Science and Beauty Combined

The Ferrari 488GTB is one of the most aerodynamic cars that you can drive on the road.  Of course they are in short supply, but the overall genius behind what makes this car a great drive is amazing.  The purpose of airflow, downforce and aerodynamics is to work together in order to create the right balance between staying planted on the road and being able to cut through the air.  Airflow is just as important as aerodynamics when it comes to driving and using that airflow to both cool vehicle components and create the downforce needed is genius; especially in the 488GTB.

This Ferrari starts with the cooling ports which are located just over the rear fenders.  These ports feed air into the 3.9-liter twin turbocharged engine which is able to pump out 661 horsepower.  Not only do these two ports feed air into the engine, whatever isn’t used is dispelled out open vents that sit right next to the taillights.  This gives the 488GTB its main cooling system and created some important downforce to help keep the car stable and by using two of these ports instead of one large centrally located system this Ferrari is able to be more balanced than many others.

Every supper sport car seems to use a large rear spoiler to create downforce, but with the already mentioned twin engine ports the 488GTB does not need a large rear spoiler at all.  Instead a smaller integrated version with a vent out the bottom allows air to flow over the rear window and through a slot that is cut under what is a small rear wing.  This allows the 488GTB to be more attractive on the road without the massive wing flying in the wind behind it, and by using and integrated part of the vehicle this car can be more stable and consistent with its downforce than one that has a wing flying in the wind.

Many of these supercars have also gone to a flat bottom to create better aerodynamics, but the 488GTB offers a slight differentiation.  At the front of the underbelly of this beast there are six vortex generators that are meant to increase the downforce by move the air along their six curved fins.  Also up front is a large aero-pillar that move the air hitting the front of the car into a T-shape, deflecting it to the flat floor and to the radiators that are positioned on the right and left of the vehicle.

The final aero and airflow features come at the very rear and bottom of the vehicle.  The exhaust pipes are mounted and integrated higher in the rear than on most cars to allow room for the wide rear diffuser that has its own six curved fins which help spread out the air flow.  In between these fins there are three hinged flaps that can automatically descend and increase the top speed of the car.  With all this amazing technology just to control the flow of the air, Ferrari claims the 488GTB can create more than 700 pounds of downforce at 155 mph which is just awesome.