Prodrive 550

Callaides,
The bent metal rod coming through the hood is a pitot tube. It is used for measuring airspeed, and so it measures the vehicle speed. Normally you will find these coming up from airplane wings and fuselages. It is used usually in practice and qualifying, and sometimes during the race to continue to build more data for later cross reference. The car measures wheelspeeds as well, but there is an error factor there, so it is used for cross reference, and also to get an idea of speeds and therefore downforce calculations around the track.
The roof vent is for driver cooling. The front engined GT cars get very hot in the cockpit, and the lexan side windows dont help the driver. But the roof vent doesnt disturb the air going to the rear wing as much as open side windows.

Hi Riverflyer, I have to speculate a little bit, but optimum without a restriction wold look similar in design to whats there. The airhorns and opening sizes, as well the taper of the long carbon inlet tubes would need to be worked out for the best ram effect as well as volume. The Plenum box might change as well if the engine is having different pulling characteristics when un-restricted.

Yes, I am very very lucky to have been involved in some very cool projects. Hasnt always been the safest or most financially rewarding route. But maybe someday I can annoy the other old folks in the home with stories of this car or that car...

Eric

 

Oh yeah, I was not in the wind tunnel work with the 550. I was still with Brembo at that time. I did see the data and talk with the engineers in the UK about the hows and whys of what they did. Nothing done to the car is very far out. Pretty standard modification for a GT spec car. The key with Prodrive is that they made the car balance out very well, and not be overly sensitive to ride height and pitch. This made the car easier to drive and more stable between driving styles. the center of pressure is also well located and controlled due to this balance.

Many GT cars have more of a band aid solution, sticking on ever larger rear wings and front splitters and things like that. Often the root of an issue is that some element of the car is seperating or stalling airflow or taking air off the wing. But these things are near impossible to judge without wind tunnel time. But thats why the big boys win most often.

Oh yeah.. I forgot to complete the yapping about the pitot tube, the other function for knowing airspeed is that it can be used to tune the suspension settings...They can seperate aero loads from cornering loads in the suspension. The amount of downforce from a given airspeed is known from tunnel work. So the amount of compression at speed and spring rate increase and travel can be determined and used to set up the car. This way they keep the car off the bump stops and maximize mechanical grip.
This is starting to becaome a tech section rant! sorry for that.

Eric

 

Race results werent impressive???

It is winningest GT car in the FIA since the Mclaren F1,

2001 first year, 2 victories in the 5 races entered.
2003 8 wins out of 10 races in FIA GT calendar. Drivers and Team FIA GT CHAMPIONS
2003 LEMANS 24 CHAMPIONS
2003 PETIT LEMANS 24 ALMS CHAMPIONS
2004 Drivers and Team CHAMPIONS again in FIA GT
2004 LeMans endurance series GTS Series CHAMPION
etc...

The car was a massive success..and it was never factory backed.

what does it take to impress you?


The fender shape on the Aston is done to relieve pressure in the wheelwell.
it helps vent the internal nose section and create a lower pressure area under the nose for more downforce. Downforce baby, its ll about downforce without significant drag penalties.

Eric

 

The strange shape of the aston wheel opening in front is doing the same thing as the twin gills just behind the front wheel on the 550. venting air.

Notice the small vent in the rear aston fender as well, they are trying to get rid of any high pressure zones under the car.

The Aston body pushes the rules a bit, I have heard that the techs are not overly pleased, but the presence of Aston in FIA is too important for them to make too much noise.

I dont know why the 575GTC was and is a bit of a dud. I dont know what the issue could be. But I have been away from that type of racing for a year or so. Ill ask some friends in the right places to know and let you know what they say.

Eric

 

That's funny.
As I recall, the roof strutcture, windshield, engine block and heads are about all that remains from the 550.

Maybe not so much apples and oranges as oranges and tangerines

Eric

 

Haha,

Ok, I can see you are a customer who knows what he wants...

how bout all that plus the undercoating, floormats and the teflon paint coating...and Ill throw in the european blinker fluid....

What do I have to do to put you in this car today....?

 

Uh oh, theres more...the Prodrive 550 is FIA GT champion again in 2005


From care Racing:

The outcome draws a conclusion to one of the most successful years ever for Care Racing and its stable of Prodrive-built Ferrari 550 Maranellos. Care Racing’s cars, in the hands of partner teams Larbre Compétition and BMS Scuderia Italia, have won five championship titles in 2005 (FIA GT, 2 x LMES, 2 x Italian GT), as well as taking three victories in the FFSA French GT Series.

Gabriele Gardel, en route to Monaco, was overcome with emotion when he received Jack Leconte’s call. "It’s really fantastic news and the best possible Christmas present for Jack, the team, Care Racing, Prodrive and for me - for all of us. We won on the track and now we’ve won again and can celebrate properly! For Care Racing it is their third FIA GT title in a row, and it just shows what a wonderful car the Ferrari 550 is."

They have water bottle holders, sort-of a cupholder.

 

Hi Gary,

the passenger area floorpan and roof structure are about all that is left from the OE 550. There are new suspension pick ups, and subframes are used to cradle the engine and front and rear suspension. The gearbox is not the OE piece, so a new structure carries that as well. The car is really a tube frame silhouette of the OE 550. Only the general layout and engine specification are still in place.

The suspension uses fabricated uprights, and to my knowledge, none of the 550 parts are still used. Prodrive scanned the entire car into 3d CAD data and designed the cage and support frames in order to get the CG of the major components as low and centralized as possible. The drivers seat is lower and further back than OE in order to get more weight off the nose for example.

The car is built pretty robust, so it is not the lightest of the GT cars. But it is a dead reliable endurance racer.

Hope that helps answer your question,

Eric