The design is a complete change from how the current crop of Formula One cars look whilst still sticking to the FIA’s technical rules. Last season the teams came under a bit of criticism for some of the designs on show, with most of the rage pointed towards the nose cone area.

[padding type=”small_left”][quote_colored name=”” icon_quote=”no”]Would it be possible to come up with an F1 car which not only is technologically advanced, but also captivating to the eye and aggressive-looking? And could this be made without having to overturn the current technical rules?[/quote_colored][/padding]
The new concept was revealed as the F1 commission met to discuss the future of the sport in Geneva.In that meeting the commission rejected proposals to completely re-work the sports regulations for the 2016 season.

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Ferrari is asking for your thoughts on the design, so if you want to have your say follow this link. McLaren and Red Bull have also produced some concept ideas for new F1 cars at a recent strategy group meeting, but both teams declined to release these images to the public.

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Handmade in Italy, this set has been made from carbon fibre covered wood and the playing surface squares are a combination of carbon fibre and fibreglass. The chess pieces inside are made from black and red varnished wood, with the knight piece taking its inspiration from Ferrari’s famous prancing horse logo, and also comes with 16 black and 16 red pieces for playing draughts.

This set is available to buy now from the official Ferrari store and will set you back £1,500

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By the late 80’s the company had made their first carbon fibre prototype. The first fruit of Colnago and Ferrari Engineering’s cooperation was the Concept bicycle with carbon fibre tubes, composite three-spoke wheels and a gear system enclosed in the chainrings. The unusual gears made it too heavy for production, but the ideas in its frame have been used in all subsequent Colnago carbon fibre bicycles.

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Back in August of last year the word coming out of Ferrari was no to carbon fibre composites, Amedeo Felisa the Ferrari CEO was quoted by the LA Times saying that according to Ferrari’’s forecast, carbon technology won’’t be where the company needs it to be when making 10 to 15 cars a day until 2020. Much of this he said comes down to the resins used, right now, the resins are just too heavy and lack the mechanical characteristics Ferrari wants.

Almost a year down the line and Ferrari look to have found the resin with the right characteristics, the LaFerrari has to be up there as one of the most composite intensive cars on the market right now.

Chassis and Bodyshell

For the Chassis and Bodyshell of the car, Ferrari used its many years of F1 experience in choosing the materials. Their F1 designer, Rory Byrne was brought in with a group of GT and F1 engineers to create a chassis that would provide maximum strength with minimum weight as well as working around the hybrid system. During the engineering phase a number of functions were integrated within the chassis design to reduce weight. One example is the seat structure which is part of the chassis, lowering weight and ensuring a more compact architecture and a lower centre of gravity.

The chassis is built entirely in-house in Maranello alongside the F1 single-seaters using the Scuderia’s materials and production processes. Just like in F1, pre-preg composites of aeronautical derivation are employed: four different types of carbon-fibre are used, because each area of the body-in-black is engineered to guarantee the functional requirements it has to meet.

Most of the tub is made of T800 with both fabric and unidirectional tape being strategically hand laid up to ensure that the right material is in the right place. T1000 unidirectional tape and fabric is used in areas that are important for passenger compartment protection, such as the doors and the sills. Its high energy absorption characteristics pass the strictest side-impact legislation norms. Structural elements of the body are made using M46J unidirectional tape and fabric which is extremely rigid, but lightweight.

For the underbody, carbon-fibre is combined with another specialist composite material Kevlar, which is used to protect the carbon structure from road debris damage.The multi-material approach was adopted for the entire body-in-black in order to reduce the number of components to the benefit of lower weight. An example is the one-piece rear section, which is a single piece hand laid-up using a combination of M46J and T800 carbon-fibres to obtain a very lightweight, yet rigid structure. The carbon-fibre is cured in the same autoclaves used for the F1 chassis in two phases between 130°and 150°C using vacuum bags to remove any voids in the laminate.

Styling

The cars styling has been heavily influenced with the composite materials used, the lower section of the tail features bare carbon-fibre and is dominated by deep apertures and a large diffuser equipped with movable flaps that adjust when the motorised spoiler is deployed.

The carbon fibre door panels are an integrated part of the cabin design also, the shells sleekly and efficiently hug the cars form. In another move taken from F1 the car’s various functions are integrated on the steering wheel. The flappy paddle gear-shifters are now longer and more ergonomic and the signature bridge on which the other F1 gearbox functions are clustered has taken on a sleek, suspended wing-like shape on which the buttons are arranged for optimal efficiency. 

With only 499 being made and no price as of yet you’d better get on the waiting list pretty quick if you want one.

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The F1 inspired carbon fibre chassis has been created for the new limited edition F70, the replacement for the Enzo. The chassis uses four different types of carbon-fibre and is hand-laminated then cured in autoclaves following engineering processes which optimise the design by integrating the different components.

The main structure of the chassis is made from T800 carbon with strategic applications of a unidirectional carbon-fibre tape for added reinforcement. To ensure weight was kept to an absolute minimum, the structural underbody and the cross-member are made using another type of particularly high tensile strength carbon-fibre known as M46J.

In critical areas, such as the doors, very tough T1000 was adopted as it is particularly efficient in terms of impact absorption which is why it is used in the nose-cone of the single-seaters. Carbon fibre is combined with Kevlar for the undertray to stop damage from debris thrown up from the road.

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