Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ll know by now that Ferrari 250 GTOs will change hands for tremendous amounts of money. This 1962 example will most likely add itself to the list of most expensive cars ever.
There are just a few cars you could name legendary, because of their innovations or successes, the latter mainly in motorsport. Take the F40 for example. When Enzo received feedback from customers about his cars getting a bit boring, he decided to create the perfect goodbye-car before passing away a year later. It now has the degree of the perfect poster car, and remains a dream car for many. The F40 also had successes in motorsport, click here to read more about the F40 race cars.
The Jaguar E-type was dubbed as ‘’the most beautiful car to ever hit the streets’’, by Enzo himself. The E-type was based on the D-type, which was an extremely successful Le Mans competitor.
The 250 GTO is as special, if not, even more special than the F40. Ferrari revealed the car in 1962 for homologation into the Group 3 Touring Car Championship and became very successful by winning the International Championship for GT Manufacturers (over 2.0-L engine size) three years in a row: 1962, 1963 and 1964.
Why this 250 GTO is so expensive
Compared to rumoured prices in private deals, this example is actually a bargain. In early June of this year, a 250 GTO (chassis 4153GT) was sold for $70.000.000. Then again, it’s a private deal, so you can never be 100% sure about those prices. This 250 GTO (chassis 3413GT) is the most valuable car ever offered at an auction and headlines the RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction on the 24th and 25th of August.
It left the factory in 1962 as the third 250 GTO Series I built, and was converted into a Series II in early 1964. This Series II conversion was done by Scaglietti, who would go on and change a total of four Series I cars into Series IIs.
Very successful example
The first appearance of the car was at the 1962 Targo Florio, where Phil Hill (1961 F1 champion) tested the car. The first victory of the car was with Italian racing driver Edoardo Lualdi-Gabardi behind the wheel. He finished first in the 1962 Italian GT Championship. This GTO won several Targio Florio’s, the 1964 Coppa F.I.S.A. and participated in multiple hill climbs.
Lualdi-Gabardi was the typical gentleman racer and one of Ferrari’s closest customers. He used his 250 GTO in ten races, won nine of them and finished second in the one (the Parma-Poggio di Bercerto Hill Climb) he didn’t win. As impressed as he was by this particular car, he sold it in 1963 to Gianni Bulgari and bought another 250 GTO (chassis 4091GT).
“This was the last car that you could park in your garage, drive to the track, win the race, and then drive home.”
— Shelby Myers from RM Sotheby’s
The car is far from being a garage queen and still wears its original engine, gearbox and rear axle. The current owner, said to be Greg Whitten, bought the car in 2000 for just $7.000.000. The well-known auction house now estimates the cars’ value between $45.000.000 – $60.000.000.
After a somewhat disappointing qualifying, expectations for today were high in the Ferrari paddock. Everybody knew those 70 laps would not be easy, starting P3 (Raikkonen) and P4 (title contender Vettel) in a tight and twisty track such as the Hungaroring. In a strategy-driven and highly technical race the Prancing Horse ended up doing good, but not great. Still, it’s a predominantly Ferrari-red podium, with Hamilton crossing the finish line first followed by Sebastian and Kimi. Let’s start from the beginning.
The balancing act of the first few laps
In the very sunny and hot Budapest, tyre degradation is not irrelevant: the #5 opts for Soft tyres in the hopes of prolonging his stint, while the #7 goes with Ultrasofts. When the lights go out at the Hungaroring, the first row goes for a clean start and both the Silver Arrows retain their positions, while Kimi is passed by Sebastian. Slightly behind, Verstappen easily overtakes Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly, snatching P5.
The first DNF takes everyone by surprise, being Charles Leclerc: his Sauber, sporting the Specification 3 of the Ferrari engine, has a technical issue and he is unable to carry on. Shortly after, another unexpected (and frustrating) DNF changes the course of the race: Max Verstappen suffers a power loss and regretfully has to retire.
Pit stop strategies
As expected, the race is rather uneventful in terms of overtaking, the only notable exception being Daniel Ricciardo: the Aussie never lets his fans and his praisers down and is able to get from P13 to P4, scoring the fastest lap in the process (1:20.013). An otherwise boring race is however heated by carefully calculated tyre management and pit stop strategies. Ferrari goes for a differentiated strategy, with two stops for the Finn and just one for the German, but both of them are poorly timed: not only the pit takes more than 4 seconds for both of them, but Vettel’s stop puts him right in the middle of a line of lapped cars, badly influencing his lap times. Despite these difficulties, fresher tyres allow both drivers to overtake Valtteri Bottas (on heavily degraded tyres) in Lap 66.
source: autosport.com
What happened to Valtteri Bottas?
The other Finn on the grid managed to hold back Sebastian Vettel for more than 20 laps, but this Sunday certainly wasn’t the peak of his career. Losing more than one second to his teammate for most of the race, many believed that his incredibly slow pace was just a team strategy to hold the German back and to ruin his tyres in their moment of peak performance. The almost consecutive collisions with Vettel and Ricciardo in the last few laps certainly didn’t help his cause: first he tried to keep his position when Sebastian had already shut the door and closed the corner, damaging his own front wing, then he destroyed Ricciardo’s floor by running him out of track, still eventually losing P4 to him in Lap 69 and getting a 10-second time penalty by race control. His post-race interview was filled with regret.
“[Being called a] wingman hurts. I don’t see any positives from this race, I’ll have to talk to the team after today”.
We’re entering the summer break with Hamilton on top of the Drivers’ Standing and Mercedes on top of the Constructors’ Standings. The Prancing Horse, however, is breathing on their neck. This championship is far from over.
In all my years of Ferrari-chasing, one unicorn remains: the 288 GTO. I have yet to see one in person, which feels somehow fitting since it’s long been my favorite. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but for me the 288 GTO is still the perfect Ferrari and the most beautiful car ever built.
The 288 was the second of only three Ferraris distinguished as “GTO” – Gran Turismo Omologato or “Grand Tourer Homologated,” a mark that certifies it for GT racing. The other two are the classic 250 GTO of the early 1960s and the 599 GTO from 2010.
Racetrack Strength, High Street Style
With only 272 ever produced, the 288 GTO was a stroke of genius from Leonardo Fioravanti, the man behind some of Ferrari’s most iconic body designs. I’ll dedicate a whole column to him soon, but in the meantime take a look through his insane resume. His work on the 288 GTO may be Pininfarina’s Vitruvian Man – a perfectly balanced, aesthetically pleasing design devoid of pomp and flourish. It’s a singular achievement of form-meets-function.
Fioravanti’s bodywork is at once bold and imposing, yet still minimalist. There’s nothing over-the-top about it. The new 488 Pista carries some of these same qualities, but the 288 does it with more charm and simplicity. Twenty-five years later, it still looks like the consummate gentleman’s racer, capable of seducing whatever curves it encounters…Pista di Fiorano’s or otherwise.
The car’s rear end is a clean panel with two pairs of equally sized taillights and a simple “GTO” in that wonderfully ’80s font (perhaps Ferrari’s best model badge since the 512BB). In lieu of a massive wing is a gentle lip designed to tame the 395 bhp kicked off by its 3.0-liter, twin-turbo V8. Four generous fender flares bulge to accommodate its large racing tires, and together with its tight midsection and sharply cut frontend, they create a muscular stance that looks ready to pounce, even at a standstill.
It’s as if a 308 GTB moved to Miami and met a great plastic surgeon.
Some Things are Better Left Unchanged
For me, the heavily modified 288 GTO Evoluzione that debuted in 1986 was a design oddity, but in it you can clearly see the beginnings of Enzo’s personal masterpiece, the F40. The sharp nose is more filled in and slopes downward, and the rear looks ready to expand into the F40’s broad, flat backend and signature archway wing. These changes are interesting, but it was not an evolution that I celebrate. The leap from 288 GTO to F40 turned an elegant racer into a brash speed machine focused on one task – breaking 200 MPH.
Form & Function in Equal Measure
I believe so strongly in the 288 because numbers-chasing has never been where Ferrari flourishes. The brand shines brightest when it leaves the measuring contests to other marques and instead pursues the perfect marriage of performance and style, never sacrificing one for the other. The F50 in particular looks like a casualty of bad ‘90s design, its face scarred by what one writer called “godawful troll nostrils.” They didn’t quite get their design mojo back with anniversary editions until the Enzo debuted in 2002.
The 288 GTO is, in my estimation, still Ferrari’s finest effort, and owners appear to agree since they’re rarely for sale. The next time one appears on the auction block, expect to see the buyer pay $3 million or more for the privilege of preserving this legend for the future.
Let’s take a look at how it all began in the car industry. The first car was called the ‘’Benz Patent-Motorwagen’’, pictured on the left. Karl Benz, founder of Mercedes-Benz, applied for the patent of the automobile on the 29th of January 1886, so it was logical to name it after himself and his patent. He revealed it to the public in July of that year.
When Ford began production in 1903, they started with Model A, pictured on the right, and was followed by Model B and C. The next production Ford was the Model K. Henry Ford mainly used lettering designations between C and K for development and prototypes. Model N, R and S were also production cars and in 1908 the Model T was revealed, which was the first mass-production automobile.
Why Ferrari uses numbers to identify their cars
The reason why manufactures use a certain method is to keep the bloodline quite simple. The numbers mainly refer to engine characteristics such as cylinders and capacity. Because of the innovations in every Ferrari the names are easy to create but there are no fixed rules when it comes to numbers. The moment you discover a pattern or method, it’ll change. Below are some of the various methods used.
Engine capacity divided by the cylinders or 10
The first Ferrari, the 125 S, was named after its engine (a 1500 cc V12): if you divide 1500 cc with 12 you’ll get 125. Not only the V12 cars were designated by this method. The first four-cylinder Ferrari, the 500 Mondial, featured a 1985 cc 4-cylinder. You can do the math. It’s slightly unusual, but this type of designation was used until 2003, when the Ferrari 456 (5473 cc / 12-cylinders = 456) was replaced by the 612.
Most of the rounded designations, such as the 400 Superamerica or 500 Superfast received their name after the engine-capacity was divided by ten. The 550 and 575 also received their name after the Italians grabbed their calculator and divided the engine capacity (5500 cc and 5750 cc respectively) with ten. The 599 features a 5999 cc V12, hence its name.
Although you have to do some math, this method was all fine when Ferrari primarily produced race cars. The designation was designed to name the cars and it wasn’t created with marketing in mind. However, when Ferrari started building more road cars and needed to market them, a new system had to be designed.
Engine capacity plus amount of cylinders
This new method still consisted of three numbers, but the first two represented the engine-capacity and the third represented the amount of cylinders. The first mid-engine production Ferrari featured a 2.0-L V6 and was therefore named the Dino 206 GT. Its succesor, the 246 GT, was powered by a 2.4-L V6. Click on the blue words to learn more about the Dino marque.
This method continued until the Ferrari 348 and was also used for the 512 BB (5.0-L flat-12).
Engine capacity plus amount of valves
When the successor of the 348 arrived, called the 355, a new method arrived as well: the first two numbers refer to the capacity of the engine (3500 cc), but the second 5 refers to the amount of valves per cylinder. Its successors, the 360 and 430, were named after their capacity was divided by ten. The 458 was named after its engine capacity + the amount of cylinders and the 488 received its name from the capacity of one cylinder (488 cc).
Other naming methods
Ferrari cheated a little with the 612 Scaglietti. You would assume it’s powered by a 6.0-L V12, but it isn’t. It features a 5.8-L V12 and the reason why Ferrari named it 612 is simply because they rounded it up a bit higher than usual.
Both the GTC4Lusso and GTC4Lusso T just have one number referring to the amount of seats. The F in F12 refers to Ferrari and 12 refers to the amount of cylinders. The 812 Superfast is named after its rounded power output (789 bhp became 800) and the number of cylinders.
Ferrari revealed the Ferrari 275 GTB with a four-camshaft engine in the late 1960s and it became known as the 275 GTB/4. 275 refers to the capacity of one cylinder (275 cc) and 4 refers to the more powerful 4-camshaft engine.
Limited editions
Both the F40 (1987) and F50 (1995) refer to the 40th and 50th anniversary, respectively. The reason why Ferrari revealed the F50 for their 50th anniversary earlier, was because of upcoming plans to tighten the US emission laws. The Enzo was revealed in 2002 and wasn’t called the F60 because it was too much of a gap with 2007 (60th anniversary). The F60 name was used for a Formula 1 car and for the F60 America, which celebrates the 60th anniversary of Ferrari in America.
Let us know in a comment below if you would like us to write an article about the origins of names such as the Superfast, MM, Monza and more!
Wondering Wednesday is a two-monthly column by Max Lammers where he explains the many unclear subjects in the World of Ferrari.
It’s safe to say that I would have preferred to sit here and write a completely different report of today’s Grand Prix, after the brilliant results of Sebastian Vettel in yesterday’s qualifying. However, the rain-soaked Hockenheim delivered a very interesting race, with lots of overtaking and overall great chances for entertainment.
Lewis Hamilton was on the hunt for Sebastian’s spot at the top of the Drivers’ Standing, but yesterday it seemed very far from his reach, having ended Q2 in P14 for an hydraulic failure. However, tables turned massively, as we’re about to see.
The first few laps
The first four drivers on the grid all keep their position in Lap 1: Verstappen tries to get ahead of Kimi Räikkönen to no avail, and Bottas has no chance of getting past Vettel. Hamilton immediately starts his overtaking spree, reaching P11 after getting past Alonso at Lap 3. At the very beginning of the race, Räikkönen sees some raindrops on his helmet, but nothing more seems to develop. Sebastian shows an incredible pace from the start, being at +2.3s from Bottas in just a few laps. The intervals in the front seem to be astronomical: Bottas’s Mercedes and Verstappen’s Red Bull are not able to keep up with the Prancing Horses, losing seconds lap after lap, and in just 7 laps Magnussen (P5) is 15 seconds behind Verstappen, effectively creating a massive distance between the head of the formation and everybody else.
In the meantime, Ricciardo does his best with mediums and overtakes Ericsson in Lap 10 to get to p14. Clouds are getting darker, and the Aussie is struggling with his top speed to get past Alonso and Leclerc, while these two are battling between each other as we’ve grown accustomed to see during the course of this season.
Starts to rain
Räikkönen is the first one to pit at lap 15, sporting Softs as he gets out in P4, marking the first of many lap records under the 1:18 benchmark. Grosjean, Sainz, Hartley and Stroll are close to an accident in the turn 6 hairpin, which is thankfully averted. While the pit carousel going on from lap 23 is still happening, the other German driving today, Nico Hulkenberg, does an amazing double overtake, getting past Ericsson and Ocon in one turn.
Despite heavy chances of rain, Ferrari takes the bold approach on tyre strategy and pits Vettel at lap 26, getting him back on track back in P4, 1.4 s behind Kimi. Just a few laps later, the long and complicated fightback of Daniel Ricciardo is ended abruptly, having him retired for an undetermined power loss. With fresher tyres right after his pit stop, Valtteri Bottas breaks the 1.17 wall with a 1.16.956 lap. Heavy blistering can be seen on Lewis’s rear left tyre, as he is the last one waiting for rain to pit.
The casual team-fights
During this GP we’ve also witnessed a good old team fight between Sebastian and Kimi, with the latter eventually giving up the position after being informed that the two are on different strategies. Rain comes right after Hamilton’s first (and very late) pit stop, sending paddocks into a frenzy for wet or intermediate tyres.This strategy doesn’t seem to pay back, with drivers such as Gasly, Alonso, Verstappen, Leclerc losing some precious seconds and eventually switching back to dry tyres after less than two laps. Despite wet tyres being way too much for what seemed like a slight drizzle, many cars start to spin around, including Leclerc, Perez and Sirotkin, who evetually retires (followed by Stroll: another double DNF for Williams). These unstable conditions cause Grosjean to momentarily push Räikkönen out of the track and, most importantly, Vettel to hit the barriers and prematurely ending his race, in tears.
Hamilton is the fastest on track and gains lead after a not-so-clean manouver, almost entering pit lane, having the paddock change their mind and cutting the grass to go back on track. Safety car is then deployed, and when the driving pace goes back to normal Bottas goes wheel to wheel with his team mate, before being stopped by the team with a very clear message asking him to hold his position. The chequered flag waves at an unexpected Hamilton’s win and at an overall action-packed weekend.
Because of medical issues, Marchionne has to give up his positions as CEO and Chairman as of today. He has been absent for a couple of weeks after suffering from surgery-complications.
Mike Manley, former CEO of Ram and Jeep, both FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) brands, will replace Marchionne as the CEO of the FCA. John Elkann and Louis Camilleri, both already employed by Ferrari, will replace him as Chairman and CEO, respectively, of Ferrari. All with immediate effect.
FCA mentioned in a statement that ‘’unexpected complications arose while Mr. Marchionne was recovering from surgery and that these have worsened significantly in recent hours.’’ and ‘’As a consequence, Mr. Marchionne will be unable to return to work.’’
An entrepreneur the automotive world needed
Marchionne was appointed CEO of the FCA in 2004 after been elected in May 2003. He grew out to be one of the most credential persons in the automotive world. He rescued Chrysler from going bankrupt in 2009 and set up a plan to make Ferrari even more profitable. He made an extraordinary contribution in the recent years at the helm of Ferrari.
He has also been quite controversial for the plan to boost the annual Ferrari production to 10.000 units. He also threatened to pull Ferrari out of the Formula 1 after 2020 if he didn’t saw the sport change the way he wanted it to be, mainly engine-wise.
The newly appointed Chairman and CEO
The new Chairman, John Elkann and pictured left with Piero Ferrari, studied at various universities and gained work experiences in a couple of Fiat Group companies. He worked in the factories, but also on the sales and marketing departments. In our opinion, it’s great to have a Chairman that knows what is going on at the several departments in the company.
The new CEO, Louis Camilleri and pictured right, gained a lot of work experience as Chairman and CEO of PMI (Philip Morris International) and worked at Altria Group, Inc. since 1978 in various functions.
Trackdays are always great; you get to spend time with likeminded people, meet other petrolheads and see some of the most exciting road cars smashing it on the circuit. We were invited by a slow rabit in a 430 Scuderia to join him at Spa-Francorchamps.
Michael Schumacher, German racing dri.. If there’s one F1-driver who doesn’t need a cheesy introduction it’s probably Michael Schumacher. He won the Drivers’ Championship five times with Ferrari (in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004) and finished first in 72 Grand Prix, making him the most successful Scuderia Ferrari driver of all time.
Schumacher was also well-known as someone who could give an enormous amount of feedback to the engineers. He precisely knew how to set up a car, which made it no surprise he also played a big role in the development of certain Ferrari road cars. One of them was the 430 Scuderia. The goal, a track-focused car, was something Ferrari did before. The only difference compared to the Challenge Stradale, which is derived from the 360 Challenge race car, is that the Scuderia is derived from the F430 road car. Having such a successful and experienced racing driver must’ve been a delight for the development team and the car resulted in an amazing machine.
An incredible capable car
The 430 Scuderia is, although being a 11-year-old car, fulfilling its purposes so well. Our friend drove the car all the way from the United Kingdom to Spa and drove it on track for two days. There were some minor issues with the car, but it was all reparable.
As you may know, we have been on Spa with this 430 Scuderia before. Read the article over here and check out the photos here. Back then, the weather was not on our side but this time it really was. The tarmac was on perfect temperature when we did our first session. It resulted in a great few laps with some fast overtakes and unimaginable amounts of grip. When we arrived in the paddock again, we jumped out and waited for the car to cool down a bit…
The ideal [racing] line with Martin Stucky
When it was time to enter the track again, our friend gave the keys of the 430 Scuderia to Martin Stucky. Stucky has been a test driver for a couple of decades and tested cars for Ferrari, Porsche and more. He even told me he was the one driving the Ferrari FF on the snow during the famous photoshoot for the launch of the car. Stucky wrote several books, two of which are called the ‘’Ideal Line Concept for Nürburgring’’ and the ‘’ ’Ideal Line Concept for Spa-Francorchamps’’. No surprise he knows his way around on Spa.
When we drove out of the pit street, he immediately stepped on the gas and we were on our way to the first corner, Eau Rouge. This corner is truly a one-off part and delivers g-forces like nowhere else on the track. Coming out of Eau Rouge, onto the straight, there was some traffic, but Stucky overtook cars driving on the right, the left and even in the middle. When we were getting closer to the next corner, called Les Combes, I was genuinely wondering if he was planning to brake or not. At the last possible moment, he stepped on the brake (luckily) threw the car into the corner and it all started again. Fun fact: almost very track marshal had to wave their blue flag for us. The blue flag is used to indicate a driver that there is another driver trying to overtake them.
The sound of the Scuderia is so addictive, but so are the accelerations and braking points. Being a passenger on occasions like this, is the same as being in a rollercoaster that’s not fixed onto a rail track. The g-forces and the raising heartbeat are comparable. If you ever get the opportunity to accompany someone on a trackday, don’t even hesitate to join them!
Although being a very focused driver, Stucky is a true petrolhead and passionate about what he does. I really enjoyed experiencing the car with him behind the wheel and chatting about his books and to share car experiences.
Norwegian legend brings his 512 TR
Among the Porsches, BMWs, McLarens, Lamborghinis and more, there were just two Ferraris present: ‘our’ 430 Scuderia and a 512 TR from Norway. The owner took it on track during several sessions and it must be the first time I’ve seen one being properly used. The flat-12 sings an unbelievable beautiful song and was in my opinion the best sounding engine of the whole event.
Thanks to our friend and Martin Stucky for an incredible day in Belgium!
Ferrari F40 Competizione by Charlie Capnerhurst Barker
The Ferrari F40 (1987) is undoubtedly one of the most legendary cars ever built, and it was the ultimate goodbye from Enzo Ferrari before passing away in 1988. Surprisingly, Ferrari didn’t build the car to compete in racing. Only when the French importer proposed it, Ferrari started considering it. In this article we will give you an insight into all race versions of the Ferrari F40.
In 1982, the FIA launched the Group B series—a rally championship without a single sign of humanized rules. Aerodynamic rally cars with ridiculously powerful engines were let loose on tight dirt tracks. The FIA announced a Group B Circuit Series in 1984 and Ferrari wanted to join, but they had to build 200 examples of the 288 GTO to homologate the version that was intended for racing. By the time they finished building the required road and racing cars (288 GTO Evoluzione), the Group B was discontinued because it was too dangerous. Ferrari eventually built and sold 272 units of the 288 GTO, but were left with six Evoluziones.
By the latter half of the ’80s, Enzo Ferrari was getting older and decided he wanted to shock the world one more time by building an extreme road car. Pininfarina designer Leonardo Fioravanti, who also designed the 288 GTO, used the Evoluzione as a base model for this upcoming road car. After a development period of just 13 months, the Ferrari F40 was revealed at the 1987 Frankfurt Motor Show just in time for Ferrari’s 40th anniversary—hence the name F40. Upon its unveiling, Ferrari’s latest creation left the whole room speechless.
The main purpose of the Ferrari F40 was to be the fastest and most exiting car on public roads. Initially, Ferrari wanted to sell 400 examples, but demand was so high (over 3,000 people showed interest) that they more than tripled production to 1,311 units.
These are all the race versions of the Ferrari F40
Every owner must’ve felt the same about driving the F40: It was a very expensive go-kart with an amazing amount of grip—two vital qualities a race car must have. So when Daniel Marin (manager at the French dealership Charles Pozzi) and others proposed a race version to Ferrari, the company started making plans.
1994 Ferrari F40 LM
The F40 road car was still in production, so Ferrari searched for an external company who knew what they were doing. Michelotto and Ferrari collaborated on many areas before, so it was an easy pick. Michelotto started out with a standard F40 and modified it to a fire-spitting racing car. Modifications were an engine upgrade to 780 bhp, a weight reduction of 200 kg (440 lb), racing suspension, a fully adjustable wing with gurney flap, bigger intercoolers and wastegates in the turbochargers. More air vents and an extensive rear diffuser were also added. The interior was even more stripped-out and featured a futuristic digital dashboard.
The LM was initially built for the FIA GT Championship, but it was eventually designated for the Le Mans. Sadly, the Le Mans rules changed so it could not compete. The F40 LM went off to the United States to compete in the IMSA Series. IMSA version had a black or red window net, mandatory US specific rear bumper, air extractors on the front fenders and was equipped with 5-spoke O.Z Racing rims w/ the old O.Z logo, occasionally with a turbo fan cover on the front and rear rims similar to the Mazda 787B.
It had to gain some weight and give up pressure from the turbochargers, otherwise it would have beaten the whole field. Especially at the time, its figures were out of this world: it could reach 100 km/h (62 mph) from standstill in just 3 seconds and had a recorded top speed of 369 km/h (229 mph)!
In 1989 the F40 had the stock pop-up headlight configuration and only in 1990 did we see the big single line on the LM and GTE and sometimes they had covers for aero and weight purposes.
Michelotto converted 19 F40’s into LM spec race cars, but several private racing teams wanted an LM as well which resulted in an additional 27 LM spec race cars. These were not assembled by Michelotto.
LM version could have:
Front canards for high-downforce races or not for high-speed ones
Window or Ddoor mounted rear-view mirror
Have or not a rear bumper
Three different steering wheels; 2 different models of MOMO steering wheel, one in red and another one in black. Both with the Ferrari logo in the centre and a Black OMP one without Ferrari logo.
A digital dashboard
5-spoke Speedline Corse in silver or black
BBS E88 for practice and testing like all Michelotto built Ferraris since the F40 use
In 1996 only one F40 LM was still racing, having all others been swapped out for the faster F40 GTE, so the only LM to receive 1996 aero update only changed its rear wing and rear diffuser but kept the rest of the bodywork in LM spec.
1989 Ferrari F40 Competizione
Ferrari received 10 more requests from clients who were interested in getting an F40 LM. Those people didn’t necessarily want to race them, so after two had been built, Ferrari changed the name from LM to F40 Competizione because they felt the LM tag was too restrictive and not entirely applicable to the purpose of the Competizione. Most Competiziones ended up in private collections and were more of a collector’s item than a competition race car. The yellow example pictured above is from 1993.
To distinguish the F40 Competizione from the remaining three, you have to make sure the headlights are covered. The front bumper is slightly different from the F40 LM and the Competiziones are often non-sponsored examples, like the example pictured above.
1991 Ferrari F40 GT
Michelotto turned seven road going F40s into racing versions known as the F40 GT. The F40 GT is not as crazy as the LM, but that was done so it could compete in the Italian GT Championship. The body was lighter, with 17-inch magnesium wheels, bigger brakes, a race exhaust and better cooling system. The upgraded engine produced 560 bhp, up from the standard 478. The F40 GT debuted in the 1993 Italian Supercar Championship and finished in sixth place overall. Driver Vittorio Colombo managed to win the 1994 season.
The first one pictured is the Monte Shell F40 GT and is the most successful race F40 ever.
The F40 GT might be the easiest one to distinguish from the others because it’s visually the closest to the road-going F40. It’s often stickered up with all sorts of sponsors and has almost no additional aero.
1995 Ferrari F40 GTE
The F40 GT proved to be a good racing car, so Michelotto converted seven more F40s for the BPR Global GT Series. These cars were called the F40 GTE. One of them started life as an LM, one of them as a GT and the remaining five as road-going examples. The GTE was an evolution of the GT and packed a whopping 620 bhp. Sadly, there were a lot of reliability issues which prevented the GTE from reaching the same status as the GT.
To recognize the F40 GTE you have to take a careful look at the rear wing, as you can see on the picture both sides of the spoiler are thin and the actual spoiler is made out of carbon. Apart from that, we could not find any other points of differences.
Updates include:
A more powerful engine up from 3.0-L to 3.5-L in 1995 and 3.6-L in 1996 and 1997
In my day job, I occasionally find myself in a roomful of people asking, “What’s your favorite brand?” I prefer knee-jerk answers—the ones from the heart. Nike. Starbucks. Louis Vuitton. Then, I walk them backwards to understand why they feel an emotional connection to a product, and it’s often tied to a personal story. A memory, an ambition, an idea of who they are.
For me, that brand has always been Ferrari, and if you read this site you may feel the same. Ferrari is a continuous red thread running through my life, captivating and inspiring me on an emotional level. More so than many others, my Ferrari memories wash over me like an old box of photos spilled across the bed.
Ferrari is Family
It’s my father smiling with his excited sons whenever we unexpectedly saw a prancing horse: The old man in sunglasses slowly rumbling through Toronto’s Little Italy in his red F40, chomping on a cigar and smiling like he owned the place. The watery Azzuro California hues of a 550 Maranello floating through the window of Pittsburgh’s only second-hand exotic car dealer. The F40 and F50 that overtook us one summer on the Massachusetts turnpike, our minivan flanked by two screaming streaks of red lit up by the setting sun. The guy from LA at my aunt’s wedding telling 12-year-old me about the thrill of driving his 328 flat-out in the desert.
These are memories that still warm my heart. Other moments: A white-knuckled ride in a Testarossa for my 21st birthday. The Christmas a six-speed 360 Spider rolled up the driveway and into our garage; later, an F430. And of course, passing through the redbrick arch at Maranello to tour the factory with my father.
Ferrari will forever be part of our family fabric.
Ferrari is Heritage
As a third-generation Italian-American, I was raised to always view the tricolore as a reliable symbol of excellence. Food. Fashion. Design. Cars. Italy was always the last word in beauty and creativity; if someone did it well, Italians did it better.
I would pore over editions of my dad’s Car & Driver and later, Evo. I flipped through my 1990 copy of The Great Book of Dream Cars until the pages tattered. There were so many beautiful cars—wild concepts from Bertone and Pininfarina that championed an indulgent brand of Italian futurism. It made me so proud of my roots.
Ferrari is Perfection
The world is full of wonderful supercars and hypercars, so comparing them can feel silly, like ranking Olympians when you can’t fit a second between gold and silver. But I will say this: When everything else is too…something…Ferrari is always just right. It’s the Goldilocks of exceptional cars.
From this perspective I present “Driven by Design,” in which twice a month I will focus on the visceral, emotional art of Ferrari. This is no quest for converts. It’s a place to debate teologia rosso amongst devout Ferraristi and to explore the rich heritage of Italian automobile design. Along the way, I welcome the expertise and opinions of this community, and hope to learn more about engineering and history through both my own reading and your insights.
Start your (V8 and above) engines, and happy reading.
Above: Getting ready to drive a Testarossa on my 21st birthday, in 2003. I was more excited than I look. Below: Enjoying moments in the 360 Spider and F430 Spider, circa 2003-2006.
Giallo Dino 246 GTS part of the @SwizzCars collection.
Might come as a surprise, but the first mid-engine production Ferrari wasn’t powered by an 8-cylinder. That didn’t happened until 1973, because between 1968 and 1973, Ferrari produced V6 cars under the Dino marque and the reason why Enzo decided to put another logo on them is quite an interesting one…
Alfredo Ferrari was the first son of Enzo Ferrari. He was quickly nicknamed Dino, mainly for his energetic, ambitious and proud character. Enzo once said he married the V12 engine. Alfredo, however, was more interested in the six-cylinder engines used in the Formula 2 at the time: he built a few and even designed the (4-cylinder) 750 Monza.
When Alfredo was just 24-years-old he passed away due a muscular dystrophyin 1956. Enzo and Alfredo’s mom, Laura Dominica Garello, were both devastated with the loss of their son. It took some time to get their lives back on track.
Just a year after the passing of Alfredo, Enzo decided to honour his son in a very special way: Ferrari used his son’s nickname as the V6 engine designation. The 1957 Dino 156 F2 (4th picture above) was the first car produced with this new name. The Formula 2 car used a 65° V6 and helped Ferrari to get back to the top which resulted in a successful start of the Dino marque. Enzo was impressed and decided to use a V6 engine in the 1958 Formula 1 car.
Convincing Enzo to build a mid-engine road car
Mid-engine road cars were quite uncommon at the time, but more manufactures showed their interests in this different layout. Designer Sergio Pininfarina managed to convince Enzo that a mid-engine car would be a great addition to the cars Ferrari already offered. After some time and negotiating, Pininfarina was allowed to create a mid-engine, road-legal concept car for the 1965 Paris Motor Show.
The Ferrari Dino Berlinetta Speciale was born and offered a perfect vision of the production Dino’s. The car (pictured below) is one of the most important Ferrari prototypes built and sold for a whopping €4.390.400 at an auction in February 2017.
At the 1966 Turin Motor Show, Ferrari showed another prototype: the Dino 206S. This prototype was also used as a race car and provided an even closer look into the final production versions.
Race and road departments mixed
V6 engines were primarily used and developed for racing cars and prototypes. In 1967 Enzo wanted to race in the new Formula 2 championship with a V6 engine. The homologation rules stated that 500 production cars should be equipped with a derived engine of the race engine. Sadly, that number was impossible to meet because their annual production at the time was around 750 units.
Fiat and Ferrari were collaborating on many fronts and one of them was engines. Enzo asked Fiat to help producing the engines. Fiat then used those 2.0-liter V6’s in the Fiat Dino, which was a front engine / rear wheel drive car and the Dino 166 F2 was allowed to enter the 1967 Formula 2 championship.
The Dino 206S Competizione Prototipo (1967) was the last prototype built before Enzo decided to put the road-legal mid-engine car into production. With just one demand…
Why the Dino marque was created
Ferrari was well known for its V12 engines. Those engines were placed in rather expensive cars and had a very different feel than the V6-engines, as you could imagine. Cars with half the cylinders shouldn’t be sold under the same brand name, Enzo stated, so the car brand Dino was established in 1968. Its goal was to offer an affordable sports car that could compete with the Porsche 911 (1963).
The first production Dino was released in 1968: it was called the 206 GT and 152 units were produced. Behind the passengers a 178 bhp 2.0-L 65° V6, similar to the one used in the Fiat Dino, was placed. Its successor, the 246 GT, was revealed in 1969 and had a 2.4-L V6. There was a small power increase of 14 bhp, but more notable changes could be found in the design: the car measured a bit longer and the aluminium body was replaced by a steel body. Ferrari built three series, with minor changes, of the 246 GT. The targa-topped version, the 246 GTS, was revealed in 1971 and production began in 1972. Production of the 246 GT/GTS ceased in 1974: 2295 GT’s and 1274 GTS’s left the Maranello-based factory.
Still a Ferrari
The last road-cars to receive the Dino badge were the 1973 308 GT4 and 1975 208 GT4. The six-cylinder made place for a 3.0-L V8. Due an increased value-added tax (VAT) because of the 3.0-L engine, Ferrari revealed a smaller version in 1975. The car was called the Dino 208 GT4 and was powered by a 2.0-L V8 which is still the smallest V8 engine ever used in a road-car.
Ferrari replaced the Dino badge with a Ferrari badge in May 1976. Throughout the Dino years, Ferrari always made sure Dino shared the same heritage as their ‘’own’’ cars. Two of the sales brochures even read: ‘’Tiny, brilliant, safe… almost a Ferrari’’ and ‘’The experience of a Ferrari in the smaller GT range’’.
Source: Ferrari Literature
Wondering Wednesday is a two-monthly column where we explain the many unclear subjects in the World of Ferrari.
Ferrari Lifestyle | ROSSO 