Sculpting the air with the Ferrari 488 GTB

By Carl Cunanan September 02,2015

ferrari8When Italians talk about art, they do so from a rather unique perspective. They are, after all surrounded by the art, craftsmanship and passion that the rest of the world considers defining. Even the atmosphere traveling from the northern European countries into Italy brings forth richness of color in everything from the sky above to the ground below. What others may consider breathtaking or inspiring, the Italians sometimes just see as what happens where they live.

Flavio Manzoni, design head for Ferrari, was explaining all the technical details behind the design of the prototype of the new Ferrari 488 GTB that sat in front of us. The development team had spent the day with us discussing everything from engine development and mathematical formulas to trying to explain how they decided to sculpt the air into doing their bidding. This last one turned out to be far more complicated, with new terms used to describe what sounds simple, but in reality can be quite eye-opening.

“A Ferrari is applied art,” Manzoni said.

The first day was spent in technical briefings explaining everything from freezing parts to making them fit better to using dissolving gaskets to achieve even more miniscule tolerances.

THERE is no question that this is the best prancing horse yet, it is both more capable and flexible but also more intense than before, but in a more refined way than the previous 458 Speciale.

THERE is no question that this is the best prancing horse yet, it is both more capable and flexible but also more intense than before, but in a more refined way than the previous 458 Speciale.

Also explained was how side slip control evolved into SSC2, and which was essentially part of a system that others consider safety but Ferrari considers “sport” that just happens to transform into “safety” when it decides you need it.

Likewise, sensing of information and execution of command had become more precise and less intrusive (read this as less harsh, the 488 GTB being less edgy than the outgoing 458 Speciale, but is faster and more generally driveable).

This new 488 GTB is a bit of a game changer for the prancing horse because it has replaced the multi “International Engine of the Year” Awardee motor from the 458 Speciale (beloved for its still normally-aspirated old-school power generation and associated delivery curves) with a twin-turbo.

It is a 90-degree V8 displacing 3902 cc that uses the two turbos to produce 661 horsepower (about a hundred higher than the 458’s 4.5-liter engine). Torque is up as well to 561 Newton-meters maximum at 3000 revolutions per minute in the seventh gear of its seven-speed F1 dual-clutch transmission, so imagine that coming in just as you are cruising calmly.

Ferrari has gone turbo before, but this is the midrear engine configuration that has generally produced their best-handling road cars and been developed into successful race cars. This configuration was kind of the best of both worlds: Ferrari screaming power but with serious innate handling.

Now, by putting the twin turbos into this newer engine (smaller than the previous, but similar in many components to that of the calmer California T), they ran the risk of messing with handling predictability if the usual turbocharging boosts, peaks and lags came in spurts as opposed to the more linear and smooth delivery of power from nonturbo big engines.

Power delivery curve

Ferrari solved this with some ingenious design in both hardware and software. The end result is a power delivery curve that is just suddenly there and stays there. If you want to identify turbo lag you can try, but you better do it fast as zero-to-a-hundred kph time is at three seconds, and in those first three seconds you will just be hanging on and trying to remember to shift.

I know this because I forgot to shift, repeatedly. On the Fiorano track, they had me keep the car in manual mode, which meant I had to shift using the paddles. I found this unusual but later understood. If the car would automatically shift itself on that first main straight, I would probably not have enough time to brake.

FERRARI has learned to control the air both internally in the engine and externally on the car body.

Ferrari has learned to control the air both internally in the engine and externally on the car body.

In normal engines—and even in turbos, you have a build-up in torque that kind of tells you when the engine is reaching its peak power (which is usually near its tachometer redline), so you have an indication of when to shift. You expect this.

In the 488 GTB, that indication only comes when you see the steering wheel shift lights fully in the red and the engine suddenly keeping the same pitch. The test driver showing me the track just smiled and said “you have to remember to shift.” I think they do it on purpose.

On the road, we had to temper our gleeful forward motion because suddenly having something scream past you when there was nothing in your mirrors a second ago tended to scare people. Children though were delighted—not just us, but the ones in the cars we passed as well.

Ferrari has learned to control the air both internally in the engine and externally on the car body. They have always been about aerodynamics, of course, but getting a chance to talk to the engineers was really an eye-opener as they went past the relatively simplistic images you will see that just show “air goes this way and that, thus producing downforce.”

A 90-degree V8 displacing 3902 cc that uses the two turbos to produce 661 horsepower

A 90-degree V8 displacing 3902 cc that uses the two turbos to produce 661 horsepower

When Manzoni said that “a Ferrari is applied art,” he truly meant it. You needed massive downforce on this car because of how quickly it got to where to you pointed it. The underside is all channels and directors and such, but the initial solution for the body was a great big wing. Which just wasn’t beautiful.

Their answer is a vent in the rear behind the glass engine cover, although technically, it is two vents because the entrance and exit holes are specifically sized differently for a reason. They aren’t just creating flow, they are creating what were described as bubbles of air that pile up on top that in turn make the additional oncoming air need to move higher to get past the car.

If we didn’t do this, said the head designer, we would have to a have a great big wing right here as he held his arms wide above the rear of the car. With a look that translated as “and that just wouldn’t look very good.” So they are basically using airflow to sculpt airflow.

And boy, does that work. The test drives said to me on a section of Fiorano with a chicane on a particular straight that the next time around, I shouldn’t be slowing. “The aero,” Manzoni said, “will keep it down. Trust me.” And joyously, awesomely, we could go through that little kink without slowing beforehand.

HEAVILY bolstered seats

Heavily bolstered seats

I have run “slicks and wings” cars before and it is a wonderful thing to feel the car like it is hugging the ground as you go around corners. It makes you feel amazingly secure. This is the best it has ever been in a road car, and indeed most race cars I have driven. It makes you feel invulnerable but it also makes you giggle like crazy.

There is no question that this is the best prancing horse yet. It is both more capable and flexible but also more intense, but in a more refined way than the previous 458 Speciale. “Brutal but not vulgar; elegant” was the apt description of Manzoni.

The big question on enthusiast minds’ is, of course, “how does it sound?” Does it have the right Ferrari noise? Well, turbochargers by nature act as silencers so while the decibel count may be down (there are parts to fix if your neighborhood has lax noise laws) but the roaring monster behind your head is nothing but Ferrari.

Even the sound from the turbo when you shift is different from what you would expect from other forced-induced machines. Whereas with others it is a whine or a whistle, in the 488, it is more like a strong push, a hard exhale as you are getting ready to go even further. A huffing and puffing of a beast right behind you, waiting to be let loose.

So yes, the new turbocharged engine sounds different, not as loud but just as awesome. If anyone disagrees with you, that is fine; you will have plenty of time to think about an answer as you wait for them to catch up.

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