For all the apparently comparable performance, price and suchlike McLaren and Ferrari are keen to emphasise crucial differences in their respective
P1
LaFerrari
We’ve already had a look at the different approaches to aero on the two cars. But a chat with Ferrari’s head of GT cars Roberto Fedeli at last week’s Maranello press event and subsequent exchange of emails with the P1’s chief designer Dan Parry-Williams reveals the fundamentally different approaches to the carbon tech at the heart of the cars.
LaFerrari parts 'not shared'
It’s probably not too surprising to hear that McLaren is keen to put its name to its ‘productionised’ manufacturing processes already used on the
12C
– one of that car’s claims to fame over the aluminium
458
“The MonoCage [the heart of the P1] is produced using a development of the productionised process developed for the MonoCell in the 12C and 12C Spider,” says Parry-Williams. “This industrialisation of this process has been developed following more than 30 years of experience working with carbon fibre, having pioneered its use in Formula 1 and in road cars.”
But Ferrari has been notably sniffy about the P1’s shared basis with the 12C, Luca di Montezemolo quick to point out that the LaFerrari shares nothing with any other Ferrari in the range in his presentation speech at the Geneva show, just about avoiding the temptation to flick vees at the McLaren stand in the process. So just how much does the P1 have in common with the 12C?
Ferrari will stick with aluminium for lesser models
“The MonoCage shares a similar ‘tub’ design to the MonoCell from the 12C, but then incorporates a number of new and revised elements, including the full upper roof structure,” says Parry-Williams, picking out the integrated roof ‘snorkel’ intake as one example of the P1’s more radical design. “The McLaren P1 engine and powertrain is significantly different to the 12C, and other major elements such as the bodywork, suspension and aerodynamic systems, wheels, tyres and the braking system are all bespoke to the McLaren P1. There are a number of carryover parts, as it was not necessary to re-engineer certain items, but this includes a wide range of minor components.”
Anyone familiar with high-end road bicycles will, however, be aware of a degree of backlash against the ‘carbon is god’ mindset and realisation that ‘old-school’ materials and production techniques are far from obsolete, at least at the higher end. Far from being the wonder material marketeers would have us believe, less sophisticated carbon can often be heavier and less effective than the steel and aluminium alloys it’s replacing.
P1 is less labour-intensive to produce
Which is why Fedeli is sticking with aluminium for what he charmingly refers to as ‘normal’ Ferraris like the 458,
California
F12
, claiming a 15 per cent improvement in weight saving with more to come as more sophisticated alloys and production techniques are developed.
But the LaFerrari had to use carbon, the difference over the P1 being that Ferrari favours a laborious handbuilt approach that’s more intensive in manpower and time (passenger cells will trickle off the line at one per day, with a team of 15 working on each) but, reckons Fedeli, superior in the final reckoning.
“The secret of the weight saving is to dispose each fibre according to the load,” he told us. “You have to choose the direction [of the fibres] and you can dispose the fibre according to the direction but you have to do it only by a very hand-made process with a lot of man hours.” Indeed, the LaFerrari’s tub uses four different types of carbon fibre and weighs 75kg. The P1’s weighs 90kg though, as Parry-Willia
Ferrari says P1's active aero adds too much weight
ms points out, “this weight includes the upper and lower structures (including roof), roof snorkel, engine air intake cavity, battery and power electronics housing.”
Fedeli also cites weight when asked about McLaren’s claim that the P1’s active aero, which can increase the downforce by a two and half times when “employed to maximum effect”, is superior to LaFerrari’s. On his car it’s a straight 50/50 split between active and passive aero. “To do more than 50 per cent you need very big surfaces and this means again weight,” he told us, also saying the Ferrari approach gives a more natural feel to the driving experience.
Meanwhile does this ‘handbuilt’ cachet carry over into the high-tech carbon age? Fedeli reckons so. “What I want is when the customer drives the car he says the same; this is unique.”
Man versus machine then and, predictably, Ferrari claiming heart and soul for LaFerrari and McLaren the technological high ground for the P1. And still hot air for the time being. But no less entertaining for it.