The fantastic festival of carbon fiber that is the James Glickenhaus Ferrari P4/5 Competizione was built as a one-off project for endurance racing, with its first major event to be the 24 Hours of Nurburgring next month. But now it looks like it could be exiting the racing sector because of a rules issue.
So what's the issue? The P4/5 race team says they need movable aerodynamic elements to be competitive in the class. It has plenty of downforce, the team says, but that downforce limits the top speed of the car through drag. Unfortunately, movable aero, like in F1, is specifically disallowed in the ADAC-backed race.
The bad news for the race team could be very good news for exotics lovers, however, as the project could turn into a small-batch street car if the rule allowance isn't made this season or next. That gives a fairly large window for the decision on production to be made, but at the same time, could allow for the work on the project to be done in parallel to the (potentially non-existent) race preparations.
If the P4/5 Competizione does come to the street, it will stand in an exclusive class even among exotics, more of a type with the race-prepped Pagani Zonda R than anything.
[Autoblog]
