The look of that 20mm gap is purely subjective. I think the distance you describe is way too close in terms of what looks good. With the F12 tyre size, the gap looks good if it's the same height as half or three quarters of the tyre profile. To me, a 20mm gap looks like something an 18 year old would have on his lowered Honda Civic. What I mean by perfect ride height has to do with the distance from the bottom of the car in relation to the ground. You can design a car with no wheel arch gap and a very high ride height and vice versa. These two are not directly related from a design standpoint. Why are you talking about a 20" tyres sidewall I have no idea about, nor what you mean by a 20" tyre will always be 20" at the sidewall. Where does that relate to what I said and what does that mean? Of course the bead of a 20" tyre is 20" in dieameter. Otherwise it would not fit the rim. I've never mentioned the tyre size, the tyre profile nor the rim size, and I'm not talking about internal tyre pressure either. What I'm talking about is the pressure created inside the wheel well which creates lift and drag. The diameter of the tyre which is 27" for the front and 28.7" for the rear has nothing to do with this pressure on it's own either. Fact is the smaller the gap and the smaller the space inside the wheel well, the less room there is for the air drawn around and flung outwards by the rotating rim and tyre to rotate and escape.
As you say it's objective. Sorry, I misunderstood you with the pressure, my fault. Anyway I hope the M have a the stance closer to the TDF when it comes to ride height, which for me is the gap between tire and fenders.
Thanks, Red Sled. My idea of how it works at the rear fender considers the air exiting from the mysterious exit (or slot, as you say) in the fender which has been noted by many and as shown in the graphics of the Ferrari invite (see below) and not anything strictly at the back, like the aero-blade. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Tim, I had not previously looked into the the Aston air-blade, but the idea is basically just another variation of allowing more air to the back either via passages between bodywork (Ford GT) or scoops and ducting to either 1/ fill in the wake for drag reduction; 2/ drive more air to a spoiler or wing for downforce or 3/ both of the above. On the Aston, the air-blade deflects the air at the trailing edge upwards in the same way as a fixed spoiler, though with what force or effectiveness is questionable, since they also use a deployable spoiler. With the deployed spoiler I think the air-blade energises the upward flow to help downforce but also acts to reduce drag by filling in the low pressure in the wake of the spoiler, like a slotted wing.
If the ride height of the F12M is the same as the F12B and you want the ride height of the TdF, that should not be a problem. I believe the TdF sits 20mm lower than the B and your dealer should be able to make that adjustment on the stock suspension.
Hard to know if the car displayed was representative, but the wheels looked very snug in there...more than normal I would say.
Thanks, they are all after the same thing which just confirms the need as someone posted earlier, possibly Scraggy, that having Pinin miles away was not beneficial when you are marrying aero with aesthetics and I suspect Ferrari will probably consequently have the best compromise of both.
It's hard to tell from these preview cars. Often the cars sit a bit lower when shown on photos and at previews etc. It's also the same for the renderings. Then when the cars are on the road, they end up sitting a bit higher than those we were shown at motor shows, previews, and on press release photos and renderings. Unfortunately I can't make Geneva this year, but it would have been interesting to bring a tape measure to measure the wheel arch gap, and see if it's the same as what customers receive.
That was a good point about Pinin being miles away from Maranello. I am a big fan of Pinin and besides the the distance between the two, I always wondered about any compromises that may have had to be made because of multiple clients, though clients of Ferrari's ilk were/are limited. I am always reminded of the friction between Pinin and Peugeot after Pinin did the 164 and the Peugeot large sedan (605 ?) done at the same time looked like a poor cousin of the Alfa.
Yes that's the 605. I personnaly think it's the opposite, the 164 being the poor cousin. The fact that I'm french is probably not stranger to that ahah Sorry... for that patriotic thread jacking Back on topic. What about the steering wheel ? Similar to GTC4 ?
We are now so hungry for more news or rather pictures or the name or just something definitive that we have diverted to a rubbish Peugeot (sorry DC).
AHah That's pretty true... except for the word rubbish. The 605 was released when I started to have an interest in cars... I always found its design pretty cool for a 1989 sedan (Look at the others sedan of the same era...) https://s1.cdn.autoevolution.com/images/gallery/PEUGEOT605-2832_4.jpg Sorry people we have to kill time waiting for the next sketch from Ingegnere or the car in itself... Maranello, you're killing us. Tell me about your 500E... I looove that sedan... since we have some time to kill. How did it feel at driving ?
In the eventuality that Ferrari chooses a geographical name they have already used the town/places names of Modena (birthplace of Enzo), Fiorano (racing circuit) and Maranello (factory) and a possibility is EMILIA (Emilia-Romagna region were the three previous towns/places are located). To be honest I don't like this name but this is a pure exercise of originality.
