Seeking Motoring Perfection - The Ferrari F40

The Ferrari F40 is much like Sir Anthony Hopkins : not really good looking , but full of masculinity , not really white-collar , but always elegant , not really a front page star , but still a charismatic character.

When it was first launched in 1987 , the F 40 was the fastest production car money could buy …And indeed you had to take a lot of money out of your piggy-bank to get one since the 200 000 pounds retail price was not realistic. The dealers would ask much more and some admitted paying almost three times the original price for it .

But then, the car was nothing you would expect for that amount of money. It had no stereo , no carpets , no electric windows, no AC , no door handles , no traction control . The interior felt like a minimalistic house of that period : it had two chairs…and nothing else . And there’s a very good reason for that : lightness . Add this to the carbon fibre bonnet and the result is a vehicle which could do 201 mph due to the atrocious 2.9 litre twin-turbocharged V8 .

It was so powerful that it could eat the straight on any Grand Prix track and then digest it in the first few corners . It was so light and well balanced that it could give any driver the confidence that he could push harder , go faster and aim for the next apex . In fact it was so good that , once anybody got behind the steering wheel , the only thing he or she could care about was drive…fast. The only reason for slowing down would be to watch the reflection of that beautiful Pininfarina body in some store’s window .( Scientists claim actually that the testosterone molecule looks exactly the same as the F40 ) .

And that’s why this car was and still is very special. You could sell some of your organs to buy one and even a priest would understand you .You could rob a bank to get the money for it and the jury would plead not guilty and offer you a ride to the nearest dealership…in a police car …Just because it’s a Ferrari F40 .