I asked this somewhere else once before, but thought it might make a good discussion. Does anyone know what kind of maintenence schedule Ferrari, or groups that have ran Ferrari's, have used on cars that are raced? When I was into the ice racing scene, many of the hotter engines were tore down at least seasonally, some by hours, such as every 20-25 hours, and still some others were pulled apart weekly. Not complete tear downs, but enough to inspect the crank bearings, look at the combustion chambers, and put the car back together so it could run reliable at the front once more. Often times a spare motor would be swapped, so the car mainly experienced an engine change and overall freshening. So forgeting all the timing belt BS we read every other day, I thought it would be interesting to see just what kind of work would go into keeping an F-40, a Challenge car, or one of the 575 Maranellos running at the front of the pack, as an example. And this does not have to be purely Ferrari focused. If anyone has knowledge from other events, such as circle track, formula V, Ford, etc.. and what kind of work kept then running up front, pile it on.
I suppose that it depends on what kind of use you are actually giving the car. If you are doing serious, wheel to wheel racing, like SCCA Pro series or one of the other full-out race series, where you are pushing yourself and the car to its absolute limits, you are looking at a maintenance schedule akin to what professional race teams do. That will vary from car to car, but you are talking a major undertaking. If you are just doing HPDE and track days, even time trials, that's a different story all together. Most folks that I know, and what I do with my Corvette, is provide basic maintenance between events (assuming nothing has broken). Oil and filter change, flush brake fluid, every 5 or 6 track day change the transmission and differential oils. Obviously, you have to watch your tires, suspension, other parts of the car. Driving hard on the track stresses the consumables, like the fluids, so they need to be changed frequently. And you need to watch things like engine coolant and oil temps while running on the track and if necessary, add oil cooler, tranny cooler, brake ducts for brake cooling, etc., as needed based on the car you are driving. Just a few random thoughts. Steve
When people whinge about changing the timing belt it kind of makes me laugh. A race weekend can and does often include swapping engine and gearbox or even spare car if the rules allow it. Your maintenace schedule ultimately depends on how competitive you want to be and how big of a cheque you are willing to write. When I first started racing I drew up a budget, then promptly spent more than double that. Now I don't event want to know what the total $ amount is. Ignorance makes it that much easier to buy that next piece of go fast part. Two years ago at the Shanghai F1 support race, the Red Bull team for Scott Speed basically rebuilt the whole Formula Renault which they rented from the promoter from the ground up in 2 days. Meanwhile the rest of us poor slobs raced with what we got.
While the timing belt is obviously "in there", I would rather we steered clear of that aspect, as thats been so beaten to death elsewhere. In a racing situation the belt would be replaced anytime the motor was serviced so I wouldnt think it would be a primary issue. Or is it? I had read somewhere that Ferrari replaced belts on the F-40 after every race. Anyway, I had hoped a thread like this would point more to what some would call a severe maintence schedule. So maybe we could change this a bit. Lets say someone here is running a 348/355 Challenge car. What would have been an average service schedule for one of those cars and what types of things would it entail? Weekly, seasonally, etc..
How much on the edge of performance and the rules do you want to play? You plan to do ALMS then bring a VERY LARGE bank account (tens of millions). If you really, must,. insist on racing outdated cars like the 355 then you could probably get away with a few hundred grand a season, but why bother??? i mean, no way in hell you'd ever be competitive, just buy a Z06 Corvette instead off the dealer lot. This way you start with a better package for far less $$$ and save HUGE money trying to develop a lowly 355... and i am not going to bother with a 348 or 308 in your formula.
Well Ferraris are not competative in any series except F1 or maybe a couple other top flght race venues. So I don't care how much you spend on engine rebuilds etc.. the guy in a lowly 74 chassis 911 tin can with giant motor and even bigger rear wing will most likely smoke you for just twice the cost of a 360CS ceramic brake pads and rotors change! That said it really varies in low level non-series club racing. Personally I have wheeled to wheeled my lowly 348 on the same motor/gearbox/clutch for over 5 years with nothing more than T-belt yearly, oil change every track weekend, brake fluid bleed every weekend, Coolant (water w/ water wetter) and gearbox fluids changed with the T-belt and tires. I have had Zero failures. I'm a mid packer there for fun but can be near the top if I try but then more stuff is likely to break. I have a ZO6 too and could run that at the front of the field but the Ferrari is more fun. Besides the fun for me is finding people to slice and dice with ant there are always lots of people in the mid pack. Being at the front is just a time trial and it is boring. I would rather have fun mid pack than win the plastic karate trophy.
Just so ya'll know, I personally have no interest in going racing. Not in a Ferrari, nor anything else. I just thought it would be interesting to discuss the maintenence required to compete in one. I spent just enough time sleeping in cars and wrenching til all hours of the night, living on ham sandwiches, warm pop and cold coffee, to find I just didnt like the intensity. It was fun, just not something I would care to do regularly. What piqued my curiosity to Ferrari racing maintenence was an article in one of the last few issues of Cavallino. A story of racing an old V-12 Ferrari around the midwest, and a driver trying to take the owners car home for a take of the winnings. While the car appeared to be a beast, it also appeared to be quite robust, able to run hard all day on a track, trailer it home, and go back next weekend for more with no more than a plug change and some brake shoes. So I was just curious as to what level of maintenence was standard fare for a 308, F-40, 348, 355, etc.. Or the guys today running in the ALMS that have belt driven cams.... Can they run a full season without doing a full engine service?
Paul: One year of racing my vintage Lotus Elan. 5 events including BRIC at Road America etc. - One engine rebuild (rods, pistons, valves, guides, reground crank, new bearing shells etc) - One trans rebuild (2 dogs, one cog) - Replaced diff (Quaife) - Replaced clutch - Rebuilt top end mid season (over-rev) - Replaced half shafts, donuts (like a CV except Chapman style) - Replaced shocks all round. Should be rebuilt 1x per year (F), once every 2yrs (R) And consumables: oil / fluids after every event; new tires twice a year. Car can be a front runner. Driver (me) needs work (don't we all?) Philip
Philip, excellent post! FYI for Fcar guys as have around 40 days of gentleman tracking in the modded 308... Doing top end work in the 308 this spring and not sure how deep in we'll need to go as might have tapped the exhaust valves/heads during an over rev Fortunately all ok there so far (crossed fingers) Yup. two in the past 2 years though in the car's defense, one was due to normal care, the other clutch was due to uprate in preperation for supercharger and also did a lightweight fly at the same time. Had a crack in one CV boot so we took apart both rears, cleaned, checked, redid the whole enchilada. NOTE: 308 guys the half shaft and a KNOWN weakness, beware super grippy tires and high G's unless you NOW the condition of your car's rear bits. Yup, yup, yup. Last year TOTALLY blew out the front passenger right at Lime Rock as car was under springed and i was asking the shock to do too much of the workload. The shock blew wonderfully and spewed fluid all over rim. Yup for oil, tranny seems to be ok for three changes a year (every 5th event or so) as i use Amsoil SVG 70-90. Amen pertaining to me needing work. It is a journey, not necessarily a destination. There seems to always be another XX in the car. Many thanks philip for your excellent post as this should give some guys an idea.
Carl, you, my freind, have a tight grasp on the meaning of life,....It's all in the experience. (BTW, i'm 3 groups behind your "lowly 348", having a BLAST !!)
