La Dolce Veloce

Alright, this is starting to get a bit ridiculous. Those Italians working on the mysterious Project 1221 MF1 have apparently decided that building a car with 1000hp was not something they wanted to do…well at least, not when they could have more power. So, they bumped up the estimate for their turbine-powered supercar to a mind-blowing 1500hp. They’ll be employing an aerodynamic aid first pioneered on the Chaparral 2J (a.k.a. the ‘vacuum cleaner’) – the turbine engine will get some of its air from underneath the car, literally sucking the car down to the ground resulting in better traction (not to mention cleaner roads!). The entire press release can be found in the rest of this post.

25.07.2005 – PROJECT 1221 PRESS RELEASE
Remaining on the subject of the recently enjoyed power increase mentioned in last month’s update, we are now quite thrilled to report that last week in Walled Lake, Michigan following a technical analysis with our strategic suppliers Williams International, with Dr. Sam Williams exceptionally contributing his personal technical input and ideas, it was jointly decided to go for even more power, namely fifteen hundred hp.

As a consequence we might miss our initially set target for the MF1 power/weight ratio by actually improving on it. It goes without saying that the ensuing performance would be unapproachable by any other car to an extent even greater than originally intended. In fact, the preliminary simulations with this latest power level might well be described as shocking. Yet, increased power would not affect in any way the drivability or the comfort of the machine under all driving conditions. Additionally, since the powerplant offers aviation-standard reliability, this increased power comes with absolute peace of mind.

There is much speculation regarding the supposed slow response of a gas turbine engine as opposed to an equivalent reciprocating engine. What seems to be overlooked though is the word "equivalent" because, quite simply, a reciprocating engine of such power has never been mounted on a road or racing car before. In any case our engine provides literally instant power from walking pace and in quantities that would render the (selectable) traction control indeed indispensable for everyone but the bravest.

One positive aspect is that the considerable exhaust output can be very effectively employed to assist airflow underneath the car and therefore to improve traction by increasing aerodynamic negative lift, especially at low and medium speeds. Crucially, this exhaust-induced "ground effect" is free of aerodynamic drag. It is reminded that we are always talking about a turboshaft engine – not a jet engine – since apparently there seems to be some confusion on the subject.

Yet, with such a powerful turboshaft engine the exhaust gases are more than enough to create quite an important thrust effect.

It should be noted that the temperature of the exhaust gases of a gas turbine engine is actually lower – not higher – than that of an equivalent reciprocating engine. In that respect the real problem for nearby vegetation, other road users etc. would be essentially due to the sheer amount of exhaust output – not temperature in itself. Obviously, by directing the exhaust flow in an appropriate manner and by ensuring that the exhaust outlets remain sufficiently distant from the boundaries of the car itself this issue ceases to exist.

Prospective customers should bear in mind that it is still possible to reserve with the benefit of a frozen price of €575 000 one of the 199 MF1 units that are to be produced altogether (both rwd and awd). Yet, by the end of the summer only the price of €675 000 will apply, subject to increase.

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