Ferrari of all Ferraris, for all time
The F40 was conceived by the 90-year-old company founder, a year before died
Few cars, if any, have ever come close to providing the sheer visceral awe of the Ferrari F40.
Perhaps that’s the way Enzo would have wanted it.
The F40 was conceived by founder Enzo Ferrari as a dual-purpose car. One that could be driven at the race track and then legally on the street, just like most of his earlier creations dating back to the late 1940s.
When his concept was launched in June of 1987, the then-90-year-old head of the company was on hand to personally endorse the end result. It was the last such introduction Enzo attended before his death the following year.
The F40 (the name was picked to celebrate 40 years of Ferrari creations) was a fitting tribute to a man whose obsession was to produce race cars for the street.
Using the earlier Ferrari GTO as a template (itself a derivative of the popular midengine 308 series made famous by Tom Selleck’s Magnum P.I. TV detective character), Ferrari engineers wrung every last bit of juice they could from the engine.
The displacement of the DOHC V-8 powerplant was 2.9 litres and the boost on the twin turbochargers was nearly doubled to 16.2 pounds per square inch (the GTO’s boost was set at 8.5).
The result: a startling 471 horsepower and 426 pound-feet of torque, enough to push this rocket with the prancing-horse logo to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 3.5 seconds, and achieve a top velocity of 201 m.p.h. (322 km/h).
In 1987, that was enough thrust to claim top-dog honours on most road courses as well as on any stretch of public highway.
As a combination race/road car, the F40 was stripped of as much unnecessary heft as possible. Less weight makes for a quicker, better-handling vehicle.
Strong, but ultra-light (and ultra expensive) carbon-fiber materials were extensively used inside and out, and the F40’s signature piece, a see-through slotted engine-bay cover, was also made of highstrength composites.
Both the front and rear bodywork were one-piece units that opened wide for easy access to the car’s vital organs.
There was also a wing perched well above the rear deck.
Further weight savings were visible, or rather, invisible, inside the F40’s cockpit, where the absence of exotic leather-covered seats, door panels or sound deadening material of any kind made the car appear unfinished.
It was also devoid of windows that rolled up and down, replaced by a sliding a plexiglass opening above both doors. Both front seats featured race-car-style deep bolsters, and the driver’s seat could be ordered in one of three sizes. Available air conditioning was the F40’s sole concession to passenger pampering.
As with any Ferrari, handling and stopping power are equally important to brute speed. The F40’s suspension closely resembled that of a period Ferrari Formula One car, while the four-piston disc brakes were capable of successive high-speed panic stops without fade.
As a final touch, Pirelli created a new tire to keep the F40 firmly planted on the road. Dubbed the P-Zero, the low-profile (40-series in front and 35-series in back) tires were affixed to 17-inch-diameter wheels (large in the day) and were nearly as wide as those found on an Indy or Grand Prix race car.
The only area where the F40 failed to best the competition was aerodynamics. Although the car appeared highly streamlined, its 0.34 drag coefficient was considered only average.
Today, there are minivans that equal that number.
Aside from air conditioning, the very few options available for the F40 were primarily for racing purposes and included a lighter five-speed manual transmission with straight-cut gears.
There was also an optional turbocharger package that added an extra 200 horsepower to the engine’s already formidable output.
Initial European-only F40s were basepriced at about US $190,000. However, by the time the car arrived in North America three years later, the price had escalated to $260,000.
Still, there was no shortage of buyers willing to cough-up the necessary funds for their very own copy, and every one of the 400 cars (of a total production run of 950) destined for our shores was quickly snapped up.
Because of their inherently high investment value, few F40s were ever competitively track raced. This fact might have saddened Enzo Ferrari, who passionately believed in racing above all else.
As the dual-purpose ideal fades from view in this age of specially constructed race cars, the F40 stands as a final salute to an earlier and much simpler age with fewer compromises.