Rare Ferrari F40 LM Roadster Appears At Racetrack

StateSideSupercars was fortunate enough to capture this rare one-off Ferrari F40 LM Barchetta out on the track earlier last weekend.

This particular Ferrari F40 and its story makes it one of the rarest (although not the most expensive) example of the Ferrari F40 ever made.

Jalopnik has one of the best articles on this particular unicorn.

Normal Ferrari F40’s are already rare enough on their own right. Originally, only 400 Ferrari F40’s were to be made, but by the time production of these supercars ( the last cars to be commissioned by Enzo Ferrari himself) ended its five year production run in 1992, over 1,311 Ferrari F40’s were made.

Normal production Ferrari F40’s made 478 HP from its twin-turbocharged V8. From the factory, it was capable of a blast to sixty in 4.4 seconds and its light weight chassis enabled it to be the first supercar to peak 200 at 201 MPH.

Ferrari never intended to race in IMSA but the success of the Ferrari F40 program prompted Ferrari to work with designer and tuner Michelotto to produce only 17 Ferrari F40 LM’s which saw racing success in numerous IMSA GT Races.

Michelotto infamously turned up the boost on these particular F40’s from the regular F40’s 16 psi of boost up to 28 psi which saw the twin turbo V8 hit 720 HP with restrictor plates still on. Without restrictor plates, the Ferrari F40 LM editions could hit 760 HP easily with a top speed of 229 MPH and the ability to hit 60 MPH in 3.1 seconds.

One particular F40 designated as a factory prototype was bought, raced and exchanged hands with a few owners before it was finally bought by billionaire Jean Blaton. With the help of Michelotto himself, they handily chopped the roof off, reinforced the suspension and chassis with extra hoops and tubing and took off the restrictor plates.

What results is what you see in the video.

Although details of the video are sparse, it looks like StateSideSupercars was doing some camera work for the owner and was happy enough to capture it out on the track. Nonetheless, it was an epic capture and it’s good to know that this one-off Ferrari F40 is still alive and sounding well.