The Ferrari F40 is a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-door coupé sports car built from 1987 to 1992.  The successor to the Ferrari 288 GTO, it was designed to celebrate Ferrari's 40th anniversary and was the last Ferrari automobile personally approved by Enzo Ferrari.  At the time it was the fastest, most powerful, and most expensive car that Ferrari sold to the public.

The car debuted with a factory suggested retail price of approximately US$400,000 in 1987 ($830,000 today), although some buyers were reported to have paid as much as US$1.6 million.  1,315 F40s were manufactured in total.

The F40's light weight of 1,100 kg (2,425 lb) and high power output of 478 PS (352 kW; 471 hp) at 7000 rpm gave the vehicle tremendous performance potential.  Road tests have produced 0–100 km/h (0–62.1 mph) times as low as 3.8 seconds (while the track-only version came in at 2.99 seconds), with 0–160 km/h (0–99 mph) in 7.5 seconds and 0–200 km/h (0–124 mph) in 10 seconds, matching the Porsche 959, its primary competitor at the time.

The F40 was the first road-legal production car to break the 200 mph (320 km/h) barrier.  From its introduction in 1987 until 1989, with its only competitors being the Porsche 959 and the 1988 Lamborghini Countach, it held the record as the world's fastest production car, with a top speed of 201.4 mph (324 km/h).  During the 2006 Bonneville Speed Week, Amir Rosenbaum of Spectre Performance managed to take his F40 with small boost and air intake modifications to 226 miles per hour (364 km/h).

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.