Looking for Ferrari owners opinion

Most of you have experience with most legendary car in the auto world. So you're the right group of people to ask for impressions.

It's a project that I'm working on for about 3 years now. Chassis is a semi monocoque with tubular steel front and rear subframes and integrated full FEA spec roll cage. Carbon fiber/Kevlar/ alu honeycomb monocoque similar to safety cell used in LMP racers and formula cars except it’s a two seater. Crushable impact absorbing structures front/sides/rear. Overall chassis layout is very similar to Koenigsegg’s.
Weight under 800kg. (For those who may be interested: Low weight = higher accelerations – forward, braking, cornering or any combination of those. Also safety – impact energy is directly related to mass (m) in old Newton’s equation. Unfortunately weight has nothing to do with top speed which is not result of torque/weight/traction ratio but power/drag ratio). While this project is a street car it was designed like race car in many ways. Two reasons – I’ve never designed a street car and I love the thinking that is normally behind any proper race car: “This thing has to outbrake, outcorner, outaccelerate and finally outlast the sh$$$t out of competition. This thing has to be strong and safe. Sooner or later it will be smashed into the wall HARD! The guy should simply unfasten his safety harness and walk away”. Also GT2/GT3 racing program was always kept in mind.
Extensive aerodynamics with underbody tunnels/diffusers. It generates moderate downforce ( ~350lb) in its street spec (no rear wing and front underbody diffuser) and center of pressure is very stable, located slightly rearwards of CG for enhanced high speed stability.
With suspension two versions where designed– one which is more traditional and another is F1 style inboard suspension. This second layout allows to convert a street car into race car within 20min. All you needed is a jack and two wrenches. By changing push rod on bell crank mounting point motion ratio is changed from 0.8 to 1.1 that will give 2.06 times higher wheel rates, same goes for sway bars – all in all it is about relocating 8 bolts. All that is left - turning down spring perches prescribed amount of turns to lower ride height…. I know that most people will consider it PIA anyway. But this could be a very nice option for those who will like to take it on a race track (Highly recommended as it’s the best place where one can enjoy its true performance).
Engine is turbocharged Renesis placed well within wheelbase. 406hp at 8600RPM.

It’s definitely not a daily driver but a car which will look/feel great on the race track and parking lot of night club. It’s intended to compete with UK’s Noble.
Here’s some pictures…


Is there anyone who wants to own one for next Christmas?

Cheers
Ted
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I just found out that all the pictures and many posts are gone. Guess that this was because of previous forum tech. probs.
So here they are again.

Cheers
Ted
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Hmmm.... very strange. Images in the initial post where lost. Now they reapearing again. May be same could happen to replyes that where lost too?

Cheers
Ted

 

I had a great day. I had a glass of my father’s red wine. Please forgive such a long post but I just wanted to share my thoughts behind this project. Also sorry for my English.

The front is now under heavy modification as I wasn't happy with it being a bit too errr.... blunt. This will cause considerable expenses but I want to love it. My problem is that I can not and don't want to sell something that I don't love. You, F car owners, most definitely know this already - your cars have soul hidden somewhere inside. There are many great cars around the world but very rarely you find one which is actually alive. Nowadays with ever increasing production numbers it's less obvious but it is still there.
How ever my all time favorite car is McLaren F1 road car. Reason is that it was designed/built in very unusual way. Basically idea was very simple – let’s build something the way we going to love it, no matter how much it will cost. I’m fortunate to know some of creators in person and they do know their hockey.
Murena is my dream coming true. Working as tech. director of professional racing team and raced myself several years ago I gained my own vision what it is a car as I see it.
I wanted something that will handle and be fast around race track like a true winning race car. Also I wanted to be able to drive it to the track without shaking myself to death. I also wanted something that girls will want to throw their undies in… with phone number written. So I started looking around but could not find anything. Well there are some cars and some Ferraris are among them but I was just not wealthy enough to own it. American classics vette and viper are way to heavy – inefficient if you want. Than there’s some lower level cars – like various lotus7 clones – but while they are in some way thrilling they are also slow and simply unsafe. A bit higher level Elise terribly lucks power and downforce. Safety is also not high enough. There’s also Noble M12/M400 – an interesting track oriented car that performs like an exotic (and even better than some in some aspects) but priced relatively affordable. Problem is that it’s a bit too simple… I mean its chassis, its suspension, the way it is built is not something to be proud of – I added a few pictures so you know what I mean. At the end there is very few cars that comply with my vision and no car under about 300 000. So it came down to single option – design and build my own. I’ve never designed a street car but Murena is closer to purpose built race car than a street car. Here’s my thinking behind some of major aspects of current design:



After working for many years with composite tub cars it’s very hard to be happy with any different solution – steel is way to heavy, aluminum lucks strength.
Chassis stiffness is vital for proper handling. Chassis strength is vital for driver safety. Weight is vital for overall performance. So there really was no choice – CF monocoque was the way to go. Knowing Paul Martin (designed and built all composite structures of McLaren F1 road car as well as many F1 championship winning chassis) it was easy to choose who will design/build tub and associated tooling.
Handling. I’m talking about how the car brakes, turns in, around the apex, accelerating out of the corner. How it performs in transitions like in a high speed double S corners for example. It’s all about stability and response. We want as much of each as practically possible. Funny enough we don’t need too much of each either. I’d prefer a car which reacts as fast as I can feel it taking set in the corner. I would want that it reacts progressively slower (slightly) as speed increases. I would also want its responsiveness to be adjustable so the car could be taken further if/when I grow as a driver. I want it to react progressively and predictably on and past the limit. I want it easily controllable at low and extremely high yaw angles.
At the same time I want stability. I never liked cars that can bite you at any given possibility. Car should inspire confidence in the driver – than he can enjoy it. He will also be faster because he will spend more time close and on the limit.

To achieve these goals one needs low weight, low CGH and relatively low polar moment of inertia. Stiff and light chassis is the answer. Also size/shape/weight and placement of powertrain/transmission components. One needs suspension geometry to be designed so it will provide stable under/oversteer behavior as designed and set up. It means stable instant centers and all effects provided by castor/KPI/scrub radius/cumber gain etc., etc. should be taken into account. All for one ultimate goal – take care about four little rubber patches which connect the car to the road.
Still there’s no real speed without downforce. I want the car that generates roughly 0.5G of negative lift. I prefer that major part of downforce is generated by “underbody”. I always loved sport prototypes (Group C) from beginning of 90’s. Those underbody tunnels where generating tons of downforce and also where giving much more longitudinally stable center of pressure comparing to more conventional flat bottom/diffuser configuration. No wonder Ferrari is using tunnels for years.
Till now I simply described a proper race car. But I want to drive it on and off the track and also show up in the city from time to time. But ultimate performance is directly conflicting with streetability. I think that the only way to be able to enjoy the car in both worlds one need two completely different cars. Ones on the track we need suspension to support the chassis under very high lateral/longitudinal loads at very low ride height. We also need it to maintain stable ride height for consistent downforce distribution and finally support the aero loads at high speeds. While we still want it as compliant as possible to keep tires on the pavement, driving over tarmac irregularities, it is WAY too stiff for the street. So what we normally have is a car that is sort of unpleasant compromise. Too stiff on the public road and still too soft for the track. It is too low for public roads and still too high for the track.
I think that effective way is to be able to change ride height and most importantly motion ratios. With Murena it’s simple – push secured button to rise the car on built in AP air jacks and relocate 8 bolts connecting push rods to bell cranks and ARB links to latter. Turn down pushrods prescribed amount of turns and you have a different car. It takes to wrenches and 20 minutes at most. Its ride height is reduced from 125 to 60mm (2.56”) and wheel rates are 105% stiffer. With lower ride height underbody tunnels start to really perform. Now it’s stiff and low enough for track and on the way back home it is more comfortable than most track oriented cars.
Oooph! Now that’s a longest post I’ve ever typed! Time to cut it short.
I understand that most “normal” people will consider this manipulations as too much hassle. I also understand that most people will consider my car vision as totally useless. But I believe that there are few individuals that share my passion to fast and beautiful cars. Who think that driving a properly designed car on the limit is one of the highest feelings that human being can ever have.


Cheers
Ted
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Here's a picture of old/abandoned front end. New is in the works. It should look much nicer but time will tell.

Thank You
Ted
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