Ferrari F40
The Ferrari F40 is a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-door coupé sports car produced by Ferrari from 1987 to 1992, as the successor to the Ferrari 288 GTO. ut the project's meaning ran deeper. At 90 years old, Enzo Ferrari knew that his life was coming to an end, and was somewhat disappointed that Ferrari's dominance in international motorsport had faded somewhat over the years. As a result, Enzo wanted a new pet project put into the works, something that could remind the world of the company's capabilities as a manufacturer, as well as provide both a competitor to the Porsche 959 and come to be his masterpiece. Ferrari's impending 40th anniversary provided just the right occasion for the car to debut. The plan was to create a vehicle that combined the company's best technologies into a no-frills sports car that would come as close as possible to being a full fledged race vehicle, while still retaining the necessary equipment to be a street-legal product. The Ferrari F40 was the last car to be commissioned by Enzo himself before his death.
Power came from an enlarged, 2.9-liter version of the GTO's twin IHI turbocharged V-8 developing 471 horsepower under 16 psi of boost. The F40 did without a catalytic converter until 1990 when US regulations made them a requirement for emissions control reasons. The suspension setup was similar to the GTO's double wishbone setup, though many parts were upgraded and settings were changed; the unusually low ground clearance prompted Ferrari to include the ability to raise the vehicle's ground clearance when necessary.
The F40 was designed with aerodynamics in mind, and is very much a creation of its time. For speed the car relied more on its shape than its power. Frontal area was reduced, and airflow greatly smoothed, but stability rather than terminal velocity was a primary concern. So, too, was cooling as the forced induction engine generated a great deal of heat. In consequence, the car was somewhat like an open-wheel racing car with a body.
The F40's light weight of 2425 lb. and high power output of 471 horsepower at 7,000 rpm gave the vehicle tremendous performance potential. Road tests have produced 0-62 mph times as low as 3.8 seconds. The F40 was the first road legal production car to break the 200 mph barrier. From its introduction in 1987 until 1989, it held the record as the world's fastest production car, with a top speed of 201 mph; the record was broken by the Ruf CTR "Yellowbird's 211 mph top speed. The Ferrari F40 was publicly proven capable of its rated top speed in 1992 through an infamous incident in which a Japanese dealership owner proved the car's potential by filming himself touching its top speed on an expressway only to be arrested after he sold a videotape to an undercover policeman. By that time, he already sold ten thousand videos