How to use race fuel to get max horsepower out of the 550?

Race fuel allows higher compression and or more aggressive ignition timing.

Timing alone will not get you much more power.

Cheaper to just buy a faster car.

 

Nifty five fifty for awhile talked about forced induction….search his historical feeds.

I definitely learned with my naturally aspirated 2000 Miata that ended up going FM Turbo….id not do that again. (edit) I’m not saying 10 psi of boost isn’t great but if you are driving hard and or racing the heat is excessive and the management of heat is a focus for sure.

No replacement for displacement is an actual thing.

 

Power falls off rapidly above 7000 rpm (peak power) because of the cams. More revs will not help.

 

First you need an engine tune. Higher octane doesn’t mean necessarily more power. It just means a lower propensity to have accidental explosion/knock, thereby permitting higher compression and more advanced timing.

 

That’s not the limiting part though on these engines…you also need adequate fuel and flow.

If your goal is more power there are cheaper and easier solutions.

I have around that 600 hp mark in my 575 on normal pump gas. I needed headers/high flow cats and a tune to get there. I would not mess with timing too much or get too far out of spec or you risk your engine going pop…remember octane degrades over time.

Personally I tune fir pump gas and use high unleaded octanes as ‘booster’ to freshen older gas.

 

That race fuel sure is great for storage though. Stays fresh for years...

 

Well over 600 hp with stock intervals and no forced induction with proper tuning and headers…but the chassis becomes unstable at much over 600.

 

Wheelbase too short; it’s why the 599 had a longer wheelbase

 

They either have computers helping or less horsepower. The 456 makes dramatically less hp, regardless if GT or M versions. It’s also step up rather sedate from factory from a suspension standpoint and overly aggressive/twitchy from a braking standpoint. I would not want a 600hp 456 let alone more. It’s got its own host of issues.

 

I should add, I have no hate for the 456. Quite the contrary, it’s my favorite 2+2 Ferrari and I adore my 456m…I have well over $30k+ in upgrades/service my high mileage 456m. But I also know its shortcomings extremely well.

 

Another option is to get a 575, manual conversion, Fabio headers/exhaust with trev tune, strip out the interior, recaro race seats, and u have quite the rocket ship. Prob for similar money as a nice oem 550

 

Race fuel will not make any additional power unless you do a significant amount of work - beyond bolt ons.

I did all bolt ons (550 manifolds, cat delete, 2.5" exhaust from manifolds back, BMC filters, coilovers, sticky tires, light wheels) to my 575M and was able to knock over 2 seconds off 60-130 and was able to spin r-compound tires through 3rd gear. So it made a significant amount of power beyond stock, especially in the mid-range and upper powerband, and dropped a bunch of weight. But the car was still half a second behind a '00 Viper with same mods. Swapping from the 550 manifolds to the fiamm headers would likely get more top end power, but I do not know if it would be a significant gain as the 550 manifolds are quite efficient, however, the 575M needs as much help as it can get past 7250rpm.

While I feel like the factory rating of 508hp was a bit optimistic, the chassis could easily handle 600hp. Getting to that figure is not a cheap or easy task.

 

The "short" wheelbase of the 550, the front track being wider than the rear and the beautifully weighted steering are I think what makes the car particularly agile considering its relatively high weight and a joy to guide into even relatively tight corners on smaller roads. This agility makes in my opinion the quest for extra power somewhat redundant and I realized that rather than peak power the car needed a sharper throttle response instead to make the engine as "agile"/"responsive"/"dynamic" as the chassis. I have had the flywheel lightened and balanced when I replaced the clutch which was a good first step in this direction, and the next step would be to fit Fabio's headers. The mid range punch/torque allowed by stock headers makes the car very enjoyable at moderate speeds with immediate torque response but the engine feels like it is not breathing as well as it could up top, even without cats. I am pretty sure that working on such peripherals will allow the true colors of the engine to shine through, make it a little more frantic up top which should compensate enough for the loss of mid range due to switching from the stock "double Y" headers to Fabio's 6-1 headers, in the same way that the F355 makes it relative lack of low and mid range torque totally overshadowed by its terrific top end urge, at least with a Capristo muffler. I do not think that focusing on bold power figures is the right approach.

 

It is interesting what people think of these cars. I don't need more power. I needed a suspension. The 550 to me feels heavy and bloated like a corvette on bad shocks. It wants to be something more. The only thing I did with my 550 is gut the suspension and I do track the car to give it some exercise. If I wanted a street rocket nitrous is the easiest way to go with the least compromise highest HP/Torque adder with ability to be smog compliant or removed for visual inspection in about 30 mins.

 

Well, mine with FHP and Eibach race springs handles far better already than the stock suspension.

 

Eibach springs are a rare upgrade indeed. I wonder how they compare to FHP vs HGTC?

 

This is not a road worth going down. I'm guessing the 110 is leaded? So it will kill the o2's and cats.

Only would be worth power if the engine is timing limited on 93 and I doubt that's the case.

You may find a slight amount of power if running an oxygenated unleaded race fuel assuming it doesn't go too lean but still not worth the cost or effort.