Modern Era Supercars 20+ years from now?

GREAT thread. A genuine issue that needs to be given some thought. Are today's cars being built to be obsolete in 20 years, one might ask?

 

I read somewhere, that ferrari keeps all the mechanical drawing for all the spare parts of all the cars it ever built, and can produce any part if there is a demand for it. Seems logical it would be the same for electronics... Although the largest problem here, is what happens when the electronic components used in the cars electronics are no longer produced... for example, if a car of the yester years had electronics based on some specific el. tubes, you'd pretty much be screwed trying to find replacements.

 

Ask a Porsche 959 owner about parts availability especially the electronics

An analogy is to look at computer memory transfer - initially it was a big floppy disc then a small then a cd then a chip etc etc BUT effectively no-one can now read an original floppy disc

 

Perhaps in 20 years you'd be able to employ a teen in his garage with the modern tools, computers, diagnostics at his disposal to replace the parts?

A good question raised many times.

AK

 

This is a total non issue. There are already units like Motec that can run these systems and are plug and play. In 20 years there will still be off the shelf units that can be retro fitted, will cost very little and work better. You'll still be able to stuff these units into the original Ferrari shells as people do today with MDS inside of Dinoplex boxes so things look the same.

We've already done that with P 4/5 CM replacing all original Ferrari computers with ones that work better and are more suited to racing.

 

+1 Jim, non-issue.

Today, For thirty dollars ($25 for hardware and $5 for app) one can get real-time data display (on your cell phone) & aquisition of every sensor input being used by an ECM, by plugging a small bluetooth wireless device into the OBD2 port. This app was developed by one guy whohad a basic knowledge of programming and the OBD2 format. This is technology that was available only to dealers 20 years ago.

It's not a stretch to imagine an off-the-shelf megasquirt type device available in 20 years, for a fraction of a fraction of the cost and skill needed to implement either of those devices today.

Moore's law.

Again, the tech I used to produce the screenshot below below cost thirty dollars, not including the cost of my smartphone. The future is here.
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Our computers automatically control charge, discharge, and cooling of
our KERS batteries within 1 degree C which is a lot more complicated than
anything an Enzo's computers do. Our TC and anti slip are MUCH more
complex as well.

Our Engineers can reproduce any part in days. This week our
friends at Bosch re engineered our altinator to put out 40 more
amps in the same available space in two days.

 

Wow, good to know what resources exist.

 

I want that. What is it called and where did you buy the hardware.

 

Didn't people say this same thing about f40's when they were new? What do we do when the engine mgmt. system fails, oh no! What do we do when the CF starts to delaminate, oh no! Doesn't seem to be an actual problem at all. I'd imagine, same as the f40/f50/348/355, in 20 years the electrical systems on the now new cars will seem so simple that you'll be able to completely replace them with more advanced systems for a fraction the cost of the parts now.

 

We just restored our 1947 159s without issue and that is a lot rarer than an Enzo.

 

Speaking of the new Enzo here it is.
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$25??? I bought a set up where the hardware was $100, app was free. I love being able to use my iPhone as an OBD2 scanner.

 

If Jim is right, then modern supercars will actually work better in 20 years than they do today.

This is a pretty cool thing. It may change the way the market fluctuates. Think about it--would you want a car 20 years from now with original electronics, or would you want one in which all electronics have been standardized to then-current specifications?

Fuel economy will only improve, performance will only improve, emissions, etc.

An interesting rabbit trail...

 

Well, if you're worried about 3-1/2 inch floppies, for example, which are about 25 years old, you can buy a USB drive for about 25 bucks that'll read them on your current computer. Not so scary after all.

 

+1!

Purist won't like it but what the hell...as long as you can drive your car

 

Liking those wheels Jim

 

I've thought about this as well from time to time.

As these cars get older, technology is only going to improve. As mentioned above, there will be enough aftermarket support to retrofit into these vehicles to keep them up and running for many more years to come.

 

I'm guessing the 'Breadvan' rear end is to allow the engineers extra room for developing, extra cooling and the housing of measurement instruments for the hybrid system.

I saw an article in EVO magazine recently about the Porsche 918 development car. It had all sorts of bits and bobs attached around the rear of the car (including a metal trunk), although Porsche had chosen not to use a disguise on the rear, but i guess if they did it would need to be rather 'swollen' like what we see on the Ferrari development car.

http://www.evo.co.uk/videos/supercarvideos/280684/porsche_918_spyder_video.html

 

Those are just standard 458 wheels.

Ferrari has used this technique with previous mules. In fact the California mule, looked very similar to this mule.

 

hasnt Ferrari's past on OEM parts availablility been poor?...thinking of late Enzo period cars

i understand that newer technology in future can be used substitute, but what about those who desire to keep thier cars original, and original manufacturer parts for thier supercar?

perhaps Ricambi / Daniel should start buying up some inventory??

 

In 30 years, the folks that buy a $40k Ferrari or build their own cars or drive replicas may substitute with non-factory parts, but the folks who drop seven figures on their Enzos and whatnot will simply continue to do what they've always done: pay Ferrari a lot of money.

Ferrari might not stock a $50 circuit board, but for $25k they'll put one together for you just like it came in the year 2004. There will always be factory service for these cars because there's nowhere else to go for factory service than the factory and the factory controls the price and makes it profitable.