MMy Ferrari Challenge Experience

[G.Irish]

Race Report
Our driver Skip started race 1 in 10th spot and Allie was in 16th. On the start several of the top 5 got involved in a huge crash at turn 1. Allie jumped up a few spots but apparently passed someone under yellow. Rather than getting it sorted out under full course yellow race control waited until after the green flag before assessing him a penalty so his race was over. Skip actually carved his way all the way up to 5th before spinning off and finished 11th. In doing so he set the third fastest lap of the race.

Race 2 used the finishing positions from Race 1 to set the grid. In Race 2 Skip was able to get back towards the front of the pack. Allie was doing the same when he got hit trying to make a pass. He ended up having to retire with a busted up radiator. Back at the front it was two guys duking it out and gapping everyone until they got into it and both of 'em went off track and off the podium. One of those guy's car actually caught on fire and he DNF'ed.

Mo' pics


333 SP engine. Its kinda wild when there is so much bling at a track that you don't take many pics of a car like the 333




This was the car that belongs to the FoW owner. He was trying to pass another car and got the door slammed on him, which bashed up his bumper and broke one his radiators. The car promptly started overheating and the LCD dash started flashing "Danger to teh manifold!!!" so he had to retire. These guys seemed particularly enamored with our battle damage.


I mentioned this in the Sebring thread but apparently the 430 and 360 are particularly prone to catching on fire. The fire didn't spread too far here but melted the rear lexan and probably vaporized a bunch of the hoses and wired in the engine bay.






This was a girlfriend of one of the drivers. It was funny seeing her do wheelies but she was kinda cheating by letting her legs hang. On the other hand, she was wobbling like a mofo at low speed so maybe keeping her legs down was a good idea...


This guy's car got wrecked the f up in the first turn, first lap melee in the first race. The car had its front bumper and radiator supports torn off and huge dents in the side. The team worked a miracle overnight getting it looking even that good, but they didn't make the race.














This was easily my favorite paintjob out there =P The girl on the hood was a former Playboy Playmate who decided to become an artist. That was actually a self portrait she did. I'm not sure if she actually painted it or if it was a reproduction of a painting she did.


Former Ferrari F1 engineers come support the F1 cars in the F1 Clienti program. Technically brilliant guys but questionable taste in pants and socks.




Worst, tattoo, ever. On top of that it was sunburned.


Note the temp strips on the control arms and end of the gearbox


With the rear diffuser off you can peep the tranny and rear airjack






Ferrari Challenge crew hard at work examining visualizations on Winamp


Ferrari Tech
Here Bryan (also called "Turbo", "Flash", and "Youngblood" by our truck driver to hilarious effect) is bleeding the brakes. Note the LCD dash display and the little module down by his leg. The little module plugs into the car's electronics and wireless transmits all the diagnostic data to the tech's laptop. Most of the diagnostic data can be displayed on the LCD dash though. It also is a hot lap timer.


Here the crew chief of my car is changing the brake pads. The wire coming from one of the pads sitting on the floor connects to the ECU. It tracks pad wear so the techs can know when its time to change pads. Similarly, the ECU keeps track of how much the ceramic brake rotors have been used so they can know when to replace them.


One thing I really liked about the 430's is that they sound like a pair of high revving inline 4's, not unlike what you would hear if you welded two S2000 engines together. And sure enough its not far from the truth. The 430 engine is a flat-crank 90 degree V8 so it basically is a siamese twin four cylinder. But with the 430 the two cylinder banks each have their own ECU and independent fuel pumps. The engine can actually run with just one bank of cylinders running.