Ferrari F40: does this twin-turbo V8 lightweight represent peak Ferrari?

What it promised

Zero compromise, which applied as much to the creation of the F40 as it did the car itself. “I only accepted because Enzo allowed me to progress on my own,” said Nicola Materazzi, “without wasting time in meetings to share decision making. At the end of our meeting, he noted in his diary, ‘Materazzi, no rompicoglioni’, no pain in the ass.’” In other words, he was free to do what he wanted.

The result would be singular, even by Ferrari standards. The F40 owed its existence to the 288 Evoluziones that had seen the GTO score some belated competition kudos. But it wasn’t all romance and track glory. Ferrari’s management realised there was good business to be had here, and the Old Man – now well into his dotage – figured this was probably his last shot and wanted to go out on a high.

“Make me a true Ferrari homologated for the road,” he instructed design boss Fioravanti. Work began in June 1986, and everyone moved fast to hit Enzo’s deadline, barely a year later.

What it got right

Just look at it! Ferrari’s design partner Pininfarina had rarely missed a beat in the 30+ years it had been working with the company, but the F40 was an almost brutalist departure. Pietro Camardella is credited with the visuals, although Italian design legend Aldo Brovarone did the famous wraparound rear wing.

The F40 was extensively wind tunnel tested and scientifically proven. It also used contemporary F1 tech, with Kevlar panels bonded on to a tubular steel space frame chassis. The doors, bonnet and bootlid were all made of carbon fibre. The engine was a 2,936cc V8, twin turbocharged to produce 471bhp, mounted longitudinally to accommodate equal length exhausts and a brace of turbos. The block, cylinder heads, cam covers and intake manifolds were cast in silumin alloy in the Maranello foundry, while the crank was machined out of a solid steel billet.

Weighing just 1,110kg dry, the F40 could hit 60mph in 3.7 seconds. More significantly, Ferrari claimed a top speed of 201mph, which was a huge achievement in 1987. Indeed, the F40 was the first production car to break that threshold. Gerhard Berger, who was racing for Scuderia Ferrari in 1987, noted that the F40 was “very easy to drive... if you are experienced with racing cars. It is nearly an act of provocation to offer a car with so much power and so little weight to an ordinary driver.” Ever the joker. He wasn’t wrong, though.

The adjective most used to describe the F40 is explosive, such is the violence of its acceleration as the boost arrives like Liam Gallagher tackling an Oasis lyric. It’s one of the most spectacular machines we’ve ever driven, a racecar given the lightest of road car makeovers, with a bare bones interior and a personality that can turn on a dime. Cancel culture doesn’t do cars but you wouldn’t get away with this nowadays.

What it got wrong

The F40 needs to be kept firmly in an optimum operating window to do its best work. Pirelli developed a new P Zero tyre for the car, which proved to be an arduous process. But not as arduous as driving an F40 whose rubber isn’t up to temperature. This was an embarrassing reality when it was new, and social media hadn’t been invented in the 1980s. Ask Lando Norris’s chum.

How history has judged it

Very well indeed. The F40 is a car apart, and for many – against intense competition – it represents peak Ferrari. There are some disbelievers, though. Gordon Murray decided that the F40 lacked finesse and structural integrity, although he approved of its light weight.

Ferrari F40

Prices then (1987)/now: £163,000/£2m+* (*Depending on mileage and provenance)
Spec: 2,936cc TT V8, 471bhp @ 7000rpm, 425Ib ft, 1,100kg (dry), 0-62mph in 4.1secs, 201mph