Never heard of a cheap racecar...but its all relative I would expect that once the 550-575 models have become obsolete in GT racing they will all be retired and end up with collectors worldwide. My guess is that they will be very expensive to run after this, as most of the fabricated and special components that make up the car will not be available. There will not be any new spares. Prodrive will have moved on. Maybe the 575 GTC has a chance of spare parts from Ferrari or Michelotto. Most any of the metal bits could be copied, but the carbon bodywork would get expensive quickly. Engine rebuilds and replacement components are all made by subcontractors to Prodrive and the race teams, so you might be able to chase down these items. The car has evolved a great deal, so the specification will be hard to track. I dont know what the costs are to run a 333, or what the spare parts availability is like, but my guess is that it is better than the smaller and more specific production of the 550 Eric
I believe they never got the engine right. The performance and reliability varied from unit to unit, making it impossible to properly set up a car. On another note, here are a bunch (48 1024x768) of my pictures of various 550s shot all over Europe in the last couple of years: http://www.***************.com/frame.php?file=car.php&carnum=1236
The real reason (and secret till now) why the ProDrive car was so fast: Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks for the info and views. Didnt see it like that , but you are prob right . Parts availability will be a pb with the Prodrive . And i wouldnt want one to just look at it..
Eric, I remember seeing pics of the change in the intake trumpets and headers but what other mods to the 550 engine were made? Cams?, Rods?,Valves?, and anything else. TNX Gary
Hi Gary, I didnt work on the engine side of things at Prodrive, more chassis. I never saw an engine at teardown, only mounted in the car. What I do know is that the block and heads are about all that remain from the OE car. I know the rods were Ti, and the valves were new, inconel on the exhaust side and Ti on the intake. Cams are new of course, and all the valvetrain is lightened and upgraded in spec and materials. Pistons are new units, forged aluminum. The crank was OE if I recall, but through the development it may have changed. The displacement increase came by way of larger bores and pistons. Like most racing engines, it was detailed out to give the most compression it could run with the spec fuel, minimize friction, thermal efficiency, and pumping losses, and every item was gone over to make it as light and strong as possible. The Ferrari engine makes the power easily even with the restrictors in place. If I am not mistaken, I think a Pi systems engine management systems ran the fuel and ignition, tied in to the data systems of course. The displacement, compression and cam profile bump can make huge power with this engine. Even in restricted form it was making 600bhp. I have contacts for some of the parts vendors for the motor someplace. Ill look for it. Eric
