‘The F40 is equal parts exhausting and exhilarating’

Peter Bullard has owned his Ferrari F40 for 15 years and firmly believes it’s a car that should be driven and enjoyed rather than locked away. ‘It’s a car for special Sunday mornings. I’ve previously driven it on longer journeys and in heavy rain, although the last few years I’ve tried to avoid doing so because, aside from the terror, it’s such hard work keeping it clean.’

Alongside a BMW 535i daily driver, the F40 shares garage space with a 993-generation Porsche 911, a Jaguar D-Type replica, which Bullard regularly drives to Le Mans, and a Morgan Plus 8, along with some classic motorcycles.

‘The F40 is a completely absorbing experience. When you take your right hand o the wheel to change gear, your left tightens its grip accordingly, the brakes feel wooden – there’s no servo assistance so you need to stand on them – and if you make a mistake, you know about it. It’s draining on long journeys – the 911 feels like a luxury car by comparison. It’s very special. There’s nothing quite like it.’

CAR climbs into the F40 alongside Peter for a drive. It is extraordinary. Because of the position of the engine, which virtually shares the cabin with you, you're sitting so far forward that your head’s close to the A-pillar. The clutch is heavy but friendly, as is the dogleg H-pattern gearchange. The unassisted steering, wheel curiously flat-angled like a kart, constantly chatters with information. You just need to make sure it’s straight when the turbos come on boost as the shove is relentless. And the sound… If the Pista’s 3.9-litre V8 sings pretty well for a turbocharged engine, the F40’s 2.8 sounds like it can access another octave.

Bullard probably won’t replace the F40 outright, but he does fancy the notion of a usable yet thrilling supercar to complement it, infused with some of the same track-influenced character.

Can any of our contemporary trio of high-performance cars tempt him?