MSW HGTC & FHP Sway Bars (Finally!)

As some of you may be aware, I’ve been developing some suspension & handling improvements for the 550/575M cars which will be the next products to rollout of MSW and I’m pleased to announce that “better than HGTC/FHP” anti-sway bars will soon be available.

Over the last few days I’ve been over in Austin TX with a friend who is an F1 mechanical engineer and also holds an FIA Superlicense & is a very experienced test driver. We’ve been testing two prototype bars on his 575M, which is far from stock, and has had extensive remapping of the engine & transmission ECU’s and is putting down a “lot” more RWHP than stock. He has mapped out a road course on the back roads around Austin that provides a great testing ground for the car’s handling and includes a number of left & right banked sweepers, reverse camber sweepers, decreasing/increasing radius turns, and lots of straights.

Weather was clear, but cooler than we would have liked (in the high 40’s (F)) for our testing with humidity in the high 40’s also, and we were running 32-33 PSI in his Bridgestone Potenza RE070’s, which were mounted on stock 575M wheels with stock alignment.

So first we took the 575M with its wimpy 17mm stock rear bar (which weighs 7lbs) out on this course and it wallowed & rolled through all the sweepers and would not launch from a stop without a lot of tail wagging. It would not hold a line through the turns and required constant steering correction. Sudden high speed lateral lane changes felt sloppy, inprecise & downright dangerous. We both drove and the best speed either of us could achieve through the sweepers was a little over double the posted rate.

Next we mounted one of the MSW prototype bars which is right at 19mm and made from 1045CD steel and weighs 8lbs. Without exaggeration, the car’s handling was transformed! It went exactly where it was pointed, held the line and did not require any correction. Body roll was greatly diminished and it launched in a straight line without the tail wagging. Sudden lateral lane changes were more precise and controlled, but still had some roll. Best of all, our speeds through the sweepers increased by at least 10-15 MPH over the stock bar.

Then we mounted the 2nd prototype bar which is a tad over 22mm and again was formed from 1045CD steel, and weighs 10lbs. This bar made the rear feel VERY solid and tail happy. No sloppiness or wallowing at all. Sudden lateral lane changes were brutal and if the car were run on an autocross circuit, for sure the driver would need a neck/back massage after, or possibly even a chiropractor! However for me it was very reminiscent of my kart racing days because through the sweepers I was giving the steering constant small jiggling corrections so I was actually going through the sweepers in a controlled drift, as we would do in karting. My speed through the sweepers actually increased by about 10mph over the 19mm, however my friend did not like the feel of the car with the bigger bar as he felt we were on the verge of a nasty breakaway.

Summary:

My friend who is also a metalurgical specialist feels that both prototype bars are made from better steel than Ferrari used for their bars, and therefore the 19mm bar performs at least as well, and probably better than the 19.5mm HGTC Ferrari bar. It will be a great choice for all around driving, including spirited trips in the country around the twisties and even limited track use. It “should” be OK in wet weather as long as the driver/owner has great tires on the car, knows his/her limits and doesn’t try to push it. We will probably call this bar the MSW HGTC Bar.

The 22+mm bar, we both agreed, would have its home only on the racetrack and in dry conditions. It’s not for the faint of heart and would probably get a number of wannabe racers in trouble or worse if used on the street, especially a wet or icy street. We may dub this bar either the MSW FHP, Race Bar or just the Bigass Bar.

I think the differences in our impressions of the 22mm bar were down to our differences in racing experience, ie mine in karting and his in bespoke race cars. The setups for these two environments are totally different and someone who’s comfortable in one environment would probably not be in the other without spending some time there. I know that my preference for a track setup would be the 22+mm bar vs the 19mm, and my friend’s preference would probably be the 19mm vs the 22+mm.


Pricing & availability for these bars has not yet been set, but will certainly be better than OEM P&A for the FHP/HGTC bars. Could I get a show of hands of those who would be ready to purchase these bars as & when they become available (most probably through Daniel @ Ricambi)?

BTW, these bars are intended for the 550 & 575M cars, but there’s a chance they might fit the 456 cars too, but we’d need an owner to do a test fitment before saying anything definitive. In the past Ferrari have made essentially the same part for different cars and given them different part numbers for unknown reasons, so it might be possible.

(p.s. Hey Brian (Rifledriver), sorry we didn't get a chance to drop by & say "Hi" but were super busy with this testing. Hope to see you next time over!)

 

First of all, thanks so much for the great response. I had a hunch the 550/575M community was wanting better handling and was ready for some stiffer rear swaybars. Now to answer some questions:

No, sorry Carl, I wanted these bars to "look" as OEM as possible so they only have one fixed endlink hole. I haven't considered doing a front bar (yet) but if there's enough demand....

I can't get the 21mm bar with the present supplier because he's a "boutique" shop. Probably could do it with one of the big boys but I'd need at least a hundred of you guys to send money before they'd do it.

Thanks for answering the question Taz. I do feel that my 19mm is probably roughly equivalent to Ferrari's 21mm. My 22+ bar is probably equivalent to a 23 or 24mm using Ferrari steel.... And yes, there are several options on springs & new coilovers in the pipeline, which should relieve the present nightmare of getting the Bilsteins rebuilt & eliminating the noisy & NLA top shock mounts....

Daniel, yes we changed the D blocks & clamps, and yes, they're of a different material than Ferrari's but are of a very similar configuration. "Subjectively" they feel a slight bit stiffer than Ferrari's D blocks. Will a car equipped with these bars, new D blocks & clamps pass a concours inspection? No, because the clamps have a shiny zinc coating & the blocks are black instead of red. Would OEM blocks & clamps work? Probably, if OEM blocks with the right ID's were still available, but I wasn't really thinking about concours when I was doing this.

We reused the OEM drop links but that might be a consideration for owners like Carl who'd want to fine tune the suspension further. It would be fairly easy & straightforward to fabricate your own drop links with Heim joints. Again, I wasn't thinking about race setups so these bars are intended to be as close to PnP as possible for the typical owner, not the hardcore racer.

One caveat about using the 22+mm bar for a race setup, my friend & I are very concerned about the structural fixation points Ferrari provided for the D blocks. They are an L'ish shaped piece of 1/8" or possibly 2.5mm steel, bent 90 degrees and only have a full bead weld on one edge with 2 tack welds on the other edge. In typical Ferrari fashion these points are "barely" adequate for a street setup, and would require rewelding & possibly replacement for an all out race setup. Granted this is just the opinion of two (very experienced) engineers, but we both have extensive racing experience also & neither of us would be comfortable driving the car at its or our limits with these without reinforcing.

For those of you wanting pics, this is the only one we took of the three bars. From top to bottom it's the OEM 17mm, the 19mm, and the 22+mm. I'm sure you would've rather have seen some cute pics of Taylor but she refused to pick up any of the bars and said "Oh no, they're too dirty & greasy!"

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They are polyurethane bushings which do have a reputation for squeaking when used for wishbones & other suspension links, etc. however these produced NO squeaking even in the cold, low humidity conditions during testing. The clamps and bushings do have Zerk fittings for easily injecting grease if they ever do begin to squeak.