About our Ferraris

The Ferrari F360 Challenge race cars that make up FORZA racing’s fleet are no ordinary Ferraris, not that you could ever call a Ferrari ordinary!

The “Challenge” Ferraris are purpose-built race cars from Modena, the home of Ferrari. Each car is built to serve a life of motor racing thus additional modifications are made for performance and safety.

In short, the “Challenge” Ferraris are based on road going models with modifications done to the braking system, suspension, addition of roll-cage, re-mapped engine/gearbox ECUs and reduction in weight.

Brakes:
“Going fast in a straight line is easy! The problem is when you need to slow down and turn”

Full race BREMBO callipers made from “bilit” aluminum featuring 4 pots are fitted to each wheel. Front discs are 256mm 2 piece Powerbrake GT series with 230mm 2 piece Powerbrake GT series at the rear. The Powerbrake discs are an upgrade from the original BREMBO discs and have given the F360 even greater stopping power than before. Racing callipers and Massive discs are only part of the ingredients that produce great stopping power with the final “secret ingredient” being HAWK DTC 60 & 70 brake pads. Take all these ingredients and throw in a perfectly tuned race ABS system and what you get is a recipe for mind blowing stopping power on the race track.

Suspension:
All “Challenge” race cars leave the factory with a SACHS, non adjustable, damper with upgraded springs for motor racing. No “creature comforts” here, it’s all about speed and precision. The F360 feature standard anti-roll bars, however suspension-mounting materials have been upgraded to racing specifications.

Shock absorbers have been specifically built for the Ferrari F360 Challenge which allows our cars to corner at break-neck speeds. Now add all these suspension components to a super rigid, all aluminium chassis and what you get is the basis for an awesome handling and easy-to-drive race Ferrari.

Engine:
Interestingly most people assume our race cars would feature flame-throwing 1000 bhp engines. As much as we would love the extra horsepower the reality is, as Pirelli very successfully use as their slogan, “Power is nothing without control”.

The F360 Challenge comes with a standard 3.6 litre, all aluminum, 90 deg V8. In reality this is a very small engine as one considers that many road going vehicles have 3.5 litre engines. However the 3.6 litre engine has the heart of a racehorse and produces a very respectable 400 bhp.

As mentioned previously, power is absolutely worthless without control. What's more important than ultimate power is the combination of engine and chassis, which ultimately produces a fast race car. This is most definitely the case with the F360 as the power is harnessed by the excellent suspension and chassis ultimately delivering a very easy, yet fast racing car.

Gearbox:
Probably the most distinguishable technical innovation that the F360 Challenge Ferrari features is the F1 transmission. Automatic transmissions have been around for years but many of these types of gearboxes have been anything but ideal for motor racing! When Ferrari first introduced the F1 transmission in the F355, it revolutionized the motor industry. Not only was it very easy to use the performance advantage but was immediately evident with the added benefit of completely eliminating over revving and wrong gear selection.

Many years on when Ferrari decided to go racing with the new F360 Challenge it was a welcome surprise when they developed the race car to feature the F1 Transmission. The gearbox was an immediate hit with drivers as every gear shift was surgically precise and missing gears was a thing of the past. Another favourite feature was perfectly timed “blipping” of the throttle on every down shift.

The F1 style transmission features 2 paddles conveniently situated on the steering column with a driver simply gently pulling the right paddle to shift up and the left paddle to shift down.

The main advantage for the driver is that both hands can be on the steering wheel at all times. The F360 also has no clutch pedal, the clutch is controlled by a sophisticated transmission ECU completely eliminaing the need for the clutch pedal as the ECU electronically controls the engagement of the clutch, again eliminating another variable for the driver to contend with.

In summary the F1 style transmission has added an element of performance featuring reliability and ease of use which is ideal for Forza racing albeit when we go racing or when doing the track experiences.

Aerodynamic package and safety:
Forza racing started with “standard” F360 challenge Ferraris and do the necessary improvements and upgrades to ensure performance and safety. Most evident is the addition of the aerodynamic package that produces serious down force at speed. You might be asking yourself “how can speed and safety compliment each other”? The answer is: the Aero package gives the car additional down force which allows the car to produce more grip and traction which in turn gives the driver confidence and ability when cornering at high speeds. Ultimately Forza racing strives to build the fast and easy to drive racing Ferraris.

Race Tyres:
“Power is nothing without control”...
It is well know that the only part of any race car that touches the tar mac is the tyres. Ultimately the tyre is the final factor in determining the ultimate lap time. Forza Racing is proud to use only the best and our partnership with Pirelli South Africa is one that Forza is extremely proud of.

Pirelli South Africa supplies Forza Racing with full race 18 inch D3 slicks. These tyres have given us many victories as well as excellent life and performance. Forza Racing uses the same tyre for both racing and the Track Experience which ensures ultimate performance for any client participating at one of our events.