Ferrari’s Technological Innovations Part 19: The Evolution of Chassis and Materials

In recent weeks, we have published an overview of the many technological innovations Ferrari has brought to automobiles — first in racing, then in road cars, applying lessons learned from the track. The progress made in the automotive world since 1947, when Ferrari was founded, is truly impressive. This evolution has impacted safety, reliability, driving pleasure, and onboard comfort. We conclude by showing how the evolution of Ferrari road cars has been consistently inspired by racing experience. The chassis, along with the engine, is the heart of the automobile, and Ferrari has gone through several interesting phases in this regard. In the 1950s and 1960s, to achieve rigidity and performance both on the road and track, Ferrari used tubular steel frames with treatments ensuring maximum torsional stiffness. This approach was successfully tested by Enzo Ferrari in major endurance races, where Ferrari's open-top sports prototypes excelled.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the tubular steel chassis became a benchmark, as seen in the Ferrari 315 S, winner of the 1957 Mille Miglia.

After these early years, racing led to the transformation of chassis structures into true monocoques, progressively incorporating composite materials alongside aluminum. These innovations soon made their way into production models like the 288 GTO and, most notably, the 1987 F40. For the first time, a chassis seamlessly integrated steel tubes, aluminum, and composite materials in a car built for extreme performance.

With the 288 Evoluzione, developed in the mid-1980s for Group B, Ferrari introduced new materials such as Kevlar and carbon fiber, later used on the F40.

During this period, Formula 1 increasingly explored the use of costly yet ultralight and rigid carbon fiber. It soon became clear that carbon fiber would drive a major leap in performance for single-seaters. Road cars embraced this new approach with the F50—a two-seater Formula 1 car… with a license plate!

The F50 is a showcase of Formula 1 technology, featuring a carbon-fiber monocoque.

By using carbon fiber for the entire chassis as well as the bodywork, Ferrari aimed to reduce the car's weight, as lightness is crucial for performance. By the mid-1990s, Ferrari committed to reducing weight across all its production models. However, since carbon fiber is not suited for mass production, aluminum became the chosen material for achieving significant weight savings.

The 1999 Ferrari 360 Modena was the first Ferrari road car to feature a fully aluminum monocoque chassis, developed in close collaboration with Alcoa.

With the 360 Modena in 1999, Ferrari took its first step into the 2000s, where all road models would feature either aluminum or carbon-fiber chassis. The numbers spoke for themselves: the 360 Modena was 100 kg lighter than the 355 it replaced. The weight reduction was even more significant for front-engined 12-cylinder models, starting with the 612 Scaglietti. Carbon monocoques, like that of today’s F80, remain reserved for Ferrari’s most extreme models, but it’s remarkable to see how far automotive design has come. And the progress continues.

The lightweight and rigid aluminum structure of the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti provided benefits in weight reduction, driving dynamics, comfort, and safety.