[Z06Lover]

Originally posted by texan
well here's my perspective...

The F50 is no match for the pure race worthiness of the F40. Case in point; my first siting of an F40. This was back in '89 (I think) at Laguna Seca raceway, where I was watching the GTO/GTU class cars compete. For those who are not familiar with that series, it contained purpose built road race cars, and Audi's Quattro racers were usually the fastest. At this race there was a surprise entry; a brand new, bone stock F40. The only modifications made to the car were slicks, other than that it was factory fresh with less than 200 miles on the odometer. It was really a joke among the racers and announcers, who quickly pronounced the owners idiots for bringing a new road car to a real race.

Stunned drivers and announcers simply marveled at the car as it was allowed to compete, and compete it did. With a very good professional driver at the helm (can't remember his name), he took the lead right off and contuinued to run away from the other cars. For over 90% of the race, the stock F40 led the way, with the Audi's only gaining ground as it lost tire adhesion due to excessive wear (remember, the suspension setup hadn't even been tweaked for this type of duty). The car ended up coming in 3rd behind the two Audi's if I remember right, and after the race it's all anyone was talking about. Every driver interviewed spoke of his amazement at the speed of this "street" car, and how he wasn't looking forward to when it got sorted out as a racer (as though it wasn't sorted out when it left the factory).

I've never heard or seen anything like that from the F50. The F40 is capable of over 600hp with aftermarket support, something the NA F50 can't lay claim to. The F40 is also (arguably) a more beautiful and timeless design, being shaped by an artist's hands as much as the wind tunnel. Ask Michael Shumacher, Nigell Mansell, or anyone who had the priveledge to hussle it around a race track which was the best supercar ever, and I bet they'll blurt out F40 without even thinking on it. Without taking anything away from the F50, it will never truly match up to the original Ferrari supercar, the unbeatable F40. But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong .

Pic of an F40 GTE waiting around for track time...


Is anyone going to argue about which is better looking now?

nice story, but a Turbo car over a N/A car of the same speed...no way. Over 600 HP..tuned..woo hoo..go talk to carmac about his 1100 HP F50!!