Kyosho 1:43 Ferrari F40 Light Weight 20th Anniversary Edition, Pearl White Metallic

The Ferrari F40 (Type F120) is a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car engineered by Nicola Materazzi with styling by Pininfarina. It was built from 1987 to 1992, with the LM and GTE race car versions continuing production until 1994 and 1996 respectively. As the successor to the 288 GTO (also engineered by Materazzi), 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 Ferrari's fastest, most powerful, and most expensive car for sale.

The car debuted with a planned production total of 400 units and a factory suggested retail price of approximately US$400,000 (5-fold the price of its predecessor, the 288 GTO) in 1987 ($900,000 today). One of those that belonged to the Formula One driver Nigel Mansell was sold for the then record of £1 million in 1990, a record that stood into the 2010s. A total of 1,315 cars were manufactured with 213 units destined for the United States.

As early as 1984, Materazzi had proposed to Enzo Ferrari the idea of using the Group B 4-litre category (2.857-litre if turbocharged) to prove the performance of new road cars which with increased power could no longer safely display their performance on the road in the hands of regular buyers. Since Enzo Ferrari no longer had control over the production part of the business, Materazzi had to obtain permission from the General Manager Eugenio Alzati. Permission was granted but only at the condition that work would take place outside of the Monday to Friday work week. A very small team thus developed the GTO Evoluzione on saturdays to compete in the same class entered by the Porsche 959 in FIA Group B.

However, when the FIA brought an end to the Group B category for the 1986 season, Enzo Ferrari was left with five 288 GTO Evoluzione development cars, and no series to enter them into competition. These were left for enthusiasts who might consider purchasing one until a validation driver convinced Enzo Ferrari that Materazzi could keep the base car concept alive and make it roadworthy. Enzo's desire to leave a legacy in his final sports car allowed the Evoluzione program to be further developed to produce a car exclusively for road use. In particular Ferrari had been impressed with the development of recent cars which claimed back much of the performance deficit inflicted by ever more restrictive emissions regulations.  In response to the quite simple, but very expensive car with relatively little out of the ordinary being called a "cynical money-making exercise" aimed at speculators, a figure from the Ferrari marketing department was quoted as saying "We wanted it to be very fast, sporting in the extreme and Spartan," "Customers had been saying our cars were becoming too plush and comfortable." "The F40 is for the most enthusiastic of our owners who want nothing but sheer performance. It isn't a laboratory for the future, as the 959 is. It is not Star Wars. And it wasn't created because Porsche built the 959. It would have happened anyway." In fact the reasons for the car's rawness and simplicity are very much linked to Materazzi's racing background (starting from the Stratos Gr.4, the Gr.5 Silhouette, then the Osella F2 and F1 cars, the 126C and eventually the 288 GTO).

The body of the F40 was designed by Leonardo Fioravanti and Pietro Camardella of studio Pininfarina, under the guidance of Materazzi while the latter worked on evolutions of the engine, gearbox and other mechanical parts of the car to make them roadworthy. Many of these were well validated in the 288 GTO Evoluzione, from which the F40 takes many styling cues. From the beginning of the project in 10 June 1986 Enzo Ferrari asked for the car to be completed in a very short space of time (11 months) and be presented in the summer of 1987. For this reason he gave Materazzi permission to choose all the engineers in the team. Some of the development of the car, such as the bodywork was carried out at external companies like Michelotto Automobili (in Padua) who had experience in rally and race preparation (Stratos, GTO Evo, subsequently 333SP, 348, 355, 360, 430, 458).

Power came from an enlarged, 2,936 cc (2.9 L; 179.2 cu in) version of the 288 GTO's IHI twin turbocharged and intercooled V8 engine generating a peak power output of 478 PS (471 hp; 352 kW) at 7,000 rpm and 577 N⋅m (426 lb⋅ft) of torque at 4,000 rpm as stated by the manufacturer. Gearing, torque curves and actual power output differed among the cars. The F40 did without a catalytic converter until 1990, when US regulations made them a requirement for emissions control reasons. The flanking exhaust pipes guide exhaust gases from each bank of cylinders while the central pipe guides gases released from the wastegate of the turbochargers.

The suspension setup was similar to the GTO's double wishbone setup, though many parts were upgraded and settings were changed; the unusually low ground clearance prompted Ferrari to include the ability to raise the vehicle's ground clearance when necessary for later cars via hydraulic lift chambers in the front dampers.

The body was an entirely new design by Pininfarina featuring panels made of Kevlar, carbon fibre, and aluminium for strength and low weight, and intense aerodynamic testing employed. Weight was further minimised through the use of a polycarbonate plastic windshield and windows. The cars did have moderate air conditioning, but had no sound system, door handles, glove box, leather trim, carpets, or door panels. The first 50 cars produced had sliding Lexan windows, while later cars were fitted with wind down windows.

All cars technically left the factory in "Rosso Corsa" colour and left hand drive. At least seven cars were modified and delivered to the Sultan of Brunei in right hand drive. The Sultan employed Pininfarina's prototype manager Paolo Garella to make modifications to the cars (colour, power, interior comforts).

Cooling was important as the forced induction engine generated a great deal of heat. As a consequence, the car was somewhat like an open-wheel racing car with a body. It had a partial undertray to smooth airflow beneath the radiator, front section, and the cabin, and a second one with diffusers behind the engine, but the engine bay was not sealed. It has a drag coefficient of Cd=0.34

Owing to the fact that the car had an additional 80 bhp compared to the 288 GTO, a new tyre had to be developed to cope with power which was typically associated with racing cars. Materazzi leaned on his good experience with the Pirelli head of development Mario Mezzanotte, who he had known since the rallying years with the Lancia cars. Pirelli made a carcass with light materials (including Kevlar) after the experience gained in the Formula 1 seasons of 1980 to 1985 and asymmetrical tread patterns to create the P-Zero specifically for the F40.