The most talked about racing car of the year is preparing for its international debut. In January 2025, the Rossa LM GT will compete at the Dubai 24 Hours. Any reader of Motor knows the creator of this supercar primarily as a titled racer and sports manager. In other words, a person who understands how to drive, what to withstand and how much a car capable of winning prestigious world competitions should cost. What is hidden under the carbon fiber body of the supercar, how many cars will be built and why does the Rossa LM GT hardly have anything in common with the prototype shown a year ago? Roman Rusinov told us about this.
— In November 2023, we presented the Rossa brand and the concept of our Rossa GT car. Exactly one year later, the racing version of the concept entered the race and saw the finishing flag. Now the history of the concept is completed, and we are moving to the next stage – we are preparing for the debut a commercial version of the racing Rossa LM GT, which will be produced in small series. This car does not have a single common detail with the concept, slightly different proportions and a completely different level of design and engineering in all areas.
Rossa Cars
The car will be presented directly in action at the Dubai 24 Hours Marathon in January, since the best demonstration of the car’s capabilities is a race. Here we strictly adhere to the “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” strategy.
Safety is a priority
The production racing Rossa is a return to the spirit of the GT1 era in a good way. The LM GT has a high-quality carbon monocoque, which is made according to the principle of Le Mans prototypes. This provides a high level of safety and weight savings, and also adds rigidity to the entire chassis.
Rossa Cars
The front suspension is attached to a carbon monocoque – thanks to this we gained 60 centimeters of legroom for the passenger. The car became longer, wider, higher. It is better laid out, so there is more space inside. The doors have been completely changed – they open upward from the roof, which is more convenient for entry and exit.
The car has front and rear crash boxes – on modern GT cars this technology is used only by Ferrari, and not in such an advanced form as ours. In our case, it’s more like a racing prototype. And this is an important component of security. The rear part of our car, along with the diffuser, can be removed in five seconds. The front and rear crash boxes are essentially 60% carbon fiber elements of the car.
Rossa Cars
Rossa Cars
Rossa Cars
Rossa Cars
Rossa Cars
Rossa Cars
Rossa Cars
Rossa Cars
Rossa Cars
The fuel tank of our car is located inside the chassis behind the pilot, which also contributes to safety: during an accident there will be no risk of the car catching fire. The car has very thick carbon doors that are filled with foam to protect against side impacts. Even the fastening of the door hinges was made of carbon, also for safety reasons. The door fasteners are very thick and serve as a kind of additional crash box in the event of a side impact. This is a particularly important element for a racing car: in the event of an unsuccessful contact during a race, it is enough to simply replace the element that absorbed the impact energy with a new one, rather than changing or overcooking the chassis.
Mathematical attention to detail
The machine was designed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. Each element and bend of the machine, which, by the way, are completely different from the concept, has its own functional purpose. There is not a single detail that was made simply for beauty. Although, of course, we tried to find the right compromise between precise technical, aerodynamic solutions and attractive design. I think we did it well.
Rossa Cars
The front splitter has two versions: a GT3-style road version and a flat splitter for the GT2. The road version is planned in GT3 format – with a high level of downforce. The most important thing was to get the layout right. We took the best available technologies, solutions, and components. The development of the chassis went through more than six stages of evolution from scratch.
Aerodynamics on the brink
The technical requirements of the class impose strong restrictions on the final characteristics of the car. Even so, the Rossa LM GT GT3 version generates more than 1,250 kg of downforce at 300 km/h.
Rossa Cars
In order for a car to be fast on any type of track, it is necessary to pay attention not only to the level of downforce, but also to reducing drag at high speeds. The Rossa achieves this through clever passive aerodynamics: at high speeds, the aerodynamic balance is shifted rearward, changing the body’s angle relative to the road and thereby reducing the drag coefficient. And when turning, the balance value returns to the optimal position relative to the center of mass of the car. In addition, the geometry of the diffuser is designed in such a way that at a certain speed the flow is disrupted on part of its surfaces to further reduce the drag force.
Rossa Cars
Another important aspect is cooling. The Rossa LM GT has additional rear side radiators. For their effective operation, it was extremely important to prevent “dirty” disturbed air from entering the radiator channels from the front wheel. Control of this “dirty” air is achieved through the coordinated work of the front bumper deflectors, sills and splitter geometry. And the final touches are added by a profiled rear-view mirror leg and a guide handle in the door channel.
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The car as a source of emotions
Why did we choose the V10 engine? This is nostalgia for the era of 10-cylinder engines in Formula 1, when even a few kilometers from the track you were pierced by this sound. Of course, the best choice you can make in this configuration is the Judd V10. At the same time, engines of different configurations can be installed on the car: V6, V8, V10, with or without turbocharging.
Rossa Cars
Our priority was to create the most “analog” machine possible. A car should be emotional. The Rossa LM GT is a driver’s car, a car for those with petrol in their blood. This is the most brutal car possible – something that is so lacking now. We tried to make a GT car that would handle like a prototype. For this purpose, technologies that are used on the fastest machines are used. It would be wrong to say that we came up with something innovative. Everything has already been invented before us. It is important to collect all the best solutions in terms of efficiency and safety.
Power is not the main thing
We don’t have a goal to chase horsepower. There are supercars that produce two thousand horsepower. But the main indicator of a sports and racing car is its weight and its ratio to power. The less weight, the better the car handles. Our task was to make the most driving racing car, which at the same time is adapted to public roads. And I think we succeeded.
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This is an extreme car, but it has a specific purpose – to go as fast as possible. We have set the bar quite high. Of course, it is unrealistic to produce such exclusive equipment in large quantities. Objectively, this is four to five racing cars a year. This is an exclusive story.
Where are Rossa components made?
What can be done in Russia, we do. We select the highest quality materials on the market. We order from where they do it best. And I won’t lie, our car has quite a few components made in China, simply because they make them better there than anywhere else.
Rossa Cars
Initially, the car was made to meet specific technical requirements – GT2/GT3 class. Therefore, the width of our car is exactly two meters. If we take Audi, Lamborghini or, say, Porsche, then for the GT3 version they are equipped with an extended body kit. We don’t have this – Rossa was immediately designed and built to meet specific requirements.
Who makes Rossa?
We have an international team of people who want and know how to work. These are experienced specialists whose knowledge fully meets the requirements of our project. For example, the chief designer is Ivan Borisov. Electronic systems engineer – Denis Uspensky. Part of the modeling work was done by Vladimir Plekhanov. The list goes on and on.
Our team includes many young promising specialists who are still studying at universities. We give you the opportunity to immediately prove yourself on a project of this level. We also try to introduce the most advanced Russian technologies. For example, we actively used the latest Russian simulator GoRace, in which during the development of the machine we could quickly test this or that idea or hypothesis. This saves a lot of time.
Roman Rusinov
Rossa Cars
About the racing program, and whether Rossa will compete in Russia
As for performances in races, in this matter everything depends on the customer. For the 2025 season, we have a confirmed program in international racing, where the customer Rossa will compete with the support of our engineers. As for participation in competitions in Russia, there are no such plans at the moment.
About the future of the road version of Rossa
The main question is how many cars need to be produced? The cost of the car will directly depend on this. Here you need to evaluate costs, and in this regard there are two strategies: a lot and cheap, or a little and expensive. I stick to the second option, because in this case you can produce a really cool product. Yes, expensive, but it will be a high-tech work of art.
Rossa Cars
And this, in my opinion, is rather a plus, because you can concentrate on the quality of a very, very small series. 25–30 cars, no more. In addition, we cannot overstaff, and to produce 200 cars a year we need an entire plant.
Our style of work is more like a racing laboratory than an assembly line.
Having built a racing car first, we followed the strategy of the Maserati MC12. After all, the best testing ground for a car is racing. And if a car performs successfully in racing, then it is a good car. In our case, a road car differs from a racing car only in comfort. The road version will not have metal safety pipes inside, but will have a leather interior with air conditioning. In principle, we can certify the road version in its current form, following the example of what Christian Abt did with the Audi R8 GT2. /m
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