Prepare for some high-speed action in the world of motorsports this month
Ferrari flyer
Not content with winning seven Formula 1 world titles, racing legend Michael Schumacher is now looking to conquer the luxury sportscar market
Ferrari is hoping that Grand Prix legend Michael Schumacher can do for the company off the track what he did on it – that is: to give the Prancing Horse outfit another dream winner, this time with its latest supercar.
Like F1 superstar Ayrton Senna before him, with his input into the fabled Honda NSX, Schumacher has followed suit by contributing his ideas for the new F430 Scuderia. The German ace took the covers off the thriller of a car at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. It will soon go on sale worldwide, alongside the existing F430 Coupé and the Spider.
No price has yet been set for the hard-top, 510bhp V8 flyer, but it’s reckoned it will be substantially higher than the €172,000 Coupé.
Inside the spartan cockpit, Ferrari has fashioned a copy of Schumacher’s F1 cockpit. Its stripped-down interior has thin racing seats and its back-end is aerodynamically styled. Gear changes on the vastly improved and updated automated manual shift system are phenomenally fast – down to 60 milliseconds and on a par with Schumacher’s world title-winning race car.
“This is a really beautiful car,” smiles Schumacher, “an absolute thriller in the great Ferrari tradition.”
Sim city
Airline pilots and high-flying Top Guns have them, and now car drivers are getting in on the action. Scientists from the ITS Safety Group at Leeds University in Yorkshire, England, have built the most sophisticated simulator in Europe to test the reactions of motorists
The €2.5m set-up imitates the antics of a real car when it hits trouble. Telescopic supports throw it into pitches and tilts and 10m-long rails let it slide along at a chosen speed to replicate G-forces when cornering or accelerating. Six video and LCD displays around the test drivers and in the mirrors give the illusion of an actual journey as participants are given stop-start and slow-fast situations to cope with.
Volunteers will be monitored every step of the way by scientists anxious to discover if driver aids (such as cruise and traction control) affect drivers’ concentration, perhaps by lulling them into a false sense of security behind the wheel, or if they can improve safety.
Argie
barges in
on market
Argentina is moving in on the supercar market with a design inspired by the 1954 Le Mans 24-hour race-winning car driven by Jose Froilan Gonzales. Film animator and car fan Jose Luis Denari liked the look of the triumphant Ferrari 375MM, so he drew up his own version which was unveiled at the Buenos Aires Motor Show.
Called the Denari Froilan, it will use a Chevrolet V8 unit. Denari will follow in the footsteps of famed Argentinian supercar designers Alejandro de Tomaso and Horacio Pagani when his vision goes into production.
DIARY DATES ++ F1: 7 – China, Shanghai; 21 – Brazil, Sao Paulo ++ MotoGp: 14 – Australia, Phillip Island; 21 – Malaysia, Sepang ++ World Superbikes: 7 – France, Magny Cours ++ Motor Shows: 5-14 – Bucharest and Lyon
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