Tag Archives: 458

90 Hours and 500 Zip Ties – Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 #2844

3 years after starting race car driving, in which the highlight was winning the 2005 Six Hours of the Glen with Niclas Jönsson in the Grand Am series, Tracey W Krohn founded his own Grand Am team in late 2005 and started competing in the at the 2006 Daytona 24 hours.

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, 6 Hours of Silverstone

Success was immediate as Krohn team driver Jörg Bergmeister won the drivers championship and Krohn Racing finished second in the top DP division of the championship. Right from the start Krohn Racing also ran a parallel GT program mostly at Le Mans with Risi Competizione running Ferrari’s.

Krohn, Jönsson, Mediani, 6 Hours of Silverstone

Since 2011 Krohn Racing has run it’s own GT programme to compete in the US and European Le Mans series, which in Europe last year became the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Krohn Racing started competing in the GTE Am class of the WEC last year with today’s featured car the Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 chassis #2844 that this year has been driven by Tracey, Swede Niclas Jönsson with whom he won the Watkins Glen six hours and former Russian Formula 3 Open Wheel champion Maurizio Mediani.

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, 6 Hours of Silverstone

There seems to be some confusion about the name of this model with various sources quoting it as a GTC others including Krohn Racing’s own website calling it an F458 GTE however the Ferrari website calls the model a GT2 which is good enough for me. If you know different chime in below.

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, 6 Hours of Silverstone

Based on the stunning Ferrari 458 Italia road car the GT2 differs with it’s more aggressive aerodynamic aids, however like the road car it has power steering, air conditioning to keep the cockpit temperatures tolerable and perhaps most surprisingly electric mirrors.

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, 6 Hours of Silverstone

Power from the 4.5 litre / 274.6 cui V8 is restricted by air intake restrictor plates that means the motor produces a maximum 465hp at 6,250 rpm down from 562hp at 9,000 rpm in the road car.

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, 6 Hours of Silverstone

#2844 is seen here at the recent 6 Hours of Silverstone where the team came home 25th overall and 6th in class. Since then the car has competed at the Spa 6 Hours where the team came home 28th overall and 8th in class and at the Le Mans test where Will and Maurizio recorded 61st fastest time.

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, 6 Hours of Silverstone

The chassis final appearance was at the Le Mans 24 hours where during the opening day of practice Will, as Tracey is known, skidded off the track in the Dunlop Curves and wrecked the €480,000 / US$ 628,000 car fortunately with out any injury to himself.

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, 6 Hours of Silverstone

By 11pm that night Krohn Racing had concluded a deal with Edelcriss Racing in Northern Italy to lease a their racing 458 chassis. Only problem was it was a more powerful GT3 spec car and it was 1,100 miles away. The Edelcriss Racing transporter set off with the car for a 15 hour sprint to Le Mans.

Ferrari 458 Italia GT2, 6 Hours of Silverstone

When it arrived it was promptly stripped and refettled to GT2 spec using all of the salvageable parts from #2844 a task which took a team of ten technicians 9 hours and some 500 Zip (cable) ties.

The new car was ready to roll for the Thursday qualification session in which Le Mans rookie Maurizio had yet to complete 5 laps in order to qualify.

The car made it to the grid but had to retire at 1am after another accident at the Porsche Curves left the new car stranded out on the track.

All of Krohn Racing troubles were put into perspective when they learned that fellow GTE Am competitor Allan Simonsen, seen above leading the Krohn Ferrari in the #95 Aston Martin, was killed in after a crash during the opening laps of the Le Mans 24 hours after he left the circuit at Tetre Rouge.

An appreciation of Allan’s life will be appearing in tomorrow’s blog.

Thanks for joining me on this ’90 Hours and 500 Zip Ties’ edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”. I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Naturally Aspirated Production Engine World Record – Ferrari 458 Italia

The Ferrari 458 Italia is an entirely new design that replaced the F430 in all of it’s guises, sports car track car and race car.

Ferrari 458 Italia, Simply Italian Beaulieu

The body, one of the most graceful Ferrari’s ever in my opinion, was designed by Pininfarina, it generates 140 kgs / 308 lbs of down force when traveling at 124 mph.

Ferrari 458 Italia, Simply Italian Beaulieu

Launched in 2009 the 458 Italia features many technologies carried over from recent Ferrari Formula One programmes.

Ferrari 458 Italia, Simply Italian Beaulieu

These include the steering wheel which incorporates a number of controls that are familiar to Formula One drivers.

Ferrari 458 Italia, Simply Italian Beaulieu

The brake calipers are designed to return the pads into close proximity with the brake discs after lifting off in order to reduce the delay the next time they are used, this has helped reduce breaking distances to 32.5 meters / 35.6 meters when decelerating to rest from 62 mph.

Ferrari 458 Italia, Simply Italian Beaulieu

With 562 hp from its 4.5 litre / 274.6 cui V8 the 458 Italia holds the current world record for power per litre / cui from a naturally aspirated production engine.

Ferrari 458 Italia, Simply Italian Beaulieu

Traditional manual transmission is not an option on the 458 Italia relies on a paddle shift on the steering wheel to operate the dual-clutch and seven speed gearbox, again technology which is derived from current Formula One practice.

Ferrari 458 Italia, Simply Italian Beaulieu

The roll out of the 458 Italia has been interrupted by a poor choice of adhesive used in the rear wheel arch assemblies which proved lacking in heat resistance which caused several wheel arch assemblies to distort and catch fire when coming too close to the exhaust. Ferrari recalled 1,248 458 Italia’s to have the rear wheel arch assemblies replaced with new ones using conventional fasteners. Several owners will also have cars damaged by fire replaced.

Ferrari 458 Italia, Simply Italian Beaulieu

It is claimed, by Ferrari, that from rest a 458 Italia will reach 62mph in 3.4 mph and a top speed of over 202 mph and that it will return 21.2 mpg (imperial) and 17.7 mpg (us).

Thanks for joining me on this “Naturally Aspirated Production Engine World Record” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I be looking at an unreliable but still championship contending Lotus. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Endurance Record – Castle Combe

Thanks to the hospitality of Simon Lewis sponsor of the THE SIMON LEWIS TRANSPORT BOOKS FREE SINGLE-SEATER SERIES I found myself attending the British Endurance Championship Racing Weekend at Castle Combe on Sunday.

Smart, Castle Combe, BECRW

As I got out of the car and prepared myself for a long afternoon’s racing there was a demonstration of Smart cars in progress including this neat 3 axle combination of car and caravan. Not exactly what I had in mind when I made up my mind to retire from camping in favour of wheeled temporary accommodation, but this combo would certainly cut a smart dash in the Le Mans camp site.

Britcar MSA Endurance Championship, Castle Combe, BECRW

The first race of the day was for Smart cars which preceded the Smart car demonstration, the second race of the day was the 2 hour Britcar MSA Endurance Championship Round which included a welcome grid walk for the public before the race got underway.

Britcar MSA Endurance Championship, Castle Combe, BECRW

Javier Morcillo from Spain driving the #3 Mosler MT900R set an electrifying early pace from pole position that only Micheal Millard driving the #7 Rapier 6 SR2 was able to match.

Calum Lockie, Mosler MT900R, Castle Combe, BECRW

I was rooting, in vane as it turned out, for one of my many racing instructors, Calum Lockie, driving the #6 Mosler who was forced to join the fray from a pit lane.

Javier Morcillo, Mosler MT900R, Castle Combe, BECRW

After an incident requiring a Safety Car, during which Lockie now running in the top six pitted early for fuel, Millard got past Morcillo who promptly indulged in some lawn mowing which forced him to stop with serious overheating issues out on the circuit.

Micheal Millard, Rapier 6 SR2, Castle Combe, BECRW

Millard then proceeded to lead for most of the next hour, a lap ahead of the next fastest car on the circuit, who proved to be Lockie, until he pitted to hand over the Rapier to Ian Heward.

Phil Dryburgh / John Gaw, Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari 458, Castle Combe, BECRW

By the time the mandatory pit stops had all been completed it was the Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari 458 driven by Phil Dryburgh and John Gaw running in the invitational class that was uncomfortably in the lead being chased down by the Rapier of Millard/Heward.

No sooner had the #7 Rapier taken the lead with 25 mins to go then it too spun out, leaving the Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari to finish first for the second time in this years Britcar Championship. In the process Dryburgh and Gaw set a new Castle Combe record for the most laps covered in a single race at 96 laps up from the previous record of 95.

Arty Cameron, Jedi, Castle Combe, BECRW

The third race of the day was the first of two races in the THE SIMON LEWIS TRANSPORT BOOKS FREE SINGLE-SEATER SERIES. 2010 Monoposto 1000 cc champion Arty Cameron caused a huge upset by catching those ahead of him asleep at the start and snatched the lead from the third row of the grid driving the chain driven #46 Jedi and held it for the opening lap until the more powerful Formula 3 Dallara Renault F302 of pole sitter Stuart Wiltshire breezed past to a comfortable victory. Arty blew his motor making a race of it with the Formula 3 Ralt Vauxhall RT3 of Jim Blockley which came in second.

Tony Dolley, Peugeot 206 GTi, Castle Combe, BECRW

Tony Dolley driving a Peugeot 206 GTi drove to a second win of the weekend in the Castle Combe Racing Club Saloon Championship after his main challenger Rob Ballard went hay making in his Seat Cupra at Bobbies Chicane early in the race.

Ben Norton, #111 Spectrum 10b, Rob Hall, #35 Swift SC10, Castle Combe, BECRW

It’s been around 20 years since I last saw a Formula Ford race and though there was a change from using Ford Kent engines to Ford Zetec Engines in 1993 and again to using Ford Duratec Engines in 2006 this race catered for cars Formula Ford cars of all ages but all powered by the early Kent engines. My conviction that Formula One would be a lot more entertaining if the cars were built to Formula Ford regulations was confirmed by the race long duel of Ben Norton seen driving the #111 Spectrum 10b and Rob Hall in the #35 Swift SC10. The race was red flagged after an accident between two competitors on the penultimate lap. So far as I know neither was seriously hurt.

Ian Hall, Darrian T98 GTR, Simon Tilling, #23 Radical SR3 RS, Castle Combe, BECRW

Variety was again the watch word for the Castle Combe Sports and GT Championship which featured a somewhat recalcitrant Rover V8 powered #17 Darrian T98 GTR of Ian Hall seen here about to be overtaken by Simon Tillings immaculate #23 Radical SR3 RS powered by a 400 hp 1300 cc / 79 cui Radical Performance Engines tuned turbocharged Suzuki GSX_R motorcycle engine. Tilling, who starting from the back of the grid, blitzed the opposition recording a new class 103 mph lap record, and fastest overall lap of the day, in his amazingly agile machine.

Ray Rowan, Dallara F398, Jim Blockley, Ralt RT3, Roger Orgee, Van Diemen RF00, Castle Combe, BECRW

The final race of the day was another in the THE SIMON LEWIS TRANSPORT BOOKS FREE SINGLE-SEATER SERIES and in the absence of Arty Cameron it was Castle Combe regular Roger Orgee, driving the #6 Ford Zetec powered Van Diemen RF00 Formula Ford car, who got the jump on Jim Blockley in the #24 Ralt and Ray Rowan in the Formula 3 #23 Dallara F398 and almost completed a lap in 2nd place before the more powerful Ralt and Dallara breezed past the wingless Van Diemen.

Stuart, Wiltshire, Dallara F302/04, Castle Combe, BECRW

Blackley in the Ralt passed Rowan for second but by this time Stuart Wiltshire was long gone on his way to his second victory, concluding an excellent day’s entertainment.

My thanks again to Simon Lewis who made today’s blog possible.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Endurance edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow for a look at a post war Rover. Don’t forget to come back now !

14 01 12 Amended Britcar record race distance to 96 laps not 97 laps as originally stated, thanks to Tim Murray and Pete Stowe for pointing out the error.

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