Ferrari GT2 road conversion
A crashed Ferrari 458 with Le mans race GT2 body panels and aerodynamic elements is not as easy to fix as it sounds…
The GT2 Road conversion
This was one of my first ever projects after I just started to learn CAD and 3D printing.
A great opportunity to work for a client and building my skills.
This project is one of my favourites even though it is some of my worst work. Starting out I was overly confident but hard work and good social skill lead me through this project.
The client bought a wrecked Ferrari 458 with the plan to build it into a Road going 458 GT2 car. He also managed to acquire the bodywork from a race driven 458 GT2.
I lived close by and was very motivated and hard working so I quickly worked my way up to be his main engineer on the project. I had multiple project to do on the car as well as just a general advising role.
The bonnet hinge was the most challenging project of the bunch. since the original gt2 bonnet was meant to be removed in its entirety a custom bonnet hinge needed to be made. a normal hinge did not work because the size of the bonnet was changed compared to the regular street car meaning that the bonnet would hit the bodywork when opening the bonnet. a dual action hinge was the solution where the bonnet would not only move up but also extend outwards. integrating this in the front compartment and making everything line up was a big challenge. the client wanted everything to be made out of billet aluminium but this made prototyping difficult since regular 3d-printed PLA was not strong enough. overall the project was extremely challenging, fun and a very educative experience.
Rear Crossmember
When trying to Integrate the rear diffuser onto the car it hit the rear crossmember so a new one needed to be designed. this Billet 7075 T-6 aluminium aluminium piece was the solution.
It was less tall and still fit and does it’s job perfectly until this day.
Learning experiences:
This design, while optimised, is very hard to produce on a regular 3-axis CNC. Whilst being beautiful it is not a good design with proper Engineering principles.
Custom centre console
The Client wanted a simple and easy to produce centre console that was still functional. It needed the climate controls, drive select, car controls, an iPad and a large storage bin.
This was the result: an easy to produce race car look centre console that fits perfectly in the car.
