^^^^WHOA...never seen that car before...
The 599XX gets me every time. Everything about that car screams out...BUY ME NOW! Need to make some XX money
I agree that there`s probably something movable at the rear spoiler as there seems to be a horizontal split-line just below the the trailing edge, so either a LaF-style flap translating aft and up from under the spoiler, or just the spoiler top hinging upwards. I like the 'XX' flap but I'm sticking to my sketch for the angle of the flap behind the front wheel ;-) About the buttress, I'm going by the comments from the various members who posted only that there is a single vent on (top of?) the rear fender - with one member saying there are 2 - so I imagined something on my sketch (re-posted here). First pic below is of lightly camo'd (yoga pants, per 'Thelovelyrock18', LOL) car's RHS with curious "vent" which I think is intriguing but have concluded it's as mundane as just being fuel filler cap access, ha-ha, dug out of the padding below wrap. Second pic is how I imagined the "tdf-like" vent on the side of the fender. 3rd pic is how I imagine a vent on the top of the fender. Not sure how/what-for a 2nd vent could be (?). Also on the 3rd pic, I imagined the purpose of the scoop behind the quarter window. Since the streamlines on the side of a car generally flow up towards the low pressure area above the roof (where the airspeed is highest) and supported here by air coming out of the vents in the front fender (aligned with the character lines here), this flow tends to create big trailing vortices on either side. By trapping the airflow in the scoops and guiding them to the back (either the vent or around the lights - into the base area for drag reduction), the scoops act as fences or winglets to reduce drag. Or maybe the scoops just look cool ;-) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I am respectfully skeptic of most clever "aero-style-namic" solutions as those seen in recent street Ferraris. It might not be untrue that the 599 flying buttress increases downforce without generating drag, but honestly, to what extent? They don't give figures, I believe because figures would show how little effect this has in the overall aerodynamic balance of the car. It's a good marketing point, though, always best to sell a body design if you can talk about how clever it is without actually lying.
True. They probably have some beneficial effect (and probably only at very high speeds) but definitely not the elusive 1-second-per-lap gains which are the holy grail in, for example, F1. Like I said, maybe it just looks cool ;-)
The articles also do not discuss the under car aero which helps a great deal and is mostly hidden from view.
Yes true. I suspect while the device alone may not be significant, it all adds up and the main point is that it does so without detracting from the designers aesthetic wishes - which unfortunately most aero solutions do. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think it was Luca who insisted that wings on road cars were just a no go area. Consequently every little gain has to be eked out and if it looks cool, even better.
Luca wanted a cleaner look and banned scoops. The Italia started with a fender vent behind the door and Luca told them to go back and eliminate it from the design. Ironic when you consider the 488 followed with a fender vent big enough to ingest small animals...
Just to be clear, Luca headed Ferrari brand in right direction. Sergio is potentially "disaster maker" for Ferrari image in long run, so I am ready to expect anything from that guy in order to increase Ferrari sale numbers.
That's very funny about the 488 scoops, but like Traveller said, the directives from LDM (as were reported) related to wings and not necessarily scoops since a couple of cars that I can think of that were released under his watch, Enzo and LaF, have pretty sizable scoops. Maybe he accepted these for the specials but was less inclined to allow them for the "normal" cars, where he wanted to maintain a level of understatement. Like I noted in my comment relating to the R&T article about LDM demanding to see proof of the benefits of the flying buttresses, I wondered if SM has the capacity to even identify this sort of feature and question it - beyond what it costs.
An interesting aside, when I met Leonardo Fioravanti last year he mentioned how pleasing the above the waist line of the 458 is to the eye and then casually mentioned he has some involvement in the design. What he kept emphasizing to me was that a Ferrari shouldn't be overly aggressive, beauty is created through function.
What LDM understood so well was style and class. He didn't want the cars to have to mirror race cars with endless addenda, he wanted to allow the fundamental elegance of the design to speak for itself, understated and classy. He was the link to when all Ferraris were thus and I think we are now moving away from that into a new era. The 2018 Cali will be the first real test.
458 is flawless! And, of course, Fioravanti knows what he's talking about having created (among others) the BB which, in my opinion, is also flawless - clean, with no scoops or wings, but still looking powerful and with a beautifully executed windshield, curvature of the side windows and the greenhouse in general. Always admired him too, as he's and engineer as well as being an accomplished designer. Happy for you that you got to meet him; would like to meet him too one day.
This is so beautiful post. Especially if we look back on models that were under Luca`s guidance. He had tactile sense for right dose of sportiness and elegance. Sergio grew up in hard working family where huge profit equals big production numbers. On contrary Luca grew up in Italian aristocratic family, where lifestyle is able to produce much bigger profit (if you know how to produce lifestyle that people lust for). Luca`s words: "Ferrari is not a car, it is a dream!" Luca produced dreams, and I am afraid Sergio is producing numbers.
