OF LE MANS

HIGHEST LEVEL OF COMPETITION, WITH THE NEW 499P HYPERCAR.

BY VIJU MATHEW

Every legend has an inception point. In the automotive world, one occurred at 4 pm on June 26, 1949, at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France. This was when Luigi Chinetti won the 24 Hours of Le Mans after driving for 22.5 hours. In hindsight, all the credit for his third consecutive Le Mans win is due to the car he was driving, a Ferrari 166 MM. It was the first time a Ferrari had competed at Le Mans.

That victory was the catalyst for Ferrari’s becoming a dominant force in high-performance cars for both the consumer market and motorsport. Ferrari went on to win eight more victories at Le Mans before leaving the highest echelon of endurance racing after the 1973 event. Now, half a century later, the Italian marque is ready to go the distance once again—this time with the new Ferrari 499P hypercar.

“When we decided to commit to this project, we embarked on a path of innovation and development, faithful to our tradition,” said John Elkann, Ferrari’s executive chairman, at the unveiling of the hypercar in October 2022. “The track is the ideal terrain to push the boundaries of cutting-edge technological solutions—solutions that in time will be transferred to our road cars.”

The ethos that motorsport should be the crucible in which the character of the automaker’s models and corporate identity is defined came from founder Enzo Ferrari, who admitted, “I have, in fact, no interest outside of racing cars.” That focus began with his first taste of competition at the age of 21 and continued as he drove for Alfa Romeo before forming his own team, Scuderia Ferrari, in 1929. But a car built by Ferrari, wearing the name, didn’t appear on a starting grid until May 1947 at the Piacenza Circuit in Italy. Although the 12-cylinder 125 S didn’t finish that day, it went on to win the Rome Grand Prix that same month. Worldwide recognition would have to wait for Le Mans two years later.

The 1949 edition of France’s iconic endurance contest, established in 1923, also marked a new beginning. World War II and the postwar national rebuilding effort had paused the 24-hour challenge for nine years. Up until then, Bentley and Alfa Romeo reigned on the grid, but the postwar years saw Ferrari’s ascendancy. Between 1960 and 1965, Ferrari scored six consecutive victories at Le Mans, culminating with a 250 LM victory under the banner of Chinetti’s own North American Racing Team.

But in 1966, Ford caused a famous upset when three of its GT40s swept the podium, further fueling a rivalry depicted in 2019’s Ford v Ferrari, starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale. Later regulation changes proved problematic for Ferrari, and its 312P—powered by a 3-liter flat-12 engine— became Ferrari’s swan song after its campaign in the 1973 season of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) World Sportscar Championship. Ferrari said it left the endurance series to focus on Formula 1. It has now won the World Constructors’ Championship a record 16 times.

The Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar: a vehicle whose “cutting-edge technological solutions in time will be transferred to our road cars,” according to John Elkann, Ferrari’s executive chairman.

For Ferrari, the decision to rejoin the apex of endurance racing’s prototype competition makes sense. The FIA has created a new Hypercar class intended to be more fiscally viable than the outgoing Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) division. This replacement comprises two categories—the Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) and the Le Mans Daytona hybrid (LMDh)—each adhering to many of the same parameters prescribed by the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, the creator and governing body of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. These regulations dictate a minimum weight of approximately 2,271 pounds (1,030 kg), a total output equaling 670 hp and an estimated Le Mans lap time of 3.30 minutes. Importantly, both versions of the Hypercar class are eligible to compete in the FIA’s international World Endurance Championship (WEC) series—Le Mans is the flagship— and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in North America, which includes the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The main differences between the LMH and LMDh prototypes are in the level of autonomy allowed in the development-and-construction process. All LMDh cars, for example, must have their chassis provided by one of four manufacturers—ORECA, Dallara, Multimatic or Ligier—and the car must be equipped with a rear-axle hybrid system. The latter includes a standardized electric system with primary components from Bosch and Williams Advanced Engineering, while Xtrac provides the seven-speed sequential gearbox. The choice of engine and body styling is up to the individual team. Porsche took the LMDh route for its new 963, which had its race debut at the end of January in Daytona, as has Lamborghini for the 2024 season.

In contrast, the LMH protocol permits non-hybridization, giving the builder free rein with the chassis, power train and bodywork, as long as the class parameters are adhered to. And that’s where the Ferrari 499P comes into play.

“The prerequisite for us to enter the [Hypercar] category was to build the whole car in its entirety,” says Antonello Coletta, head of the Ferrari Attività Sportive GT division overseeing the project. “This was only possible in the LMH configuration. “Ferrari has designed, engineered and manufactured the body, engine, electric motor and all of the car’s components—as always, the car coming out of Maranello is 100 percent Ferrari.”

“Ferrari has designed, engineered and manufactured the body, engine, electric motor and all of the car’s components. As always, the car coming out of Maranello is 100 percent Ferrari,” says Antonello Coletta (pictured right), head of the Ferrari Attività Sportive GT division.

At the core of the vehicle is a new carbon-fiber monocoque chassis, fitted with a hybrid power train featuring a twin-turbo V-6 akin to that found in the 296 GTB production car and the 296 GT3 racer. A key difference is in how the mid-rear-positioned mill is integrated, with Ferrari pointing out that “the engine is load-bearing and therefore provides a valuable structural function.” While the 296 GTB may be the first production Ferrari to carry a V-6, the marque has a winning history with that cylinder selection, having won its first Formula 1 championship with it in 1961.

“The main development of the engine sought to ensure that the power unit delivers very high torque over as long a rev range as possible, so that there are not only peaks in power but also consistency,” says Coletta, explaining the different approach needed for endurance racing. “The first thing is to ensure consistent fuel consumption within the engine’s use of drive torque. We must look not only for power and torque but for the best power, torque and fuel-consumption figures.”

Complementing the internal-combustion engine is a 900volt battery feeding a differential-enhanced electric motor at the front axle. Tempering the prodigious delivery is a regenerative brake-by-wire system. “We have state-of-the-art solutions for everything to do with the hybrid part and the use of engine controls thanks to the software and electronics as a whole, which we write and design in-house,” says Coletta. “We’ve tried to leave nothing to chance, and this approach applies to all the myriad details that go into the car itself.”

Asked what he finds most impressive about the vehicle, Coletta points to its styling by chief design officer Flavio Manzoni and his team. “Clearly, the car is designed from the ground up, any models, although some road-derived components and others that we will start testing for future Ferraris,” he says.

The body’s extremely low-profile silhouette contrasts strikingly with the enclosed cockpit topped by multiple air intakes, which transition to a blade-like fin that flows back to dual rear wings. Also prominent are the skeletonized wheel arches with exaggerated louvers to alleviate pressure. According to Ferrari, the front section takes its aesthetic cues from the $2.2 million, limited-edition Daytona SP3, a model that pays tribute to Ferrari’s sports prototypes of the 1960s.

The 499P’s competition debut was on March 17 at the 1,000 Miles of Sebring—the first contest of the FIA’s seven-race 2023 WEC season—having already tested on the Florida track. “The Sebring circuit was very demanding for the car,” notes Coletta, referring to the preparatory sessions. “We focused mainly on the reliability aspect and less on performance. The car must first be reliable, then quick.”

Unlike Porsche, whose director of factory motorsport LMDh, Urs Kuratle, is open about creating the 963 with the intent of competing in both the WEC and IMSA series, Ferrari is noncommittal on the latter. “We can neither exclude nor confirm anything in advance,” says Coletta. “When we get to mid-season, we’ll be able to draw conclusions, assess where we are and where the project is at.” The $2.9 million Porsche 963 is also available for purchase by private customers; Ferrari has yet to follow suit with the 499P.

The Prancing Horse has a lot riding on this hypercar— and a lot to prove after being away for five decades and now facing a field that includes Porsche, Audi, Cadillac, BMW and Toyota. Then again, as Enzo himself once quipped: “What’s behind you doesn’t matter.” That could well be the team’s mantra with the 499P as Ferrari looks to drive its legacy home.