With the first F40 rolling out of Ferrari’s Maranello factory in 1987, the car’s 25th birthday has been celebrated by bringing 60 of the iconic vehicles together on the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit in the U.K. With the cars all finished in the instantly recognizable Ferrari red, the cars made an eye-catching – and mouth-watering – sight for attendees at the world’s biggest classic motor racing festival.
The F40 was designed to serve as a testament to Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari who was approaching 90 and predicted it would be the last Ferrari to be commissioned by him before his death. He was right, and upon its release it was the fastest and most powerful – not to mention the most expensive – car Ferrari had ever produced. It was also the first road legal production car to break the 200 mph (321 km/h) barrier, with a top speed of 201 mph (323 km/h).
Powered by an enlarged, 2.9-liter twin turbo V8 engine developing 352 kW (471 hp) and with a weight of 1.1 tonnes, the F40 has recorded 0-100 km/h (62 mph) times of 3.8 seconds in road tests, with the track only version getting as low as 3.2 seconds.
While things were more sedate at the Silverstone Classic event on Sunday, when the 60 F40s led a parade of more then 400 rare and exotic cars around the Silverstone circuit, they still managed to set a world record for the largest number of F40s ever assembled. It broke the previous record of 44 set in 2007 at the same event.
Ferrari produced a total of 1,315 F40s from 1987 until 1992. Enzo Ferrari obviously felt the vehicle was a suitable legacy as, although he died in 1988, he personally signed every owners’ handbook. The F40 was the only car he did this for.
Source: Ferrari
