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Ferrari Purosangue
The very different volumes and constraints of the truly unique Purosangue posed a completely new challenge for Ferrari's aerodynamic department, so a radical rethink of both methods and solutions was demanded. The extremely ambitious drag reduction target, the specific usability and accessibility demands of this particular model, and the need to cool the imposing V12 and ancillaries demanded hundreds of hours in the wind tunnel and thousands of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulations. The kind of development work dedicated to the fastest and most powerful sports cars in the range, in fact.
The primary focus of the Purosangue's aero design was the car's centreline section, essential to both the air flow design and to reduce the drag coefficient (Cd), as well as minimising the frontal surface area. The car's front silhouette was designed to create the most seamless continuity of profile possible between the area of maximum curvature of the bonnet and the windscreen header rail. The rear area of the roof, the rear screen and the spoiler, on the other hand, demanded most work because it is fundamental to managing flow separations and pressure fields.
The best possible compromise between the need for the smoothest design possible for the roof-rear screen line and the need to reduce the height of the tail itself was achieved by using two elements that complete the aero package for the rear of the car: the suspended spoiler and the nolder on the lip of the boot. While the suspended spoiler helps neutralise the curvature of the roof downstream of the area over the heads of the rear-seat passengers, the nolder, which is barely 7mm high, channels the wake vortices to create a slight recompression at the tail of the car.
Moving from the centreline section to the rear volume, a scoop can be seen starting at the rear of the roof and extending onto the rear screen which creates two crests, one on each side of it. This solution helps to maintain the headspace required for the rear-seat passengers whilst still correctly separating the flows from the upper part of the roof and those along the greenhouse area.
Also important to the aero development of the Purosangue was the wake from the wheels: several aero solutions were implemented to tackle this issue, including integrating louvres into the floating wheelarch trim front and rear. The most complex system, however, is at the front where both the bumper and louvre work in synergy to create a powerful air curtain that aerodynamically seals the front wheels, preventing the generation of transverse turbulence. A duct has been created between the front bumper on the outside of the side air intakes and the vertical fin. This duct is calibrated to accelerate the flow towards the blown area in the louvre and create an energised blade of air at an angle to the outer shoulder of the tyre. The outer surface of the louvre then deflects the flow along the flank.
At the rear of the front wheelarch trim there is a further duct that is profiled to maximise air extraction from inside the wheel housing. The same solution is adopted on the rear wheelarches with a vent in the rear wheelarch trim. Its exterior surface has also been profiled to optimise the management of the rear detachment point of the flow, which runs along the flanks and wheels.
The suspended wing on the bonnet, just ahead of the A-pillar, dubbed the aerobridge in reference to a similar element introduced on the F12berlinetta, plays a very different role to its namesake. While the latter's aerobridge deflected the air flow from the bonnet downwards to boost downforce, the one on the Ferrari Purosangue is designed to reduce drag.
The air passing under the wing on the bonnet is energised locally to reduce the negative impact of the vortex at the base of the windscreen, and to accelerate the flow to increase the amount of air being evacuated from a vent hidden by the aerobridge, which is part of a complex system of air ducts fed by the intake located over the headlights. This mass of air is channelled towards the front wheelarch. These flows coming from the front of the car are naturally vented through the louvres at the top of the front wheel housing, and then continue on into the engine compartment until they reach the vent under the aerobridge. Similarly, to reduce overpressure inside the rear wheel housing, a vent has been added just beneath the taillights (in an area of natural suction) that leads from a duct inside the rear wheelarch.
A blown channel from the lower part of the front bumper towards the underbody reduces the areas naturally under compression on the front bumper, maximising the quantity of air being channelled towards the underbody, an element already used on other Ferraris. In this case, however, it is put to a different use: the energised flow channelled along the underbody by the blown area meets the surfaces of the underbody specifically designed to generate suction near the evacuation point of the central radiators on the front underbody. This maximises cooling of the central radiating masses as efficiently as possible and also allowed the design of a much smaller radiator intake. The Purosangue's higher ground clearance means that the exposed area of the wheels makes a significant contribution to drag: as a result, negative ramps were integrated ahead of the front wheels to maximise the car's downforce.
The curves of the body's surfaces were designed to fair in the front wheels and wishbones, thereby limiting the amount of air entering the wheelarch as much as possible. Pivotal to this effect is a small flap fitted on the lower suspension wishbone. The low pressure areas that occur naturally behind the front wheels were used to create two areas of evacuation that boost the efficiency of radiating masses by reducing overpressure in the engine compartment and reduce drag.
The rear diffuser design is, once again, the result of in-depth optimisation that focused principally on the synergy between the diffuser itself, the upper body and the rear bumper. The air flow that strikes the diffuser is gradually expanded and controlled. At the end of this expansion, a subtle nolder detaches the flow after slightly recompressing it. This boosts the system's efficiency, simultaneously maximising hot air extraction from the area around the gearbox and exhaust system compartments.
The Purosangue doesn't have a rear windscreen wiper, so the rear screen is cleaned by the air flow along the glass surfaces at the rear. The lower surface of the suspended spoiler is curved to guarantee the air flow is at the right speed and direct it towards the rear screen. There are two pairs of vortex generators at each end of the lower surface of the spoiler, which optimise the uniformity of the scrubbing. These counteract the vorticity naturally caused by the C-pillar, and also work in synergy with the specific shape of the rear screen itself.
The unconventional location of the headlights made it possible to create two air intakes above and below the DRL. The upper one is used to channel air into the complex blown system which vents underneath the front aerobridge. The lower one, on the other hand, is used to channel air to the brake cooling system. The design of the vertical outside surfaces of both air intakes includes an air-catcher which maximises the quantity of air channelled through them.
Lower down are the intakes for the radiating masses. Seen from the front, the one on the right is the radiator for the active dampers, which guarantee superb occupant comfort even on very rough surfaces, while the one on the left feeds air into the radiator for the Power Transfer Unit (PTU) circuit, a torque vectoring electronic differential. Lastly, the central intake cools both the condenser for the air conditioning circuit, to guarantee optimally comfortable cabin temperatures, and the iconic, naturally-aspirated V12's oil and coolant radiators.
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