My contribution to the #blast thread imagined a new history moving forward from the point in time when the Group C & GTP series began to collapse. This plausible re-history picks up the entangled intentions of the gentlemen racers and factory teams all looking for a good race, as well as the rampant innovations driving emerging technologies.

This design, the Ferrari F94, is itself spun off a concept I had sketched in anticipation of the new 2020 prototype regulations, reversing that concept's form, technology and aero treatments to better embody contemporary thinking circa 1994. All work modeled in Cinema 4d, rendered with C4D's Physical Render using daylight settings.

This is what might have happened if a few things went slightly differently in early 1990's sportscar racing:

Early 1993. The FIA and IMSA work out a revised rule-set to stop the rapid meltdown and exodus that Max Mosley’s F1-based concept was causing. To ensure relevance for manufacturers and encourage technical development, regulations once again favored production-based engines of varied sizes and configurations. Aerodynamic regulations were loosened, encouraging further exploration and advances. Older cars were grandfathered in, and in a twist intended to help balance the field, the rules granted a weight advantage to new chassis made available to privateer customer teams.

MOMO’s Gianpiero Moretti saw an opportunity to help a resurgence of endurance-racing world-wide and brokered a chassis-development partnership between his friends at Ferrari and at Nissan’s NPTI (formerly Electromotive) in California. The car would be a technical, aerodynamic, and engineering collaboration between Ferrari and NPTI, with Dallara on board for construction capabilities.

The chassis was designed to accommodate small-displacement twin-turbo V6 & V8 engines. Ferrari intended to use a development of the F40’s 2.9 liter v8 engine (itself tracing a lineage to the Group B 288 GTO and Lancia LC2 Group C cars), NPTI would continue with the proven multiple-championship-winning Nissan VG30 3.0 liter V6 engine from the GTP ZXT and NPT-90.

Several key aero concepts emerged in the early 1990’s. First was the opening up of the front wheel-wells to help flow the front under-nose, most prominently done by AAR's Toyota Eagle MkIII. This effectively eliminated the rampant understeer which plagued prototypes during the preceding decade. The second was richer understanding of the rear wings and their effect on underfloor aerodynamics as well as the flow through and around the entire vehicle. Most obvious were the two-tier wings, but there were other approaches at work at the same time; different concepts balancing advantages and compromises. Boundary-layer and vortex management were nascent themes brought in from cold-war era aerospace programs, designers working in little secretive flips, ports and vents across their cars.

The F94's design brief focussed on reducing drag while maintaining a very high downforce capability. Up front, an adjustable upper flap and splitter act as front wings driving out through heavily-vaned front fender wells and sidepods. This front flow also feeds a (perhaps-optimistic) cooling layout with central radiators tucked in close and ahead of the engine's intercoolers, all contained inside shrink-wrapped F1-style cowlings. The effectively open sides of the bodywork channel some flow inboard of the rear fenders in an effort to reduce wake drag and to tie the lower rear wing more directly to the side and front flows. The rear underfloor leveraged the latest tech in utilizing exhaust (and with it engine management) to 'blow' the tunnels, creating significant additional downforce and further reducing drag. In contrast to the nearly non-existent sides of the car, the top-side flow was kept smooth and uninterrupted, small cowl-mounted vortex-generating winglets either side of the windscreen helped focus airflow around the cockpit area toward the rear wing and activate the boundary-layer vents situated just above the cooling-pod intakes.

To be continued....