F40 question

[Welshbeef]

This car is one of my all time poster cars it's legendary.

The question I have is usually V8's are super charged not turbo charged reason being is to not to mute the v8 sound track. What is the benefit of turbo over turbo on this car?
Would this car have been even better wrh supercharged? Or is it a case of this is a racing car it needs to be the lightest possible with the most power ie more power than the chassis can handle (which im assuming is the case with the F40 Le Mans 750bhp version).


Lastly what is the 0-100mph for this legend??

Reason for these questions I saw one on the Mway the other week classism traffic not driving fast just wit the flow of traffic stunning shape stunning noise - in fact whe I've seen them in te Silverstone classic stationary they look like they are doing 200mph. Lovely lovely cars dream cars

[Dave Hedgehog]

i believe the F40 was built to FIA Group B so that it could be raced (against 959)

and the series then got cancelled

mid 7s for the 100, so there slightly brisk

Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Monday 26th December 09:19

[Monty Python]

Dave Hedgehog said:

i believe the F40 was built to FIA Group B so that it could be raced (against 959)

and the series then got cancelled

mid 7s for the 100, so there slightly brisk

Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Monday 26th December 09:19

The F40 was never designed to race - that was the 288GTO Evoluzione. The F40 was a built purely as a road car against the 959 and Countach.

Why turbochargers? Proabably because they're lighter.

Edited by Monty Python on Monday 26th December 09:57

[DanielC4GP]

I'm not 100% sure but I thought it might have something to to do with the fact that in the 80s Turbo's were the big thing and the current trend.

Think the 0-100MPH time was around the 7.5 to 8 second mark.

[Welshbeef]

If they were to design the car again would it now be supercharged or turbo?

I guess taking the new McLaren turbo still seems to be the way to go for a racing car

[Crafty_]

Monty Python said:

Why turbochargers? Proabably because they're lighter and require less complex installation.

On a V8 surely a supercharger is simpler ? remove intake, fit supercharger, happy days.

With a turbo you need far more complex exhaust manifolds and pipework from inlet to the turbo to an intercooler to the intake. You don't have to have an intercooler but realistically one is needed, especially for high performance.

I suspect it was done for weight/size reasons - although we have fairly light superchargers available now back then they were hulking great bits of metal like :



Quite apart from the weight it'd probably be a bit of a struggle to make that fit.

[Fordo]

To put it simply - there are more gains to be got from a turbo than from supercharging.


However, superchargers give a smoother power delivery, where as Turbos can have a boost threshold- below which they're not providing boost. Most people think thats turbo lag. Gives an uneven power delivery form low in the revs. "nothing nothing.... woah i've left my face behind!"

which ruins the nice smooth power delivery of a V8. Most V8 cars demand a bit of refinement - think jag xjr. Power at any point in the rev range pretty much.

The F40 was designed to be out and out fast - smooth delivery wasnt a consideration- 'you should be high up in the revs so you wont go below boost threshold' kind of attitude.

Now though, the trend is going back to turbos - With modern engineering and materials- (roller bearing turbos, sequential ones, ones with vanes that adjust their angle), its possible to almost all but elevate boost threshold altogether. It becomes so low, its of no difference.

On my old car, I swapped out the turbo for a larger rolling bearing one, as well as improving the turbo elbow and downpipe shape and diameter. Boost threshold dropped a whole 1000 rpm. Was quite bonkers - by 1500 rpm, the turbo was already spooled up and providing power.


This means you can now have the smooth delivery of a supercharger, but the power gains of a turbo. Not to mention, superchargers do cost a bit of engine power to run. Turbos are often refered to as 'free power'. Not quite that simple, but you get the idea.

So I doubt we'll see many superchargers in the future - shame, I look the mad whine they make.