Thursday 8th August 2013

Alonso in LaFerrari

Onboard video reveals unexpected Allegro influence in Ferrari's new hypercar

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LaFerrari's cards have been played closer to its chest than those of McLaren's P1 but as both cars evolve from showfloor stars to living, breathing hypercars Ferrari has released a video of some shakedown laps with Fernando Alonso.

Steering wheel familiar to anyone?

To Fernando's credit he tends to come across as a lot more relaxed and chatty in these promo videos for his employers than he necessarily does when he's in his F1 overalls. With shorts, shades and the occasional cheeky skid he's clearly out for more of a hoon in LaFerrari than a serious data crunching test run but it's good to see and hear the car in action.

Given that Ferrari has previously boasted that "We try to make aerodynamics with the shape of the car, not to have bigger wings and things like that" (see here for the full story) it's interesting to see the emergence of LaFerrari's rear wing. Although it's not as prominent or active as the P1's, nor is LaFerrari's downforce entirely generated through integrated aero, as implied by Andrea Bassi in the above quote. In discussion with Ferrari's Roberto Fedeli we learned LaFerrari has a 50/50 mix between passive and active aero, Fedeli saying a greater emphasis on the latter adds too much weight and detracts from the purity of the driver experience.

LaFerrari also reveals some surprising BL influence in its interior with the addition of an Allegro style 'quartic' steering wheel.

Active aero emerges from LaFerrari's body

If that's putting you off the noise of the thing will probably bring you back on-side, LaFerrari's V12 already tipped as having the aural edge over the P1's turbocharged V8 and certainly sounding very much the part here.

Keep 'em peeled for a McLaren YouTube riposte and update to its previous teaser vid sooner rather than later...

[Sources: Ferrari's YouTube channel via AxisOfOversteer]

 

 

 

 

 

[walsh]

He actually looks a little scared...

st a brick that car looks quick.

[Lunja]

Not sure about that wheel. At 1.10 it doesn't look like the driver is either...

[possibletowel]

wheel looks hard to deal with when some oppo is required

[PascalBuyens]

It is called a steering "wheel" for a reason...

Wheels are not supposed to be square.

[FWDRacer]

Behold the modernised 'Octagrip'

[VladD]

I hope that thing has a cup holder for his can of Red Bull (tm).

[tobinen]

Like the breaks tune. ID anyone?

[j90gta]

Notice that Fernando has certainly got his "lean on" with that driving position; he hardly seems to be able to see over the top of the wheel. Is that why it's not round??

[anonymous-user]

Looks like he's driving using one of these:




;-)

[Stokemon]

Looks like a twitchy little bugger. God help the person not called Fernando Alonso who tries to drive one of these fast...

[Krikkit]

Stokemon said:

Looks like a twitchy little bugger. God help the person not called Fernando Alonso who tries to drive one of these fast...

I would assume it's in race/maximum attack because Alonso can cope. Lesser mortals can leave the stability systems on.

[r11co]

Can we stop calling it 'the LaFerrari' and drop 'the'? It'll educate the masses and stop grating on those who know Italian.

[jonm01]

Looks a real handful.

[GranCab]

The steering wheel looks like it has been in an accident already ...

[tomv1to]

r11co said:

Can we stop calling it 'the LaFerrari' and drop 'the'? It'll educate the masses and stop grating on those who know Italian.

As soon as people stop saying PIN number we can

[Ex Boy Racer]

why was Ronnie O'Sullivan driving that funny car?

[aarondbs]

tomv1to said:

As soon as people stop saying PIN number we can

I thought the name of the car was LaFerrari so therefore the Laferrari would work. Without the 'the' its the Ferrari Ferrari rather than the Ferrari LaFerrari which surely can't be right?

[Burnham]

This or a P1....what a nice problem it would be to have to choose.

[Morningside]

Good. I am glad it was not just me that noticed this. See Austin were years ahead of their time

[The Danimal]

Doesn't Felipe get a go for his feedback?.....