Another Ferrari spontaneously combusts
Ferraris are best known for their looks, performance, and exclusivity, but lately, it seems one could add flammability to that list of attributes. The latest case of Ferrari flambé involves a beautiful black 599 GTB Fiorano, which self-ignited at a stop light while being driven by someone who wasn't even the car's owner. Martin Bullen, who works at supercar garage Romans International in Banstead, UK, was at the wheel when he heard a strange sound followed by a brilliant display of smoke and fire. The
£250,000 exotic was a total loss, and the 28-year-veteran of the high-end garage had to inform his boss of the Ferrari's fate. Luckily for Bullen, his employer is a forgiving and understanding man. Garage owner Paul Jaconelli said he wouldn't hold the destroyed 599 against his employee, and that the vehicle was still covered under warranty. That's good news for Bullen, but Ferrari owners the world over must be wondering if their expensive toys will be the next to join the ranks of the carbequed. This isn't exactly what they bargained for when they decided to get a hot car. Head to The Sun for more pics of the latest Fire-ari. Thanks for the tip, Chris!
Gallery: 599 GTB Fiorano in flames
[Source: The Sun]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Torrent 8:08PM (5/18/2008)
Oooh this new Ferrari looks Hot!
Someone was gonna gonna put in a temperature joke, so I'll start.
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Arnob 10:28PM (5/18/2008)
it looks like a Hot Wheels
*ba dum cha!*
Jordan 12:20AM (5/19/2008)
Its funny how in the movies a tough guy shoots a car 3 times with a handgun and it explodes.
Here the car is totally on fire but it seems to be contained and just burning away.
Case in point: Ive seen many cars catch on fire and they never explode into a huge mushroom cloud.
Seoultrain 3:25AM (5/19/2008)
Bad guys tend to drive around with bricks of C4 under their hood, apparently.
AC 5:31AM (5/19/2008)
I guess it depends what you do to the car, but the explosions aren't always fiction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sj9yTWP1fA
Don't worry, they really did survive. The joys of Group B i guess.
chiohmann 8:09PM (5/18/2008)
so Ferrari is not going to cover for this guy?
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In2uition 8:49PM (5/18/2008)
The car is under warranty....still he won't get a replacement for two years.
Level 8:34PM (5/18/2008)
can I buy the rear clip at a hugely discounted price?? lol
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Reader 8:41PM (5/18/2008)
I'd use it to make the coolest car-bed ever.
emineid 8:55PM (5/18/2008)
Here is some back-of-the-napkin calculations to show just how much heat energy is involved in a Ferrari 599 idling at a stop light:
1. Displacement: 5999cc so approx 500cc/cylinder
2. RPM at idle: roughly 1000 revs/minute or 16.7 revs/second
3. Each cylinder fills up with fresh air every 2 rotations, so 0.004166 cubic meters of air per cylinder per second
4. Air density is 1.2041 kg/cubic meter at 20deg C, so 5.016grams of air/cylinder/second
5. Stoichiometric ratio is 14.7 so about 0.34122449grams of gasoline/cylinder/second
6. So the engine burns 14741 grams of gasoline per hour at idle, which is about 5.28 US gallons
7. Gasoline has 125,000 BTU of heat energy per US gallon
8. Assuming that at idle most of the gasoline energy is turned into heat (someone correct me if I am significantly wrong here), the Ferrari engine produces about 660,000 BTU of heat per hour.
9. 3.41 BTU/hour = 1 watt so the engine produces 194 KW per hour.
10. So at idle, the radiator and the oil cooler and the air in then engine compartment have to dissipate 0.6 million BTU per hour or about 200 KW per hour of heat, otherwise the heat builds up.
11. That's equivalent to 2000 one-hundred-watt light bulbs under the hood or 6 home furnaces each rated for 100,000 BTU/hour, running at full.
12. And I am not even mentioning the heat that was built up driving TO the stop light in the first place.
13. Bottom line: It's not surprising that SOMETHING under that hood reached kindling temperature.
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zamafir 9:04PM (5/18/2008)
That's trivial compared to what the veyron's radiators are tasked with dealing with.
Bottom Line: It doesn't matter how exotic your car is, or how much heat it's producing, it shouldn't just catch on fire, regardless of powerplant.
mk 9:21PM (5/18/2008)
those are all very interesting calculations, save one thing...
the fuel is supposed to be inside the engine, not outside.
Heat does not equal fire, if the materials underhood are properly resistant, and flammables and fuel is not exposed.
The odd noise before the inferno is probably something no longer containing the fuel.
Something popped, spilled fuel, heat ignition source, and fuel pump keeps feeding it until it properly melts the wiring system to short out, and cut electrical power to the fuel pump to stop adding fuel to the fire, quite literally.
MikeW 9:29PM (5/18/2008)
The engine is throttled at idle, which should be less than 1000rpm, so much less heat to be dissipated.
and remember half of the heat goes straight out the exhaust.
Shifty 10:53PM (5/18/2008)
1. at idle it would probably be 500-600 rpm.
2. the cylinder is throttled at idle so although it would be .004166 cu meters of air but it would be below atmospheric pressure, so the "Air density is 1.2041 kg/cubic meter at 20deg C" wouldnt work since that is probably at atmospheric pressure, you would need to use PV=mRT to get the mass (we dont know the pressure, and i dont feel like figureing it out)
3. most the heat/energy just goes out the exhaust.
so to sum it up, your energy calculations are a lil off, the 5.28 gal/hr should have given ya a clue, lets say it pulls 15 mpg highway, that meens it would use the same amount of gas idleing as it does going 80mph (that should trigger a red flag in your head).
its too complicated to calculate from the info we know, and i hope none of you guys are forced to go through thermodynamics like i was last semester.
Mobius_1 12:15AM (5/19/2008)
I think Ferrari only tested this under two conditions: On the race track at Fiorano and sitting pretty in a big garage alongside 20 other Ferraris
emineid 8:59PM (5/18/2008)
Item 10 above should read:
10. So at idle, the radiator and the oil cooler and the air in the engine compartment have to dissipate 0.6 million BTU per hour or about 200 KW of heat, otherwise the heat builds up.
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emineid 9:13PM (5/18/2008)
The Ferrari uses 75 percent of the fuel at idle that the Veyron uses (given the same RPM), compared with 20 percent or so for your average Honda Civic, hardly a "trivial" amount.
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mk 9:21PM (5/18/2008)
Unfortunate.
Hopefully the pictures will result in more 599s being shod with challenge-style wheels.
Those look so much better than the pentagram wheels.
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Daniel 9:30PM (5/18/2008)
those wheels make that ferrari look hot huh
Matty 1:11AM (5/19/2008)
I actually really like the pentagram wheels. They seem kind of sinister, especially on a red or black 599. Not that I think the other wheels are particularly ugly either. In fact... I wonder if they were spared from the inferno.