The Ferrari F40 is a mid-engined rear-wheel drive sports car designed by Nicola Materazzi in collaboration with the Pininfarina design studio.
Produced from 1987 to 1992, production of the LM and GTE race cars continued until 1994 and 1996 respectively. As the successor to the 288 GTO, also designed by Materazzi, it was designed to celebrate Ferrari’s 40th anniversary and was the last Ferrari car to be personally approved by Enzo Ferrari. At the time it was Ferrari’s fastest, most powerful and most expensive car.
The F40 was unveiled on 21 July 1987 at the Civic Center in Maranello. According to Materazzi, the launch was originally scheduled to take place at the Frankfurt Motor Show, but Fiat unveiled the Alfa Romeo 164 at the same time. and a clash between the two would not have been good for the promotion. Therefore, due to Enzo Ferrari’s stubbornness, the presentation of the car was postponed by more than two months. From the start of the project (June 1986) to the launch, the car was developed in thirteen months.

Power came from the 288 GTO IHI’s enlarged, high-revving 2,936 cc (2.9 L; 179.2 cu in) version of its four-stroke, 90-degree twin-turbocharged and intercooled V8 engine, which generated 478 hp (471 PS; 352 kW) of peak power at 7,000 rpm and 577 N⋅m (426 lb⋅ft) of torque at 4,000 rpm, according to the manufacturer. [1] Gearbox, torque curves and actual power differed between cars. The F40 operated without catalytic converters until 1990, when US regulations made them mandatory for emission control reasons. The side exhaust pipes carry exhaust gases from each bank of cylinders, while the central pipe carries the gases released from the wastegate of the turbochargers. The F40’s twin-turbo V8 engine was Ferrari’s last forced induction engine until the 2014 California T.

Of the eleven known Ferrari F40s purchased by the Sultan of Brunei, ten underwent visual and performance modifications by the Italian car design firm Pininfarina, while nine cars were modified under the supervision of Paolo Garella, Pininfarina’s prototype manager in the 1990s.
Under the supervision of Paolo Garella, Pininfarina modified nine Ferrari F40s. This included seven road cars and two Ferrari F40 LMs. The seven individual F40 road cars. These seven cars were also fitted with air conditioning, radio, electric windows and tilt steering columns, at the special request of the Sultan.
The Sultan of Brunei also purchased two of the nineteen Michelotto F40 LMs produced by Ferrari.
Only three of the eleven Ferrari F40s changed hands with the Sultan of Brunei. One of these cars was the original F40 LM, which was purchased for Brunei in 1992 and has since passed through four different owners before finally being sold to Shinji Takei bought it in 1996. The other two cars were the right-hand drive, converted yellow F40 and the matte grey F40, also right-hand drive, both bought back from the Brunei royal family by John Collins, a Ferrari dealer who worked for Talacrest, the British specialist for Ferrari.
The matte grey car was converted to a Rosso Corsa exterior with LM seats in the early 2000s, but in 2018 the car was restored to a matte grey exterior with red stripes, retaining the LM seats, the work was done by the British design firm DK Engineering.
The yellow car has also been restored to its original configuration, with a Rosso Corsa exterior and red fabric interior, while remaining in a right-hand drive variant. It is the only right-hand drive Ferrari F40 available for purchase in the world.
Adam Gubán