rr a ri 3 8 0 Modena

F e r r a r i 360

Pire lli T rophy , for whic h the 3 60 be ca me theon ly e lig ib le m ode l in 2 00 2 ha vin g ru n a lon gs idethe F3 55 sin ce 2 00 0. The n the su cce ss of the JM BCom pe tition squ ad in ta kin g the 2 00 1 FIA N-GTcha mpion ship pe rsu ade d Fe rra ri to bu ild alim ite d ru n of 3 60 GTs to e na ble p riva te te a ms[0 con te s t n ot ju s t the F IA GT se rie s, bu t a lso LeMa ns a nd the S im ila rly re gu la te d ALMS -prin cipa l d iffe re nc es be twe en F IA a nd LeMan si ALMS spe c c a rs a re in the u n de rbody a ndg ea r c ha ng e m e cha nism .

T h e F e rra ri's h ea rtLon g a go E nzo Fe rra ri re ma rke d tha t the e ng in ewa s the he a rt o f h is ca rs , a lthou g h the le ve l ofcom pe tition in a n y cu rre n t ra c in g a re n a m ea nstha t a ll a re as of a ra ce ca r ha ve to be optim ise dn ow ada ys. B ut if the a ll-a lloy , 90 -de gre e v an e stlin g u n de r the tra n spa re n t c ove r of the 3 60wou ld ha ve m ade 'The O ld M a n ' p rou d, it se em su n like ly tha t he wou ld ha ve a pprove d o fmand a to r y resrrictors to lim it horse pow er. Ye ttha t is wha t N -GT ru n ne rs ha ve to con te n d W ith,a pa ir of 3 0.80 10 1 (i.zin) re stric tors b ein g theoption se le cte d for the 3 60 GT. The se fit a he adof the s ta nda rd va ria ble in ta ke g eom etry

"C RU CIALLY VELO QXHAS BEEN WO RK IN GW ITH DU NLO P S IN CELATE20 0 2 "

in du ction sy ste m . w hic h in cide nta lly a lsoin corpora te s a fly -by -w ire throttle m e cha n ism .

In spite o f the in du ction sy ste m restrtctors,de ve lopm en t of the ra c e e ng in e ha s se e n a nin cre ase in pe ak powe r ove r s ta nda rd o f a rou nd

T he re a r e n d is n ow b u il t a r ou n d t h e Hew l a n dN L J t ra n sm i ss io n - wh ic h h a s r e pl a c e d th e o r ig i n a l mod i fi edFe r r a r i g ea r b ol jobhp a n d a m ore m ode st in cre a se in pe a ktorqu e of 5N m (3 .6Ib.ft}. The se g ain s ha ve be ena ch ie ve d w ith a n um be r of m odific ation s,in clu din g a m odifie d c om bu stion c ha m be r de sig ne na blin g a ra ise d c om pre ssion ra tio ; h ig he r liftc am sha fts; a s tra ig ht throu gh e xha ust sy ste mu ne nc um be re d by S ile nc ers ; m odific ation s to thedry su mp oil sy s te m to re du ce fric tion al losse sa n d powe r dra in from the oil pum p itse lf; a n dthe e xpe cte d lig hte nin g a nd ba la nc in g w ork tothe m a jor re ciproc atin g m a sse s.

E ng in e c oolin g ha s be en uprated fromsta nda rd, w ith a pa ir of la rg er c on ne cte d wa te rra dia tor m atric e s a t the fron t su pple me nte d bya n oil/water he at e xc ha ng er in ste ad of theprodu ction ca r's re ar m ou nte d a ir c oole d oilra dia tor. S te ve R ldg ers re m arke d tha t thee ng in es a re sim ply su pp lie d by Fe rra ri a ndin sta lle d in the c ars, n orm a lly ru nn in g re lia blyfor a n e ntire se ason , a lthou gh u nu su ally

It's n ot J I S t th e mag i c 0 1 th e n am e a n d t ha t p ra n c i n g ho rs e - th e r e a r o f th e r oa dG l r i s a l so b l e s se dwith tw in diffu se r tu nn els the te am did ha ve on e blow-up in 2 0 0 2 - ..

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which is sti ll under investigation.The Bosch engine management system

enables different fuel maps to be run with adr iver-selectable switch in the cockpit. This wassaid to be instrumental in JMB's 2001championship success. enabling reduced fuelconsumption an d shorter pit stops. But for itsBritish GT Championship campaign, whichinvolved much shorter races, the Veloqx cars ranon full rich for maximum power.

G e a rb o x c h a n g eOriginally f itted with the modified Ferrar igearbox used in the Challenge cars. in mid-2002the Veloqx 360 GTswere switched to theHewland NLT six-speed sequential transmission,a move within the regulations - which state thatthe original location an d orlentanon of thetransmission shall be retained. Although the FIAGTregulat ions al lowed the use of the Fr-stylepaddle operated gearshi ft opt ion from the roadcar. it seems the electro-hydraulic change wasactually somewhat slow in operat ion. The rulesal low either an H-pattern shift withsynchromesh engagement or a sequential shiftwith dog engagement, and the Ferrari gearboxused synchro. which meant that in spite of the'hi-tech' paddle operation. the shifts themselveswere slow. Steve Ridgers said: ' there were alsofewer options on rat ios with the Ferraritransmission. Sothe Hewland offered dogengagement. a faster shirt. more ratio choicesand less power loss. The faster shi ft a lone foundus a second per lap at Pembrey la 2.35km circui tin Wales that the Veloqx team occasional ly usesfor testing].Interestingly. although Veloqx funded this

transmission SWitch, Michelotto now suppliesthe NLT as standard on the )60 GT. New for2003 is a 'nat shift' facility that will enable evenmore rapid shifts and the saving of more laptime increments.

T h e I l u m i l li ll ll clllIIiIwith tile e t l g i n e , . . M I I

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~

S U s p e n s i o nFIA N-GT rules require the use of standardsuspension components fi tted in more or lessthe original locations. The 2.002regulationspermitted relocation of up to zomrn (12.6in) ofthe inboard suspension mounts from the originalpositions, but it seems that the 2003 rules have (2.7in) by altering the offset of the front wheels, being used for coarse tuning at the track.reduced this leeway to just 5mm (o.zin). That the while the rear track has been kept the same as Sachs four-way dampers are used along with)60 already had effective double wishbone standard. Steve Ridgers confirmed that 'the front what Ridgers described as fairly stiff, linearsuspension - and a geometry that was lesscompromised by the reduction to racing r ideheight than it might have been - was a furtherjusti ficat ion for i ts selection asa good baseracecar. And although the aluminiumsuspension is suitably heavy duty, Veloqx alsollles the key components.The standard hubs have to be retained, but

the front track has been widened by 70mm

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of the car is quite dominant.' The front ant i-rol lbar is stiffer than the production one, and therear bar has been made adjustable, the bars

rate springs. Hesaid: 'The dampers al low us tofine tune the car very nicely. and after that it'sabout paying attention to the tvres. We found a'sweet spot" in the set-up so we tend not tochange it very much. We visited the Lolaseven post rig during the season, and althoughthai did generate some useful set-ups it onlyreally confirmed that the track-derived set-upwas good.'

"THE CAR IS VER YR IDE HE IGHTS EN S IT IV E' ,IPC MEDIA


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B ra ke a nd ly re d ev elo pm en tsBecause of the increased demands of GTracingcompared to the Ferrar i Chal lenge the brakes onthe 360 GT have been upratcd with a Brembokit comprising larger diameter discs, and six-piston calipers at the front and four-pistoncalipers at the rear. Furthermore, Steve Ridgersrelated that Performance friction has producedsome development carbon metal lic brake padmater ials for the team.Perhaps crucially. Veloqx has been working

with Dunlop since the latter part of 2002 to

enable the supply of tyres suited to the Ferrar ifor the f lA GTseries this year (Dunlop suppliedcontrol tyres for the British GT championship).Following the test programme a deal has nowbeen secured with the Birmingham, UK-basedtyre manufacturer. Steve Ridgers: 'we havedeveloped a great relat ionship with Dunlop, andthe deal to make a tyre that suits us will help usget our llapl times.'

A e r o d y n a m i c s u r f a c e sThe regulations permit the replacement of

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F e r r a r i 360

original removable panels with alternativematerials, and all bar the aluminium roof andouter rear wheel arches have been replaced withcarbon panels, with the inner arches in Kevlar.Aerodynamically there are two obvious changescompared to the standard car: f rontairdam/splitter arrangement and rear aerofoil.The original twin tunnel underbody is

retained in its original form as required by theregulations for the FIA GTseries, thoughregulat ions for LeMans and the ALMSrequire aflat area between the front and rear axles andhence call for modifications to (he original twintunnel set-up, and a single wide and shallowdiffuser at the rear of the car.The twin ducts in the modified front airdam

channel cooling air through (he angled radiatorsand then sideways out through ducts ahead of(he front wheels, with excess air bleedingthrough mesh gri lls into the wheel arches. Theflat splitter protruding from the lower lip of theairdam varies between the FIA and LeMansi ALMSrules too, the FIA version beingsomewhat longer.The single element rear wing has a maximum

permitted span of 90 per cent of the overall

" T H E T E A M W A SA B O U T T O E M B A R KO N A N A E R O D Y N A M I CD E V E L O P M E N TP R O G R A M M E "

Width, Which, Steve Ridgers said: 'Doesn't enableenough downforce to be produced real ly. Andthe car is very nose sensitive so we had to openup the front duct a little to lose some frontdown force: The car is also apparently very r ideheight sensitive, even at the increased rideheight now mandated (60mm lz.atnl static or reston wheels f itted with def lated tyres withoutgrounding). 'This gives a narrow set-up range towork with ' continued Ridgers 'and raising thenose a little can shed front downforce veryeasi ly . The front split ter is certainly thedominant feature, not the diffuser kick up asmight be imagined:At the time of our visit in late January the

team was about to embark on an aerodynamicdevelopment programme involving the full scalewind tunnel at MIRA to investigate the top bodysurface and rear wing position, and track test ingto optimise the underbody aerodynamics.At th e race trackSteve Ridgers explained the Veloqx approach toengineering the racecars at meetings: ..

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F e r r a r i 360

'we're very set-up conscious, and we check thecars as soon aswe unload. We start f ree practicewith our normal set-up and rarely divert muchfrom that - small front or rear ride height ordamper adjustments are usually all we make. Weoccasionally alter the springs, but the anti-rollbars are usual ly f ixed. For the f irst session thetrack and the driver are usually green, so welook at the driver and his data, and also thedamper data, and then carry out fuelmeasurements too.'Ridgers adds: 'When we're running two cars

we never run the same tyres at this point. Thereare soft, medium and hard tyres so each cardoes a longish distance on dif ferent tyres andthen each engineer and dr iver pair ing makesthe tyre choice for the race. In FIA races yo ustart on the tyres yo u qualify on so it's animportant decision. Weather conditions cancome into this decision too in order to stay inthe tyre windows.'Qualifying is only for a short period and we

only do a few laps - as the tyres start to go offafter three laps. If the car is okay then we doone run and leave it at that. If it's not okaythen we do another run, after making theappropriate adjustments.'After qual ify ing. and on race morning, the

mechanics do pit stop pract ice to cover allpossible scenarios. Then there's tyre selection,marking up, warming before the race - this is abig. important job. The pressures are set coldand then the tyres are put in the oven to pre-warm one hour before the race.'We debrief after every session, and the

Chassis: A lu m in iu m f r am e /r m no co q ue , w e kle d m u lt i - po in t r ol le a geBodywork: A lu m in iu m r o of a nd r e a r a rc he s, c a r b on o u te r p a n els , K e 'l l a r in ne r a rc he sAerodynamics: O n g in a l tw in tu nn e l u nd e rb od y , f r on t s p l i t te r, r ea r s in g le e le m en t w in gSuspension: F ro nt a nd r e a r u ne q ~ lle ng th w is hb on es , a nt i- r o ll b a r s f r o nt a nd r e a r , S a c h s f o u r - w a y d am p er sBrakes : B r em b o s ix -p is to n c a lip e rs f r on t, f o u r -p is to n r ea r , B r em b o s te e l v en ti l a te d d is cs , P e rfo rm a nc e F r ic tio nc a r b on m e ta lic p a d sWheels: B B S o ne -p ie c e c a s t a lk lylyres: D u n l o pTransmission: H e w la n d N lT s ix - sp e e d s e qu e nt ia l , S a l is b u ry - t y p e l im it e d s lip d if fe re n tia lE n g i n e : F e r ra r i, 3 5 86 0 0, O O - d eg r ee V B , f i v e v a M ! p e r c y l i n d e r , b or e 8 5 mm s tr o k e 7 9m m , fo u r c am sh a f t s , 1 3:1c o m p r e ss io n r a tiO , B o s c h E M S , p ow e r 4 30 b h p a t 8 5 ln 'p m , tO l l l u e 2 7 5 lb .f t a t 4 7 5 0r p mDa ta acqu l sH Ion : M a g n et i M a r emOve ra ll le n g th 4 4 4 7 m mOverall width 1 9 2 5 m mWheelbase 2 6 0 0 m mFront track 1 7 3 9 m mRear t r ack 1 6 1 7 m mWeight 1 1 0 0 1 g

" T H E R E ' S A L O T O FF O R M A L I T Y I N H O WT H E T E A M D O E ST H I N G S "

checks before packing up including measuringbrake pad wear and clutch wear.'There's a lot of formality in how we do

things,' Ridgers said, 'for example the mechanicscheck temperatures and pressures every t ime acar comes into the pits - and that helps you tospot many potential problems. The system

on. It's both a social gathering and also a busy works very well. If yo u divert from it. chaos canand important meeting. From these we decide reign. I learned this from my McLaren FI GTRon set-up and strategy, al though with 70kg days - there are few people with tight(154Ib)of fuel in an nookg (Z4Z5 Ib ) car the weight methods .. .' And, of course, the unspoken end todifference is not a big deal. After the race, once this sentence was 'and they're the ones doing

drivers fill out sheets, look at their data and so the cars come out of pare ferme, we do some

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the winning.'

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Documents

Stallion Job - Ferrari 360 Modena GT [Racecar Engineering | July 2003]