2012 marks the 25th Anniversary of the very last Ferrari to be built under the watchful eye of Enzo Ferrari himself. At 90 years of age, Enzo passed away one year after the F40’s official debut in the Summer of 1987, marking the lightweight (1100 kg), powerful (471 bhp from a twin-turbo V8) and strategically bare-bones F40 as a fitting ‘last testament’ to the fuelled passions and race-bred visions of Enzo Ferrari.
There have been countless odes to the F40 over the years, both in print and within this electronic medium, so let’s spare the (albeit, worthy) fanfare for another time and instead focus on the images selected for your viewing pleasure – images that span time from period-era rarities right on up to present-day re-interpretations. In short, a celebration of the iconic F40 supercar that, to this day, still tops the list of many a petrolhead and Ferrari enthusiast worldwide as the most exciting Ferrari ever made…
There’s been an alarming number of reports detailing various banged-up, bent and written-off classic Ferraris as of late, so we felt it only right to bring an air of solemnity to the matter and share this peaceful, vintage-esque photo of 15 Ferrari F40s being lovingly navigated down a rain-soaked stretch of tarmac…
The soundtrack alone must have been spectacular.
*Attention wealthy people: Drive safely, maturely and within your limits – don’t be a wealthy yob.
When someone mentions ‘Ferrari’ and ‘sportscar’ in the same sentence, 99.8% of people will instantly conjure up an image of that iconic, scarlet Red Ferrari hue followed by (probably) the Prancing Horse logo followed by some sort of dreamlike, hazy image of a particular car within the marque’s history that you’d glady trade a limb or internal organ for… the other 0.2% just fall away all glassy-eyed and lightly faint…
Yet contrary to popular legend, not all F40s were imbued with the iconic Red that some of us trot around in a Ferrari bathrobe in… The story goes that this F40 was the one and only painted in ‘Pozzi Blue’ from the Ferrari factory.
This lone example was painted as such to honour Carlo (Charles) Pozzi, a Frenchman (of Italian parentage) who imported Ferraris for many years and was also a somewhat successful racing driver. Carlo and Enzo Ferrari were close friends from way back in the days when Enzo was first building his own cars and this particular shade of Blue was one of Enzo Ferrari’s favourite colours… I think it looks stunning.
*Extra video below with some outstanding driving shots… a shame about the lack of subtitles at the very beginning (translation anyone..?)
Snapped during our recent report from the Luxury & Supercar Weekend at VanDusen Gardens, this moment in time was captured during the fading afternoon hours of the day as the crowds thinned out and the last of the petrolheaded stragglers managed a few more glances at their favourites of the day…
Here we have the monstrous engine from a Ferrari F40, a 458 Italia and a 599 GTO topped-off by our mysterious (albeit, iPhone hypnotised) gal in green… completing the Italian flag of colours (see what I did there…?)
This oddly-titled video came splashing through on the Ferrari YouTube channel this morning and it’s left me with that undeniably questionable, scrunchy-faced/raised eyebrow look embedded onto my face… No, it’s not the spine-tingling sounds nor the flashy camera-work – that all appears to be top-notch. It’s the way the video ends… with a conveniently-placed chequered-flag (the desert is rife with those buggers – sheesh) signalling the ‘clear victor’ in this, uhm… race.
Yet, is it really…? Personally, I think the Ferrari F40 deserves a bit more (heaps more, actually) respect than is shown… but alas, this is Marketing 101 for ya in this modern age. After all, these are two rather different breeds of Ferrari – One’s a mid-engined, twin-turbo’d V8, lightweight supercar from the 80’s and the other’s a brand new V12’d GT car… There’s a rivalry/need to impart dominance between the two…? Hmmm….
Great video though. Methinks its market-aim is also quite obvious as well, if I may say so. Though if I was the (lucky) prospective buyer in the market for a Prancing Horse to enter my garage..? I’d easily choose the car that involves all of my limbs (and a bit more raw skill/talent) and takes more effort than a flicky, gold-ringed fingertip to change gears.
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