F50 question about something Montezemolo said when it came out

Goggle seach results-

“We have in 50 years of racing won every kind of victory: Formula One, Le Mans, Dayton, Sebring,” President Luca di Montezemolo said in an interview. “In this car we put 50 years of know-how.”

But he said the F50 is the first and last car Ferrari will build based on a Formula One engine because of tougher emission standards going into effect in the next few years in the United States and elsewhere.

“It will be impossible to do it again,” he said.

 

No, and no. However, there are other tremendous technological advancements that have allowed today's cars to perform better than the F50... probably the most significant gains are in:

1. Tires - The tires today offer so much more grip in both dry and wet conditions than what anybody would've guessed even a decade ago.
2. Chassis - the F50's tub offered 25,677 ft. lbs per degree of flex. A tremendous feat in 1995. The rigidity allowed it to have better ride quality than the 355 even. Today, cars like the LFA, One 77, and other new tubs are approaching 35,000 +ft lbs/ degree of deflection.
3. Brakes - CCB's are finally production feasible for a road car. Lowering rotational mass, and increasing braking thresholds.
4. Aerodynamics - Computational dynamics, as well as wind tunnel testing has been very helpful in both lowering drag, as well as increasing downforce.
5. Engines - technology has been ever more efficient. A more complete burn produces more power. Lower friction, and better combustion chamber designs, direct injection, and wild technologies like blue-printing engines, using forged blocks, plasma coated cylinder walls, better balanced crankshafts, and last but certainly not least, the engine's "brain" controling variables like A/F based on atmospheric pressure, knock detection, better spark... so much that used to be limited to pure racing technology has become more consumer friendly. Still, the consumer product today is a long ways away from what is out there racing. I had the good fortune of observing a facility which builds some of the most productive, and winning race engines in LMS/ ALMS last year. What they do is far and away nothing like what is available for even the most exotic supercars.

So if this is all better, why aren't these cars as "good" as the F50?
Well, the F50's engine is based directly on the 1992 F1 engine... Tipo F130. That engine ran efficient enough in 1995 that above 5000 rpm, it completely bypasses the catalytic converters. The engine, as fantastic as it is, isn't as reliable, or low maintainence as the Enzo's 6.0 V12. 5 valve heads just aren't easy.

Today's F1 cars run numatic valves, which isn't realistic for a street car. They spin to 19000 rpm, but produce very little torque. As much as Tifosi all love a high revving engine, nobody wants a car that is difficult to drive below 3000 rpm.

Anyway, I think I lost my train of thought... but there are a few things cars of today have it very bad

DOT crash standards. It's cost prohibitive for a small manufacturer to adhere to federal guidelines to prove their vehicles are safe in a crash with such expensive craftsmanship.

Guidelines also are on the ridiculous side regarding 'pedestrian safety'

ENCAP, CAFE, and CARB standards are getting tougher and tougher, particularly for small manufacturers. No matter how efficient you burn gas, to produce power, you must burn more over less time.

So, cars are getting heavier to meet crash, and may become 'hopped up' normal engines in the supercars... EG Gumpert Apollo uses Audi engines, and lightweight cars today are seen as weighing 3200 + lbs? Yikes!

 

wow thanks for all this info
enjoyed reading this

 

Very insightful, I thought he was just talking about the OBD-II requirements.