Beschreibung:

‘The take-up into the next gear is flawless and, with the turbos cranking hard, the blast of acceleration just goes on again and you seem to be in a blur of time conquering distance, gearshifts and noise. It has the tonal quality of an F1 engine, if not the sheer ferocity. From outside, if you stand and listen, you hear the frantic whoosh as the turbos start to drive oh-so-hard.’ - Autocar magazine, May 1988. Introduced in 1988 to celebrate Enzo Ferrari’s forty years as a motor manufacturer, the F40 was the ultimate supercar. A mid-engined, two-seater berlinetta, the F40 was a development of the limited-production 288GTO, and like the latter - but unlike the preceding 308 series - mounted its power unit longitudinally rather than transversely. A four-cam 3-litre V8 with four valves per cylinder, the F40 engine employed twin IHI turbochargers to liberate 478bhp at 7,000rpm. For the seriously speed-addicted, this could be boosted by 200bhp by means of a factory tuning kit. Of equal, if not greater, technical interest was the method of body/chassis construction, the F40 drawing on Ferrari’s Formula 1 experience in its use of composite technology. A one-piece plastic moulding, the body was bonded to the tubular steel chassis to create a lightweight structure of immense rigidity. The doors, bonnet, boot lid and other removable panels were carbon fibre. Pugnaciously styled by Pininfarina, the F40 incorporated the latest aerodynamic aids in the form of a dam-shaped nose and high rear aerofoil. Despite the need to generate considerable downforce - and with a top speed of 201mph, higher than the take-off speed of many light aircraft, the F40 needed all the downforce it could get - the result was a commendably low drag coefficient of just 0.34. The F40’s interior re-enforced its image as a thinly disguised race-car, with body-contoured seats, an absence of carpeting and trim, and sliding Plexiglas windows. When it came to actual competition, race-prepared F40s more than held their own and in the Global GT series proved quicker on many circuits than McLaren’s F1 GTR. Autocar concluded its test thus: ‘on a smooth road it is a scintillatingly fast car that is docile and charming in its nature; a car that is demanding but not difficult to drive, blessed as it is with massive grip and, even more importantly, superb balance and manners. You can use its performance - the closest any production car maker has yet come to race car levels - and revel in it. …there’s little doubt it is the very personification of the term sports car.’ This F40 was delivered new to Ferrari importer Kroymans BV in Holland on June 28th 1993 and prepared for racing by a Kroymans’ associated company, Cavallino Racing. It was subsequently sold to Mr H W te Pas of Dutch Racing Promotions at Blaricum, Holland. The car was totally rebuilt for racing in 1995 with additional installations including a roll hoop, race suspension by G-Tex (Will Gollop) in England and race shock absorbers by Intrax. Also installed is a complete Stack instrumentation system and air jack. The car was sold in 1998 to Mr M Oprey from whom the vendor acquired it. Since then it has been raced by both Patrick Huisman and David Hart on various circuits throughout Europe, and also been driven by Mike Hezemans, Michiel Oprey and Hans te Pas. Included in the sale are four sets of racing wheel rims, additional exhaust system, complete front bonnet including integrated lights, alternative gear ratios for the Colotti Vettura F120 gearbox (installed in 1998) and a spare bell-housing. The vendor advises us that the camshaft belts and front wheel bearings have been renewed recently.