The new customer race car that will replace the 488 GT3 Evo for 2023 has fully removable front and rear ends in the name of greater serviceability, Ferrari revealed at the car’s unveiling ahead of the Spa d this weekend of the GT World Challenge Europe. .
Body sections at the front and rear can be removed in one piece, while both ends of the car are built on detachable subframes for ease of maintenance.
Ferdinando Cannizzo, head of GT racing car design at Ferrari, said: “We looked at how they are doing things in Formula 1 and the prototypes, and we copied that.
“We have exchanged some ideas and concepts with the F1 team.”
He added that there had been a lot of interaction with “every department at Ferrari”, including the Scuderia F1 operation, during the development of the 296 GT3.
Cannizzo explained that making Ferrari’s GT3 racer easier to handle and work on had been one of the guiding principles during the design and development of the new car.
“We thought about it from the concept stage, because we wanted to simplify the assembly and make the operation of the track much easier,” he said.
“When you remove the front or rear body there is only one electrical connector [at each end]there are not many wires everywhere.
“The ease of running the car and how quickly you can change components is a key part of the performance.
“The front and rear bodywork can be changed very quickly, in seconds, although there is still some research to be done to really see at what speed.”
The full specification of the 296 GT3 was revealed at the launch, which followed the publication of the first photographs of the car making a switch at Ferrari’s Fiorano test track in April.
The new race car’s engine retains the architecture and capacity of the road-going 296 GTB launched in 2021, meaning it’s a three-litre twin-turbo V6 with a 120-degree V-angle.
Cannizzo revealed that Ferrari’s Attivita Sportive GT department had been involved in the 296 road car program from the start of its development.
“We started with them from the beginning looking at the requirements for the race car,” he said.
He explained that this played a big part in the decision to go with the wide-angle engine configuration, which has allowed the turbos to be housed within the V for more effective packaging.
The engine has been tilted two degrees from front to back in the name of aerodynamic efficiency.
“Two degrees doesn’t sound like much, but having the right shape and size diffuser is enough to increase efficiency and have better ride height sensitivity in the rear,” Cannizzo said.
Ferrari 296 GT3
Photo by: Ferrari
The road car’s wheelbase has been increased by 60mm over the road version, as permitted by the 2022 GT2 rules, to help make it more user-friendly, especially for amateur drivers
The racer has a different gearbox than the road car because it does away with the hybrid system, which is not allowed in the GT3.
The new car is the first Ferrari GT3 designed exclusively with Attivita Sportive GT; the previous three generations of Ferrari built to GT3 rules were developed in conjunction with external tuner Michelotto.
French constructor Oreca has taken over the assembly of Michelotto’s Ferrari GT3 for the new project.
The first 296 GT3 has completed in the region of 8,000km of testing and customer deliveries will begin later this year ahead of its debut at next January’s 24 Hours of Daytona, the opening round of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship .
No price has been released for the new car, but Ferrari has promised there won’t be a significant increase over the 488 GT3 Evo.
It’s Ferrari’s policy not to release prices for its race cars, but the 488 is believed to be close to $500,000 less tax.
Cab of the Ferrari 296 GT3
Photo by: Ferrari