It was 30 years ago Today

The same model Ferrari that hooked me to the brand..

 

There were only a handful of road cars back then that caught my eye, the F40 was top of the small list by quite a margin.

 

Found these on a Dutch site, congrats to all!

 

I was 8 the first time I saw a countach. I knew my life wld never be the same. I was right for 3 years. Then at 11 I saw the f40 and my life has never been the same!

 

I don't think there is a single petrolhead alive today that still doesn't hanker after this car-what a testament.

 

Disagree.

Marcel Massini

 

my favourite car of all time, hopefully someday I own one.

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlX-kgJuzxU&t=1003s[/ame]

Materazzi talks about his involvement in the F40.
He mentioned that he does not get officially invited by Ferrari to anniversaries.
I wonder why he got the "person non-grata" from them?

 

Because he asked resignation and he didn't accept counter offers from Ferrari, that was mostly it, I would imagine, the thing that made me wonder more is why did they promised the management of the technical department and then they failed on their word and put a totally unqualified guy there instead.

 

Great story in post # 10

Congratulations !!!

MDS

 

Nice story.

 

I figured after watching the video that there were some sour grapes from both ends. It's sad that after so many years, Ferrari can't formally acknowledge one of the protagonists of the F40.

Either way, it seems like his failing health may keep him home.

 

I love Materazzi's analogy:

"Imagine a hospital with a qualified and comprehensive surgeon, that is replaced by a relatively good surgeon...who is a trained veterinarian".

 

I remember that being on the back cover of some Road & Track issues.

I still have these fold out posters from some R&T special issues. (apologies for the pic quality)
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Actually, that was one of the best analogies I heard in the last times because it actually was the equivalent. Can't understand why did they cut him out of the position in favor of the vet/tractor engineer, maybe because he had a big ego, he was a brilliant engineer (Design of the chassis, gearbox (the ZF was a cool one too, ZF that as 1 job, couldn't do, but he figured out) and engine.

From what I understood the F40 is entirely his creation from top to bottom and probably the only supercar to be built from bumper by only 1 person.

The f40 never ceases to amaze.

 

after 10 years of ownership and 8,000 miles of pleasure the F40 is still teaching me new things. thats pretty hard these days

 

The next time I'm in Reno, I'm begging for a ride .... and then I'm buying beers at Garwoods ....

MDS

 

I was searching for published reactions by the F40 launch, and found below article on wikipedia. Someone must rewrite that article...



Amazing how today, 30 years after, most of those reactions were discredited and the F40 is seen as one of the best (or the best) and identified as an work of art&engineering by most.

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Reception[edit]

When the F40 was revealed in 1987 it received mixed reactions. Dennis Simanaitis praised its looks in Road & Track,[27] but others were unimpressed. Observers considered it as a cynical attempt to cash in on speculators money after seeing how much was paid for used 288 GTOs and the high demand for the Porsche 959.[28] Speculators were expecting Enzo Ferrari's death and to benefit from raising prices.[29] It was estimated in 1990 that only 10 percent of the delivered F40 were used for driving.[30]



People could watch speculators selling the cars to each other at public auctions with ever rising prices up to over 7 times the list price in 1989 (before the bubble burst) which made it even more desirable.[31] Playing a main role in contemporary video games like F40 Pursuit Simulator (Crazy Cars II), Turbo Outrun, The Duel: Test Drive II, Miami Chase, Formula One: Built to Win and Out Run Europa also increased its fame. It appeared on many magazine covers and children's bedroom wall posters.



In 1988 Ferrari invited journalists to test at their home track Fiorano Circuit and bring a Porsche 959 along for comparison. The Automobile Magazine and Car magazine made an overall verdict, for both of them the Porsche 959 was the better car.[32][33]



Gordon Murray analysed the car in Motor Trend 07/1990: "It's the lack of weight that makes the Ferrari so exciting. There's nothing else magic about the car at all...They're asking two- and three-inch-diameter steel tubes at chassis base datum level to do all the work, and it shows - you can feel the chassis flexing on the circuit and it wobbles all over the place on the road. It really does shake about. And, of course, once you excite the chassis the door panels start rattling and squeaking. Whereas the other cars feel taut and solid, this one's like a big go-kart with a plastic body on it."

He severely criticized the old racing technology: "It's not even '60s technology, from a frame point of view, it's '50s twin-tube technology, not even a spaceframe. It's only got local frames to hold the bulkhead to the dash, attach the front suspension, rear suspension and rollbar. And then you have the marketing Kevlar glues in with a quarter inch of rubber."[34]



Car and Driver called the car a "mix of sheer terror and raw excitement". Most fun was accelerating in first gear from 15 mph, "pure terror" was driving on a busy highway. Rear vision was so bad that lane changes required "leaps of faith". It was found unfit for daily road use, "clunky and cantankerous" around town, "so mechanically delinquent that an onboard mechanic is advised", to describe driver discomfort "Bangkok debtors' prison" was used. In a comparison test the Lamborghini Diablo was found better looking by the civilians while the testers opted for the F40.[5][35] When Car and Driver declared the Porsche 911 Turbo the quickest A-to-B four-wheeled transport on American highways, the "nervous" Ferrari F40 wasn't found competitive because of being a 30-minute car. "After that, you'd like a cool drink and a brief nap." [36]



In 2011, in Top Gear series 16, episode 6, the F40 was compared against the Porsche 959. Both cars were introduced as the "greatest supercar the world had ever seen". However, they never completed a lap on the Test Track, as the F40 failed to start and the 959 had problems with the turbos.[37][38]



Evo magazine's 2013 "Ferrari F40 buying guide" started with "For many it’s the greatest road-going Ferrari of all". An expert explained its popularity among the Ferrari cognoscenti: "They will never be allowed to make another F40 in today’s world of red tape and health and safety. That is what makes it so special and so desirable."[7]



In issue 11/2013 Auto Bild Sportscars compared 7 supercars. The Ferrari F40 came last by a long way with the overall verdict boring. [39]



from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_F40



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An exaggeration to make a point as clearly there is at least one who doesn't!

 

Marcel as someone who was there at Fiorano when the F40 LeMans was introduced; what did you and the other journalists there think of the introduction of this new Ferrari?
You mentioned before the F40 I call the 'picture car' for it's pristine condition had no visible serial number...
Was Michele Alboreto there to talk with the journalists to?
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the 'picture car' at the introduction>
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No. Alboreto was not there.
After the presentation at the Galleria they showed us two F40s in Fiorano. One did not have a serial number. The other was 73015.
Here's one of many pix I took that day, 21 July 1987.

Marcel Massini
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Is the picture 73015?


Fred.