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Stefano
It is unacceptable to not say something about one of the most iconic supercars made by Ferrari, the Ferrari F40. Derived from the 288 GTO Evoluzione, made for the Group B Competition, the Ferrari F40 was built to contrast the performance of the Porsche 959, and was completed in time for the 40th anniversary of the brand's foundation, in 1987. Revealed in Maranello in the same year, the F40 was also displayed at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt, just some months later. Since the beginning, the F40 was conceived as a road legal race car. Ferrari envisaged a production of 400 units, all painted in red.
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The F40 mounts a 2936 cc version of the V8 twin-turbo engine, that achieves a power of 471 bhp @7000 rpm and 577 Nm of torque @4000 rpm. The engine, as well as the transmission and other mechanical components, was designed by Nicola Materazzi, the engineer who developed also the 288 GTO and, afterward, the Bugatti EB 110. The bodywork was designed by Leonardo Fioravanti and Aldo Brovarone, who worked for Pininfarina. Considering its racing DNA, the F40 has no sound system, no carpets, no glove box, no door panels, but it has an air conditioning system. Seriously speaking, it has no ABS, no traction control, no stability control, no power steering. It is made by aluminum, carbon fibers and kevlar, materials that guarantee high strength and low weight. The studies on aerodynamics allowed the F40 to achieved a drag coefficient (Cx) of 0.34, while the maximum speed declared, and in some tests got over, is 201 mph. At that time, it was the fastest car ever.
The F40 was very successful, so much that the production passed from the planned 400 units to 1000. At the apex of the success, the car obtained the homologation in the United States, previously unaccepted due to the extreme power. The agreement established that the 22% of the production was reserved for the American market, so the production increased again. At the end of 1992, a total of 1315 cars were bought. To buy that car at that time there were necessary more or less the equivalent of £300.000 of nowadays. Today, the price is set at more than £850.000. A racing version, the LM, holds the record for the highest price, just below 4.5 million pounds. The Ferrari F40 has its reserved place in the history, embellished by the fact that it was the last model of the brand that was signed by Enzo Ferrari in person.
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