Ferrari 499P revealed, takes Maranello again to top-level endurance racing

That is the worldwide endurance racer choosing up the torch Ferrari put down 50 years in the past when the factory-backed 312 PB turned off its engine on the finish of the 1973 season. After 18 months of preparation, the women and gents in Maranello have served up this, the 499P for the World Endurance Championship (WEC) Le Mans Hypercar class (LMH).

It would begin racing subsequent yr within the prime flight, by 2024 competing in a subject counting Glickenhaus, Peugeot and Toyota in LMH, and Acura, Alpine, BMW, Cadillac, Lamborghini and Porsche within the U.S.-based equal Le Mans Daytona Hybrids (LMDh). Ferrari will naturally be trying to win as many races as doable, nevertheless it particularly needs so as to add to its tally of 9 total victories within the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the final one earned in 1965 when Masten Gregory, Ed Hugs and Jochen Rindt took the checkered flag in a 250 LM. 

Ferrari selected LMH as a result of these guidelines enable the producer to construct your complete car, whereas LMDh mandates a spec chassis and a few spec parts. Behind the 499P’s customized carbon fiber monocoque, Ferrari designed a 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 that started with a 120-degree structure developed from the engine within the 296 GT3 race automobile and 296 GTB street automobile. That is the place the brand new racer’s title comes from, every cylinder displacing 499 cubic centimeters, the P standing for prototype. The structure is about all of the three automobiles have in widespread, although. The mill within the 499P and the seven-speed sequential transmission hooked up to it are pressured items, which means it is a part of the construction, in contrast to the engines within the different runners. This required a special philosophy within the particulars, ensuing within the 499P engine not sharing elements with its racing siblings.

The laws cap output at 680 horsepower, so that is what the engine makes. It is going to be assisted by a 268-hp electrical motor turning the entrance wheels. Ferrari tapped all of its packages for contributions to the 499P, the System 1 crew offering the know-how for the Vitality Restoration System (ERS). The ERS recoups vitality from the Brembo brake-by-wire system to cost the 900-volt battery pack linked to the e-motor. Class guidelines cap most mixed output for the automobile on the identical 680 hp because the ICE, so the powertrain management unit continually adjusts how a lot the ICE and e-motor present. To stop an all-wheel-drive shootout out of slower corners, LMH guidelines dictate the e-motor cannot contribute till the automobile reaches 74.6 miles per hour (120 km/hr), which is why the ICE alone can produce the mixed drivetrain output.

The 499P has performed greater than 7,500 miles of testing up to now. We’ll see it right here throughout WEC pre-season testing in March subsequent yr, supposedly wearing colours impressed by the 312 PB that conquered Sebring in 1972 with Mario Andretti and Jackie Ickx on the wheel. Tremendous Sebring weekend takes place the next weekend, March 17, 2023. That is the place the WEC opens its calendar with the 1,000 Kilometers of Sebring alongside IMSA’s 12 Hours of Sebring. Ferrari will run two automobiles with longtime endurance racing accomplice AF Corse, automobile #50 celebrating the semicentennial return to such competitors, automobile #51 recalling one of the vital profitable numbers on racing Ferraris.

The automaker hasn’t mentioned who the drivers will probably be, nor whether or not it’s going to run groups within the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. It is also being secretive about whether or not it’s going to promote the 499P to buyer groups, however the head of the GT program mentioned that in improvement, “We took into consideration Daytona, we took into consideration Sebring, in fact as a result of it’s additionally a part of WEC, however, all the opposite tracks like Street Atlanta are most essential on the market in our thoughts.”