Spy shots:Ferrari F142 sports car

Ferrari F430 replacement mule codename F142

Here is some spy shots of the new Ferrari F142 mule which was on winter test in Sweden.

F142 is the code name for the model meant to replace the current F430. And while this F142 comes dressed in the F430′s body, we’re beginning to see some of the modifications to the model that will likely be seen in its successor.

In these new shots are the larger wheel cases both at the rear and at the front. (The last set of spy shots showed only a larger front wheel case.) The car also has some kind of bulge on the front hood for reasons we can only guess at.

Seen before were the larger air intakes just before the rear wheel and on the shoulders of the body. They seem a little exaggerated and may have been shaped that way simply to fool us. Or maybe those bulging air intakes are needed to provide a more powerful engine with lots of fresh air.

Guessing from the F430, it will be replaced by a model named the F450 and will come with a 4.5 liter V8 cranking out over 500 hp. The F430 gets 483 hp out of a 4.3 liter powerplant. How will Ferrari get that many horses out of a 4.5 liter engine? Perhaps by increasing the rev limit to 10,000 rpm and improving air flow and cooling which may account for those larger intakes. Engineering chiefs have openly said that smaller, turbocharged engines are showroom-bound.

The car won’t be as radical as some of the thinking in the eco Ferrari Mille Chili concept, but it’s certainly stepping in that direction. Expect more lightweight materials to feature in the F142 road car and we’d predict that light weight, slippery aero and those engine/transmission modifications will account for a decent 25% cut in emissions from today’s 345 g/km of CO2.

That seventh gear is likely to be an overdrive, to make this scarlet Ferrari a definite shade of green, while active aero flaps will ease air-cleaving and-inevitably-Ferrari is working on a roadgoing link for the F1 KERS system of energy recuperation, even though not for a few years.

The F450 will likely make its first appearance at the Frankfurt Motor Show which takes place later this year in September.

Source: worldcarfans.com and carmagazine.co.uk

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