The Fittipaldi EF7 was a Brazilian

mid-engined In automotive engineering, a mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine in front of the rear-wheel axles, but behind the front axle. History The mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive format can be considered the original layout of ...

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

from Fittipaldi Motors LLC, designed in collaboration with

Pininfarina Pininfarina S.p.A. (short for Carrozzeria Pininfarina) is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930. On 14 December 2015, the Indian mu ...

and

HWA HWA or hwa may refer to: * Hwa, a type of traditional Korean boots * HWA (group), an American female rap group * HWA Team, a motor racing team * Hargeisa Water Agency * Heartland Wrestling Association * Hemlock woolly adelgid * Hillwood Airways, US ...

. Originally released as a

Vision Gran Turismo The Vision Gran Turismo program (commonly abbreviated Vision GT or VGT) is a series of concept cars for the Gran Turismo video game series, developed by a cross-section of the world's top automobile manufacturers. These cars appeared originally in ...

concept car for the ''

Gran Turismo Sport ''Gran Turismo Sport'' is a 2017 racing video game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. It is the 13th game in the '' Gran Turismo'' series, the seventh game in the main series. On ...

'' racing video game, former

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

and

IndyCar INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...

champion and company founder

Emerson Fittipaldi Emerson Fittipaldi (; born 12 December 1946) is a Brazilian former automobile racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the Indianapolis 500 twice each and the CART championship once. Moving up from Formula Two, Fittip ...

announced that a production track-only version would be manufactured and released by spring 2018 as the EF7 GTR, however, the plan did not materialize when the company became inactive in March 2019.

History

The EF7 was the first Fittipaldi-badged car since the

Fittipaldi F8 Fittipaldi Automotive, sometimes called Copersucar after its first major sponsor, was a Formula One racing team and constructor that competed from to . It was the only Formula One team to have been based in Brazil. The team was formed during 19 ...

Formula One car A Formula One car (also known as an F1 car) is a single-seat, open-cockpit, open-wheel formula racing car with substantial front and rear wings, and an engine positioned behind the driver, intended to be used in competition at Formul ...

in 1982, and was originally created to be part of the

concept car programme. It was designed by

Fabio Filippini Fabio Filippini (born in Ghislarengo, VC, 1963) is an Italian Automotive design, car designer. Former Design Director of Pininfarina, is currently an independent Car Design consultant and Design Strategy advisor. Background Graduate in Car Des ...

and headed by

Paolo Pininfarina Paolo Pininfarina (28 August 1958) is an Italian engineer, designer and businessman, known as the manager, since 2008, of the Pininfarina design company.

. According to Emerson Fittipaldi, the design was created to loosely represent a shark and the process took six months. The car was also inspired by wind and how it travels the car. The production model would have featured differences from the concept model had it been produced. Only 39 real-life units were planned to be made as track-only sports cars. The production number '39' originates from the 39

and

victories Fittipaldi achieved throughout his

open-wheel An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...

motorsport career. Each customer was intended to receive personal racing coaching from Emerson Fittipaldi himself. The purpose of the car was to have high power, low weight, and high downforce design; features that Emerson Fittipaldi wanted to have in a car. His most important goal for the EF7 was to allow his customers have the best driving enjoyment and experience.

Specifications

The EF7 contains a 4.8-liter naturally-aspirated V8 that is dry-sump lubricated. It is expected to have or more. This is still to be decided on the final car. Emerson Fittipaldi says the torque, which is at , will help for faster launch, thanks to low-RPM for the torque. This should help for running under-3-second runs. The engine fumes come out of an eight-pipe exhaust that gathers into one exhaust. The engine will also have a 9000 rpm redline. All of this power will be sent by a 6-speed

semi-automatic transmission A semi-automatic transmission is a "theoretical" multiple-speed transmission where part of its operation is automated (typically the actuation of the clutch), but the driver's input would be required to launch the vehicle from a standstill and to ...

. The car's weight is said to stand at . The weight distribution is also said to be at 52 up front, and 48 down the rear. This was made possible thanks to a carbon-fiber construction for both the monocoque and body panels. The car's suspension was planned to be constructed by

HWA AG HWA Team, also known as HWA RACELAB, is the auto racing team of HWA AG, a German company based in Affalterbach, that also develops and builds vehicles and components for Mercedes-AMG race cars. It is named after founder Hans-Werner Aufrecht. ...

, who was planned to build part of the car.

References

{{reflist Pininfarina vehicles Cars introduced in 2017 Sports cars Gran Turismo (series) First car made by manufacturer Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles Mid-engined cars