FERRARI F40
Is the
Ferrari F40, the greatest Super Car of all time? I personally think so it is, for it is not only the greatest ever Super Car in history but also one of the greatest automobiles ever produced. Sadly, this dramatically beautiful object d'art does not feature in my
Top 10 Super Car List, principally since I had to adhere to popular consensus rather than go by my idiosyncratic or desirable judgement. But this does not obfuscate the fact that this hottie is amazingly fresh in its design even though it was sculpted almost 3 decades ago. How many cars can even come close to its symmetrical flowing lines and its sedate feline stance, hardly any for sure, for such is the aura of this great car.
It is no mug when it comes to performance, power came from a 2.9 L (2936 cc) version of the GTO's V8 developing, it had four valves per cylinder, twin overhead camshafts per bank, each bank being provided with its own toothed drive belt, dry sump lubrication, with twin IHI water cooled turbochargers feeding intake air at 1.1 bar, coupled to a Weber-Marelli IAW combined ignition/fuel injection system, to provide a claimed power output of 478 bhp at 7000 rpm. The differential assembly was mounted on the back of the engine in unit with the rear mounted five speed all synchromesh gearbox. A non-synchromesh “sports” gearbox was available as option, for those who wanted to take the racing concept to the extreme.
The suspension setup was a double wishbone setup, though many parts were upgraded and settings were changed; the unusually low ground clearance prompted Ferrari to include the ability to raise the vehicle's ground clearance when necessary.
Top Gear Team: Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson & James May
(Image Adapted From: Top Gear)
On Top Gear, Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson both referred to the F40 as the "greatest Super Car the world had ever seen". Clarkson also said the F40 is one of the most beautiful cars ever made. In series 16, episode 6, Hammond compared the F40 against its main rival, the Porsche 959. (Via: Wikipeida) (My views on the qualities of this car was before I read the report by the Top Gear team on Wiki)
F40 - Cutaway