Countries and their cars: Italy – Ferrari F40

Italy is known for its cars, and rightly so…sometimes they fall apart or simply won’t start but mainly they are just filled with passion. FerrariFerrariItaly, 1947 > present233 models
5131 photos
37 videos
is the manufacturer that epitomizes passion best and it is the F40Ferrari F40Italy, 1987 > 199218 photos
that is the poster child of Maranello.

It was tough trying to work out what car should be associated with Italy for this Autoviva feature, but I kept on coming back to the F40, almost whatever direction I went in. I could have picked the Fiat 500Fiat 500Italy, 1957 > present15 versions
113 photos
for its diminutive ‘coolness’ or the Fiat StradaFiat StradaItaly, 1979 > 198111 versions
17 photos
for its uncanny ability to dissolve into rust at the sight of water but that would be unfair on the country that bore Enzo Ferrari. It had to be the F40.

However difficult it might be to convey the joys of the F40 to the page it is worth trying just to contrast against the anodyne nature of today’s ‘fastest car’: the Bugatti VeyronBugatti VeyronGermany, 2000 > present27 versions
220 photos
2 videos
.

While the Veyron is a fabulous piece of engineering it is also a car that anyone in my family, even the ones with no interest in cars, could be strapped into and do in excess of 200mph with no drama whatsoever. The DSG gearbox, four-wheel-drive and smooth power delivery (not to mention the satellite navigation) make the Veyron as easy to drive as a Golf TDIVolkswagen Golf VI 2.0I T...Germany, 2009 > present3 photos
in many ways.

However when the F40 came out, as the fastest car in the world with a 200mph + top speed, it was anything but easy. The F40 has two huge turbos swooshing and sucking and contributing to one of the most exhilarating bursts of acceleration I have ever experienced. There is some turbo lag as would be expected from a 2936cc V8 producing 478 bhp in 1987, but that just adds to the experience.

Some of the other stats that sell the F40 are an 1100kg kerb weight and 0-100 mph in 7.6s (and it feels quicker than that).

Italian cars are also meant to make teenage boy’s jaws drop, and I again cannot think of a better car than the F40. I may be biased because I have spent some time getting acquainted with the F40. When I was about 13 my father bought one in Ireland, as a dealer, and we went over to collect pay for it and drive it back.
There had been a number of them that had passed through our driveway in the previous years but this was special…500 miles in for me the most exciting car ever built by the most exciting manufacturer from the maddest car country: Italy.

We set off and three moments will live with me for the rest of my life. There were very few dual carriageways in Ireland, and even fewer motorways so we had to negotiate traffic along single carriageway roads, but these roads were endowed with wide passing areas. Pretty much every car we came up behind pulled over as the roaring red Ferrari approached in their mirrors with the pop up headlights ablaze.

The next challenge was getting the F40 on the passenger ferry in Belfast. It was so low that I had to get out and direct my father as he negotiated the ramps that the Ford EscortFord Escort (UK)United Kingdom, 1955 > 20007 series
70 versions
28 photos
1 video
in front of us had cruised up at what looked like a steady 30mph.

Typically it was grid lock as we exited the ferry and negotiated our way back into England and towards the industrial heartlands of the midlands. Even more typically we were stuck behind a bus full of school children. Now, if I’m honest I will admit that we would have been past an awful lot quicker in a standard Subaru ImprezaSubaru ImprezaJapan, 1992 > 20075 series
257 versions
268 photos
4 videos
, or maybe a Mitsubishi EvoMitsubishi Lancer EvolutionJapan, 1992 > present10 series
50 versions
84 photos
, but we weren’t, we were in a Ferrari F40. Anyway, the school children had their faces stuck to the rear screen of the bus in no time and I became increasingly interested in the map. Then I felt a thump in the back, the kind of kick that you get from a mule, and we were past. The F40 may have roughly the same amount of power as a Ferrari F430Ferrari F430Italy, 2004 > 20097 versions
90 photos
but it sure as hell is more exciting.

The F40 is an icon, it is full of passion and soul, and because of this and despite a heady production total of 1315 units between 1987 and 1992 it is increasing in value like never before. The very best road car will now set you back nearing £500,000, and this only looks like increasing.

The Ferrari F40 shouts ‘in your face super car’ and ‘in your face super cars’ are what Italy is all about. Belissimo.