Thursday 21st July 2005

Ferrari F40 celebrates its birthday

Born in 1987, the iconic supercar still cuts it

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Ferrari F40

It's the F40's birthday today -- it was launched on 21 July, 17 years ago. In a ceremony commemorating his company's 40th year, Enzo Ferrari unveiled the F40 at the Maranello plant in 1987. It wsa pretty much a swansong for the old man, who wanted to go out with a great car.

Speaking through an interpreter during the ceremony, the 89-year-old Ferrari said: "A little more than a year ago, I expressed my wish to the engineers. Build a car to be the best in the world. And now the car is here."

Ferrari's engineers had designed the F40 to be the fastest road vehicle ever built. They viewed the Porsche 959 as their major competition but, while the Porsche was equipped with luxury amenities, the F40 was to be all nuts and bolts. Every spoiler on the F40 played a vital role in keeping the car on the ground at speed; every vent was essential to keep the brakes and engine cool. The F40 came with no floor mats, no stereo, ABS, power locks or windows. Its only frill was a vanity window displaying its engine, but this too was a part of the remarkably light composite body, moulded of plastic, ceramic, and metal.

As a result, it weighed just 1,100Kg and it was propelled by its twin-turbocharged, 2.9-litre V8 with power of 478bhp. It was capable of 0-60mph in 3.5 seconds and could hold a top speed of 201mph, making the F40 the first production sports car to top the 200mph barrier.

The brakes were gigantic 13-inch discs, ventilated and cross-drilled, nestling in l0-inch wide front and 13-inch wide rear wheels, with massive Pirelli tyres.

Only 1,311 examples were made and the car has now reached iconic status. As a result, examples are changing hands for huge amounts of money -- £275,000 is typical.

[danhay]

£275,000 seems a bit steep when there's 1 in the classifieds for 'only' £147,000.

Perhaps they mean $275,000?