You could argue that the F40 owes its existence to healthy opportunism rather than a well-planned marketing strategy. Ferrari's sales had faltered in the early 1980s, with fears that its products were turning 'soft' under Fiat's corporate blanket. A quick solution was needed to turn the tide and, in 1984, Maranello engineer Nicola Materazzi believed that he had one. His plan was to use Group B rallying as a testbed for a more hardcore road product. Approval was given, which resulted in a skunkworks development of what became the 288GTO, with the 288 Evoluzione its competition flag-bearer. Alas, by the time the programme was complete Group B had been dissolved and, while the 288GTO successfully expunged any lingering doubts about Ferrari's softness, there was clearly scope to do more.
Much more, in fact. The F40 replaced the 288GTO in 1987 and, despite the new machine adopting a slightly larger (2936cc versus 2855cc) version of the GTO's twin-turbocharged V8, it was set to be an altogether more high-tech, uncompromising and brutally fast proposition.
Weight reduction and aerodynamics were the F40 development team's watchwords from the start. A clean-sheet design by Leonardo Fioravanti at Pininfarina housed the F40's mighty powerplant in a tubular spaceframe chassis, clothed with bonded Kevlar panels and carbon fibre door skins, bonnet and boot panels.
All but the essentials were stripped from the cabin, leaving ultra-lightweight bucket seats, a pared-down, felt-covered dash and pull-cords for door handles, all contributing to a sylphlike 27231b kerb weight. Wind-tunnel testing resulted in a relatively low (for a sports car) Cd figure of 0.34, and 15,000 miles of testing at Nardò, including 48 hours at a 187mph average, ironed out any high-speed stability issues.
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A Breath of Fresh Air- Alfa Romeo's exotic, V8-powered Montreal was like nothing the marque had made before, but can it compare with a Porsche masterpiece, the 911S 2.4?
The stereotype of the ItaloGermanic automotive rivalry is that the Latin car will be brilliant to drive, but poorly built and ergonomically flawed, while the Teutonic will be the opposite. Yet these 2+2 sports coupés both ran against orthodoxy. In the Montreal, Alfa Romeo created an outlandish-looking two-door more comfortable, more powerful and more refined than anything it had produced for decades. Meanwhile, Porsche continued to refine its back-to-front, austere and increasingly aged 911. Neither took a traditional development path, but both created thrilling and individual cars that have echoed through the decades.
Daring to be diminutive
AMC's Gremlin and Pacer, and Ford's much-derided Pinto, led America's response to the threat of imported European compacts
THE LONG WAY ROUND
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Handsome cab
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DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES
Racing for their own F1 teams brought some drivers success and an enduring legacy. For others, it turned into a nightmare
20 30 LITRES CYLINDERS, 400BHP......AND MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD
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ICON.
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Blurred Lines
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Home of the brave
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PLAYING ALL THE ANGLES
Alfa Romeo's wild RZ eschewed the jellymould styling of the period to offer a striking, wedge-shaped take on open-topped performance motoring