Ferrari F40 Tyres

Ferrari F40 Red

Ferrari F40 History

The Ferrari F40 was the successor to the Ferrari 288 GTO and saw production between 1987 to 1992. It was meant to commemorate Ferrari's 40th anniversary and was the last Ferrari personally authorised by Enzo Ferrari. It was the quickest, most powerful, and most costly automobile Ferrari had ever sold to the general public.

As early as 1984, the Maranello plant began work on an evolutionary variant of the 288 GTO designed to compete in FIA Group B against the Porsche 959. When the FIA discontinued the Group B category for the 1986 season, Enzo Ferrari was left with five 288 GTO Evoluzione prototype cars and no championship in which to race them. Enzo's ambition to leave a legacy with his final supercar prompted the Evoluzione programme to be expanded to build a car designed solely for road use. The engine was an expanded 2936 cc version of the GTO's dual IHI turbocharged V8 producing 471 horsepower.

The F40 was sold without a catalytic converter until 1990, when US legislation made them mandatory for emissions control. The flanking exhaust piping direct exhaust gases from each bank of cylinders, while the centre line directs gases discharged by the turbocharger wastegates.

Ferrari F40 Tyre Fitment

The suspension system was comparable to the GTO's double wishbone setup, though many parts were improved; the extremely low ground clearance spurred Ferrari to incorporate the option to boost the vehicle's ground clearance when required. Pininfarina created a totally new design for the body, which included panels composed of carbon fibre, aluminium, and Kevlar for strength and lightness, as well as extensive aerodynamic testing.

The adoption of a plastic windshield and glass significantly reduced weight. The F40 was not for the faint-hearted; while they featured air conditioning, they lacked a sound system, door handles, a glove box, leather trim, carpeting, and door panels. The first 50 automobiles had sliding Lexan windows, but subsequent models had regular windows that could be folded down.

The aerodynamics were taken into consideration when developing the F40. The car's speed was determined more by its shape than by its horsepower. Although the frontal area was decreased and the airflow was substantially smoothed, stability rather than terminal velocity was the major issue. Cooling was also important since the forced induction engine produced a lot of heat. As a result, the vehicle was not unlike an open-wheel racing car with a body. It had a partial undertray to smooth the airflow beneath the radiator, front section, and cabin, as well as a second one behind the motor with diffusers, but the engine bay was not sealed. Despite this, the F40 had an extremely low Cd of 0.34, with lift controlled by spoilers and a wing.