Yahoo Autos Ferrari 499P revealed, takes Maranello back to top-level endurance racing
This is the international endurance racer picking up the torch Ferrari put down 50 years ago when the factory-backed 312 PB turned off its engine at the end of the 1973 season. After 18 months of preparation, the ladies and gentlemen in Maranello have served up this, the 499P for the World Endurance Championship (WEC) Le Mans Hypercar class (LMH).
It will commence racing next year in the top flight, by 2024 competing in a field counting Glickenhaus, Peugeot and Toyota in LMH, and Acura, Alpine, BMW, Cadillac, Lamborghini and Porsche in the U.S.-based equivalent Le Mans Daytona Hybrids (LMDh). Ferrari will naturally be looking to win as many races as possible, but it especially wants to add to its tally of nine overall victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the last one earned in 1965 when Masten Gregory, Ed Hugs and Jochen Rindt took the checkered flag in a 250 LM.
Ferrari chose LMH because those rules allow the manufacturer to build the entire vehicle, whereas LMDh mandates a spec chassis and some spec components. Behind the 499P's custom carbon fiber monocoque, Ferrari designed a 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 that began with a 120-degree architecture evolved from the engine in the 296 GT3 race car and 296 GTB road car. This is where the new racer's name comes from, each cylinder displacing 499 cubic centimeters, the P standing for prototype. The architecture is about all the three cars have in common, though. The mill in the 499P and the seven-speed sequential transmission attached to it are stressed units, meaning it's part of the structure, unlike the engines in the other runners. This required a different philosophy in the details, resulting in the 499P engine not sharing parts with its racing siblings.
