550 Coolant hose leak design flaw

I seem to have sprung a cooling hose leak on my 550, from a hose that's leaking at the back, underneath the central intake plenum.

The leak would appear to have been a gradual one. But letting Roland Linder take a half dozen laps at PPIR in the car in mid-July surely didn't help the situation either! Roland says that this large (return?) coolant hose, running across the top of the block and underneath the plenums has a "history" of being a problem...even exploding!!!

Does anyone have ideas of what ELSE I should have Ferrari of Denver check/replace next week, when I limp down from Laramie for this repair... and they pull the injectors/ plenum off the top of the engine? I'm at 22,000 miles and have put 10,000 on the car this past year; with two track events.
Thanks! Hope you're all having a great summer of driving in the northern hemisphere! John

PS: Roland took the car FAST on those 6-8 laps. But he didn't "Brutalize" it. Afterwards, however, it definately wasn't "the same."

Hi Johnny, Interested to know what you think wasn't "the same" after those hot laps. We are planning to run the F430 at the FCA event in Oct. at Roebling Road. Ron will allow me to drive it at the limit for the car. I know the 550 is different, but, it might be good feedback from you as to what we might need to watch for. Thanks for any info you can supply. Bob

They'll update the flash ram, as they tune it.

Dr. Tax, I believe, had the same problem at the FFQC two years ago.......

Speedy

Bob, after this tracking event (only my second) I'm getting the picture that three or four obvious things need to be looked at-- going into and out of a track event:

Tire condition, before and after
Oil (checked before and changed after the event)
Coolant (checked before and flushed after the event)
Brakes (flushed after the event)

As near as I can tell and from what I've been told, a "track day" adds so much heat and stress to the liquids in the engine and brakes that the chemistry of the liquids is changed adversely; prompting their change-out/ flush afterwards
John

John, The 4 points you listed are definately part of what is done before and after each track event or race. I was wondering about your feeling of the car,IE,brake fade, clutch problems, ABS,traction control, F1 paddle shifters that changed their "feel". We usually burn down a set of tires in 2 events so that is "normal" for us. Did Roland use the ABS brakes and traction control and trust it at the limit. If all goes well I will be driving the F430 F1 Spyder at Roebling, and I am interested in feedback about the electronic systems and if you can really trust it. With my past driving experience, I usually drive these cars at their limit.

Bob McGrew wrote:
I was wondering about your feeling of the car,IE,brake fade, clutch problems, ABS,traction control, F1 paddle shifters that changed their "feel".
======================
I don't know what IE is.
No brake fade
No clutch problems
ABS is fine
Have stick--not F1
==========================
We usually burn down a set of tires in 2 events so that is "normal" for us.
======================
Wow!
====================
Did Roland use the ABS brakes and traction control and trust it at the limit.
=========================
I think he had SPORT switched on and ABS off.
john

"IE"......aka "that is"........normally used with colon, as in ie: brake fade, etc.

LOL! You guys better hook up a Goodyear sponsorship deal, like ol' Speedy!!!! ;)

Goodyear is #1 in Racing

Attached photo shows the hose leak on my 550, while it was being fixed at FoDenver this week (they're great! The work only cost a wrist and an ankle--not an arm and leg) The problem turned out to be a previous owner's repair: Using FUEL hoses-- not siliconized pressurized coolant hoses in a couple places. These had bulged or actually ruptured. The rupture was on a vapor-return hose which then didn't have liquid in it. That, in turn, led to the switch for the radiator fans to not switch on-- further compounding the heat build up in slow traffic.

No doubt that the hot laps with Roland Linder at Quick Chick Racing's PPIR event in July didn't help. But on the positive side, that track event pushed the (eventual) failure and I was at least able to get the car into FoDenver and didn't have the failure occur in rural Wyoming

"Tire condition, before and after
Oil (checked before and changed after the event)
Coolant (checked before and flushed after the event)
Brakes (flushed after the event)"

I check tires before and after--just like you
I don't go to the track with more than 1000 miles on the oil and change after a track weekend.
I check the coolant, but leave it in unless smething indicates otherwise.
Brakes need to be flushed before the event and you can leave them alone until just before the next event. You need to get the water condensate out of the brake fluid to get the highe boiling points of the dry brake fluid. No (ahem) reasonable street braking needs this kind of boil prevention.

Side note: When my engien comes out for majors, I have then change all the rubber stuff in all those inaccessible locations.