F40 PROTOTYPES

That pic was shot near the pool at Hotel Cala di Volpe (in the background) near Capriccioli, Sardegna.

 

74047 was the prototype drived by gentleman driver Luca Sartori in the Italian GT championship
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I have not seen the magazine for some time. It might have been in Auto Hebdo's Ferrari 'annual' magazine.

One observation on the intro F40 picture car (first complete example) the inside of the two rear air inlets were painted red. This could be seen in the rear view of the car. One inlet on the driver's side is a smaller rectangle and the one on the passenger side is square.
Also the picture car appears to wear a 'F40' decal on the rear spoiler rather than an impression in the spoiler that was featured on later cars.
One interesting feature on 73015 are 3 vents molded in the underside of the rear bodywork behind both rear tires and also a third row of vents on the underside below where the exhaust exits the rear bodywork.
CH

 

Yes.
1992 completely red
1993 red/white then blue/white
1994 white/green totip 1X2

 

Sorry Joe nothing on which of the Sultan's F40's was originally a prototype. You should do a 'where are they now' with an updated history on each of the prototype serial numbers.

Ferrari had an interested guest when 73015 was shown at Fiorano. It was Clay Regazzoni who saw the new F40 with Michale Alboreto present there as well. There was a unplated 288 GTO brought out for comparison to.
CH

 

The 'picture car' was complete with mirrors and the F40 decal on the side of the rear spoiler. There was no F40 name on the spoiler for 73015 also it had the extra vertical painted piece of trim (perhaps from running test equipment) mounted on the body below the right side tail lights.
CH

 

Faboulus thread Joe!

Regards
Caley

 

The finished rear clip with four vents and the F40 model 'imprint' raises the question of who manufactured the prototype 5 vent 'no name' pieces. Probably more than 8 early rear clips were built up considering spares and possible damage once installed.
Not sure of the exact time line but Pininfarina was already experimenting with tape to cover the 5th rear vent hole and some of the louvers on the back window regarding air flow. This was on the first complete running car that was not a model.
Earlier they built up a version with no rear deck spoiler. Rather there was a spoiler that curved out mounted the width of the rear body work at it's lowest edge. However the tall rear spoiler was the effective way they chose to deal with the airflow as it left the back of the car. Cooling also played a big role in the surface shape of the F40 and the effectiveness of the many inlets and outlets in the bodywork.
CH

 

Fiat gave the go ahead for the 'Le Mans' project as it was know July 1986. The project went from idea to running car presented to the press July 21 1987.
This was a very compressed development period regarding the F40 with typical new cars of that era developed over a 3 - 4 year period by the factory. However the 'Le Mans' project was developed in the spirit of the old days when new racing models were introduced yearly. The inspiration for the Le Mans was a much older but similar Ferrari in concept the 250 LM introduced in 1963. Thus the 'Le Mans' project name. That (250 LM) model itself owed much to the earlier 250P.
The engine development work by 1986 had already been completed using the 288 GTO Evolution car as a basis for the new project. The body design and engineering consumed much of the development time.
CH

 

This diagram here courtesty of 'No Doubt' reminded me of an interesting feature on the F40 prototype 74049 pictured below. This particular car had been fitted with catalytic converters after the car was originally built.
CH
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Any info on the rear tire widths on the prototype? Were they widened for production?

 

The Pirelli P Zero tire specs were fronts- 245/40 ZR 17 and rears- 335/35 ZR 17. These specs didn't change.
The wheels used were 8" for the fronts and 13" for the rears.
CH