Ferrari’s Fiercest Supercar Ever: The 1183 Horsepower F80
Ferrari has unveiled the F80 supercar, the company's most powerful road car ever, with a combined gas-electric 1183 horsepower. F80 incorporates engineering, technology, materials and concepts derived directly from Formula One and also the Ferrari 499P that has claimed victories the past two years at the Le Mans 24 Hour.
To cover all the engineering details of this hybrid supercar would require a book, and I'm willing to bet if you buy one of the 799 F80s to be produced in Maranello, it will be accompanied by a book and video explaining everything about the car. F80 follows in the state-of-the-art supercar tradition of the 288 GTO, F50, F50, Enzo and LaFerrari.
Considering the technology in the F80, it's hard to decide where to start, but the heart of the matter is always the engine, or in this case its gas-electric hybrid powertrain. F80's turbocharged 3.0-liter 120-degree V6 produces 887 horsepower, or 900 cv in Ferrari's preferred French measurement, Cheval Vapeur. That is the highest specific output of any Ferrari road car engine, ever.
"Specific output" sounds like esoterica only relevant to nerds and engineers, but it is a critical measurable that can be readily understood. Specific output means this engine produces more power per liter, more power per cubic centimeter of displacement than any Ferrari road car engine ever.
Think of it this way: F80's turbocharged engine is half the size (half the "displacement") and has half the cylinders of the naturally aspirated (non-turbo) Ferrari V12, yet it produces more power. In boxing, we'd call this punching far above your weight. Or to borrow from the Bard, "Though she be but little, she is fierce," as Shakespeare's petite but mighty Hermia describes herself in A Midsummer's Night Dream, Act III, Scene 2. This is one fierce little engine.
At 120 degrees, this is a "wide-angle" V6, different from the 60- or 90-degree V6s commonly found in mainstream sedans. Not quite a flat 180-degree engine like those from a certain sports car company in Stuttgart, but not unlike the Dino racing V6s of the early 1960s that won a world championship for Ferrari with American Phil Hill at the wheel. These first Dinos also had a vee angle of 120 degrees.
More relevant to the 21st Century, though, this engine has many components derived from the engine of the 499P, the Ferrari hybrid hypercar race machine that has won the Le Mans 24 Hour the past two years.
This is without question a road car that embodies the very latest advances of top-level racing, proof that racing remains relevant and not just entertainment for mechanics. F80's only comparable in the world in the Mercedes-AMG ONE.
The "flatness" of the engine, its relative lack of height, is critical to F80's highly scienced out aerodynamics, as the engine and gearbox are not only "short" in stature, but are then also tilted slightly upwards at the back to sandwich into the carbon-fiber and alloy chassis and not interfere with or obstruct the efficient flow of air under or through the rear of the car, and that leads to greater stability at higher speeds.
Only in the purest of sporting cars does one see this measure of thought about how every system and subsystem impacts and also fits with other systems.
Next, we must add the three electric motors, two up front and one out back. Ferrari has proven this fundamental approach with the SF90 Stradale and evolves the concept here. Each compact electric motor in the nose powers a wheel, allowing the computers to apply power to each wheel separately, to enhance grip and cornering agility.
These motors are the first designed and developed entirely in-house by Ferrari, a critical step as the boys of Maranello look at all-electric supercars in the future.
One can only guess at the compact nature of the electric motors because the nose of the F80 is a masterwork in complex aerodynamic forms, with an S-Duct built where one might think about placing a few pieces of soft luggage.
Having a massive S-Duct and two electric motors is a great feat of packaging. The third electric motor is incorporated at the rear of the car.
To use a favored term of the art world, F80 is mixed media. The central tub of the chassis is constructed from a mix of carbon-fiber and other composites. Attached to that tub are front and rear alloy subframes (think of them as big spars) to carry the powertrain and also the suspension. Subframes are extruded alloy chemically "glued" together with cast alloy joints. The bodywork, which is in great part a highly complex aerodynamic sheath, is made entirely of carbon-fiber. Ferrari will produce just 799 examples of F80.
