Hamann didnt use Michelotto components to convert the car Traveller now owns from a road F40 in period to a racer, it was a combination of their own unique bodywork changes and former Group C race car parts from memory. Only when he had Motortechnique restore the car did it it end up as LM spec using Michelotto supplied suspension, wheels etc
You are correct to a degree but according to Michael Sheehan he describes the car as being converted in period to LM spec and given his reputation and knowledge, I have no reason not to accept it. Whilst it was not and is not a Michelotto car, there were a number of non Michelotto cars converted to what is referred to as LM spec so as to race competitively. Whilst Michelotto parts were not used, I think one of the principle defining changes to be able to hang the LM descriptive on the car is the substantial wider front track with all the additional changes that entails.
Speaking of conversions, DK Engineering is listing #80742 for sale as "the most winning F40 Extant", currently in a Team Taisan livery. Link below with history of the car included in the ad. https://www.dkeng.co.uk/ferrari-sales/850/blue_chip_competition_cars/ferrari_f40_gt_lm.html
Do you think it ran Michelotto LM spec in period then Tim? and was changed to the spec with group C parts as purchased by yourself at a later time in its race career? I always thought it was more a Hamann alternative to Michelotto back in the day given its early/mid race career unique bodywork. Could it just be that Sheehan lumped it in with the Michelotto spec cars as I am not aware of any other race F40s back then other than your Hamann which did not come out of or have parts supplied by anyone other than Michelotto.
No, I think you are right. It ran in period with Hanann parts I suppose doing their own interpretation of LM spec to include the wider fron track and Peter Sauber engine design etc etc. I am not sure as I don't have the list at home, but there were 18 other LM spec cars that raced in an international series and no way were they Michelotto cars.
One is for sale in Switzerland: https://www.autoscout24.ch/it/d/ferrari-f40--f50-coupe-1990-occasione?index=0&make=25&model=646&st=1&vehid=4980054&vehtyp=10&returnurl=%2fit%2fautomobili%2fferrari--f40--f50%3fmake%3d25%26model%3d646%26st%3d1%26vehtyp%3d10%26r%3d5 Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Where? UK, I think. How? Not sure as I'm not expert on this kind of things, but the owner (Christopher Wilson) said so on Instagram: "LM now fully road legal...a very happy New Year awaits" https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc4ur3alPr0/?taken-by=chris_wilson27
That is incorrect. Of the cars listed in Sheehan's article (Cavallino 125) under the F40 conversions section, there is #83405 which was a full Michelotto conversion and ran in the 1995 Le Mans pre-qualifying (Della Noce /Olofsson, Team Ennea) finishing 11th. This car ran as a F40GTE with the correct F120B engine. http://www.24h-en-piste.com/1995_EssaisPreliminaires.html http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Le_Mans-1995-04-30.html There are photos & discussion of this car (#40) on this thread (see posts 153-156) showing it to be consistent with a GTE designation. Team Ennea was already running two other Michelotto GTEs (#90001 and #82404), it is logical that Michelotto also built #83405. Why Sheehan's article lists it as a conversion when it is currently has a Classiche certification indicating recognition by the factory as an original is a mystery, A simple mistake I suspect. Sheehan also says it #83405 competed in the BPR series which it never did (only F40s that ran are 90001, 82404, 88779, 74045, 94362, 79922, 84642 - all official GTE/LM/GTs) along with your car 84326 (the Hartmann Racing F40 which competed as an F40, and never as an LM). In Sheehan's defence, he calls the list in Cavallino 125 (https://dacorsa.com/magazines/cav/125/index.html) a "working registry" - not a definitive paper as you have said in the past. https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/posts/142645157/
74047, prototype 6, then “converted” to a road car, later became a CSAI GT race F40 and as we know was burned to a crisp and still is crisp. https://www.dkeng.co.uk/ferrari-sales/376/Blue_Chip_and_Competition_Cars/Ferrari_F40_Prototype.html 94362 also underwent a big change...
This may have been true when the article in Cavallino 125 was published in Oct/Nov 2001. Unfortunately, since then this list has been described as definitive in many places, along with all the errors and omissions. For example, the list is reproduced, word for word, on Barchetta here: http://www.barchetta.cc/all.ferraris/by-serial-number/ferrari-by-serial-number/model-index-90-/model-summary/f40-gt-competition-conversion-index/index.html and has been reproduced on Ferrari Chat, I think more than once, as Barry describes above. More worryingly, Michael Sheehan describes the original article as "definitive" on his own website: https://www.ferraris-online.com/pages/cardetail.php?reqcardir=FE-F40GT-80742 https://www.ferraris-online.com/pages/cardetail.php?reqcardir=FE-F40LM-97881 Image Unavailable, Please Login I love the article in Cavallino #125 and it is a good starting point for anyone wishing to research the racing F40s but please also look elsewhere too!
Check books at the ready gents... https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/pa19/paris/lots/r0085-1987-ferrari-f40-lm/740406
