F50 GT - Greatest Car to Never Race?

it's a mysterious car

 

I remember reading that when I was a kid.

I think for me, this car's significance will always be simple: It's the most romantic version of my favorite car. The F50 started it all for me, but a few years later when I found out the GT existed...I mean, it was like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Too good to be true.

 

Untested race cars are just a self propelled pile of parts until they are proven in competition. This car never was.
The current Ferrari F1 cars have had millions spent on refining and development. Great cars if you like finishing 3rd. This car has not turned a wheel in competition.

 

not everyone cares whether a car has racing pedigree, it doesn't change the driving experience at all and in this case actually makes the car more intriguing as less as known

 

Sorry, I was commenting on the topic of this thread, not some other one.


Driving experience? You have driven one? Please tell us what it was like.

 

I am simply stating that the reaason for the intrest and the high appeal for the F50GT is that of rarity and an element of mystery that surrounds it, from the rumoured Fiorano lap which was faster than the 333SP Le Mans prototype to the various degrees of hp output to the absence of any actual journalist review(s).

The car not having proven itself in any race series does not detract from the above.

 

I will not argue any of those points but mystery does not equate greatness which is the thread topic. Greatness implies achievement which is totally absent in this cars history. The history of how the F50 even came to be is very interesting, growing out of the F1 program and the part it played in the homologation of the 333 all to play a fast one on IMSA but that seems of no importance here.

 

Just trying to join a conversation about a car I think is cool. I

The OP isn't linking racing history to greatness, which suggests that in this discussion, greatness is a matter of opinion, not fact.

No one's driven this car, relatively speaking -- that's allowed in the thread title.

Why so uptight? Conversation isn't always about being right or factual.

 

I am not uptite. It would be just as valid for me to say that of you.
Its a race car he is calling great. For what reason? Because it looks cool? Just think it sounds like a bunch of teenagers in Jr High calling anything totally unproven and untried "The Greatest". The are many examples of greatness around us, lets recognize them. Being red and having a Ferrari badge never made anything great and those are this cars only bona fides.

 

Outside the Ferrari family I might put the Porsche 959 in this category. Unless you count the Paris Dakar rally. Didn't race in it's intended group at least.

 

Yes, there are parallels.

 

The track racing version of 959 was called 961 and raced the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1986 and 1987 obtaining a seventh overall place and the victory in GTX class in 1986.
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https://www.racingsportscars.com/type/photo/Porsche/961.html

 

Learned something new. I was under the impression, their group got disbanded before it saw the track. Will need to refresh my understanding. Thanks!

 

In my defense, I was 15 and there was no internet! Haha. Wikipedia cleared it up for me. F50 makes it look like it had a long and illustrious racing career in comparison. I'll go back to eating peanuts in this galley over there.

 

I was 13 years old at that time but I love sportscar and GT racing and I read a lot about racing and cars of all time.
I recommend you visit racingsportscar, it has very good information about cars, races and championships of all time.
https://www.racingsportscars.com/type/photo/Porsche/961.html

 

Will do. Thanks! Growing up in Belgium in the 80s just about all manner of Motorsports was must see tv for me on one of the only channels we got (BBC). Once I got back to the U.S. in 1990, that became more challenging, if not just about falling off a cliff. I remember someone telling me the Paris Dakar rally didn't run Paris to Dakar anymore. It felt like someone took my bucket list and just started crossing things off for me! Now the 959 raced in LeMans and I didn't know it. What has happened to my fandom?! Must be stuck reading depreciation on Ferraris threads. No more!!

 

Here I found a great image of the Porsche 961 in Le Mans, mixed between all the Group C that were the vast majority in 1986.
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And something that never happened but would have been great (961 Vs F40LM)
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That's cool. Thanks for posting!