Ferrari-fest: when we got GTO, F40, F50 & Enzo all together

Before the LaFerrari were these very special motor cars

Matt Burt

14 March 2018

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Over the years Ferrari has unleashed a handful of limited-edition supercars that have represented the pinnacle of the company’s technological achievements.

Granted, the GTO, F40, F50 and Enzo don’t boast the more recent LaFerrari’s complex hybrid propulsion, but that didn’t prevent them being game-changers in their day.
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Impact

Some of them outgunned the opposition with brute power. Others introduced mind-bendingly sophisticated technology by the standards of the age. All of them enhanced the Maranello legend by being warp-speed quick and extremely sought-after. Who better to tell us about the impact this quartet continue to have on the motoring world than their owners? The men who have had their hearts, mind (and wallets) grabbed by some of the finest and most ferocious machines ever to roll out of the factory gates.
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288 GTO

The oldest car here, the GTO, of which 272 were made, belongs to Karim Saeed (pictured). By modern standards the car looks docile, its clean lines unadorned with splitters and winglets. Ferrari took the graceful silhouette of the 308 GTB, from which the GTO is derived, and added butch wheel arches and a spoiler, as well as lowering the car’s stance and extending its wheelbase.
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Godfather

“It is one of the prettiest cars Ferrari ever made,” says Saeed. “It is the predecessor for all the supercars. It's only the second Ferrari to get this super GTO [Gran Turismo Omologato] badge.”
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The story

The GTO was intended as the racing successor to the 250 GTO of the 1960s. After the car was revealed at the 1984 Geneva motor show, a 200-strong production run began to homologate the car for Group B motorsport regulations. The category was banned before the competition car was ready, but the GTO’s legacy as a ‘racing car for the road’ was by then in full swing. Maranello’s engineers made an extra 72 road cars to satisfy customer demand, before production ended in 1986.
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Engine

Performance of 395bhp and 366lb ft from a 2855cc, twin-turbocharged V8 pales in comparison with LaFerrari’s monstrous 790bhp and 516lb ft from its 6262cc V12, but by the standards of the mid-1980s, the GTO obliterated everything. Its racing genes are clear to see. It’s clad in weight-saving composite panels, and the engine is mounted longitudinally, low and snug against the cabin bulkhead. It was the first such engine arrangement in a production Ferrari, and the GTO was also the first Prancing Horse to feature two turbochargers.
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Interior

“When you drive it after you have driven an F40, you get very similar performance, but the 288 GTO has what I would describe as a ‘gentleman’s ride’,” says Saeed. “It’s very forgiving and well balanced.” Time has perhaps been less kind to the GTO than the other cars, because as the progenitor of supercars it doesn’t seem as focused as those that refined the formula.
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Significance

“I don’t drive the GTO very often simply because the kick of it is not very exciting,” says Saeed. “It’s beautiful to look at but if you want speed and aggression, the F40, F50 and Enzo give you more of that.” However, the GTO is significant because it carved a new niche, showing there was a market for high-performance machinery produced in low numbers, something that piqued the interest of not only Ferrari, but a growing band of rival manufacturers.
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F40

Looking at the F40 parked next to the GTO, it’s remarkable to imagine that it followed just three years later. If the GTO invented the supercar game, the F40 dismantled the goalposts and rebuilt them in a different postcode. A visual statement as much as a performance one, it instantly became a bedroom wall poster icon.
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Inside

Under the F40’s Pininfarina-style carbonfibre body there are mechancial similarities with the GTO – including the same wheelbase, a longitudinal V8 engine and twin turbos – but the newer car had even more race track attitude, not least its spartan cabin (pictured).
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Simple formula

The car’s brutal simplicity makes it feel like a defining point in road car development, before sophisticated electronics began to alter the species for good. “The 288 GTO wasn’t extreme enough for me,” says Nigel Chiltern-Hunt, owner of the F40 pictured here. “When the F40 came along, I knew straight away that it was a huge departure.
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Vigour

“Was it advanced at the time? Yes in terms of its shape and its concept, but the construction was uncomplicated. There are few electronics on it – two ignition packs and that’s it – and the standard brakes weren’t even that good. It’s got steel chassis clad in carbonfibre, the engine is a robust V8, with two huge turbochargers on it. It makes the whole thing so exciting.
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Timeless

“It was a strange mixture of old-fashioned and contemporary, which was typical of Enzo Ferrari. It will stand the test of time. That’s the genius of Pininfarina.” If the exterior is stirring, driving the F40 is something else again.
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Afterburn

“When you get in, your heart starts beating a bit faster because you’ve got to respect it. Every time you drive it, you need to give it your full attention, which is how it should be with a Ferrari. When those turbos are lit, nothing can live with that power,” says Chiltern-Hunt, whose F40 has an uprated power output and racing brakes and suspension courtesy of Michelotto.
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F50

Chiltern-Hunt has also brought his F50 to our photo shoot. “When it came to the F50, it was a case of ‘what do we do now?’,” he says Chiltern-Hunt. “Ferrari had to think of something radical.”
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Race car for the road

If the GTO and F40 were road cars built around a racing car ethos, the F50 was the first of the breed to attempt to transfer track technology back the other way. By the time Ferrari began plotting the car in the early 1990s, Formula 1 tech was moving on apace, and Ferrari could call on the expertise of its Gestione Sportiva to bring cutting-edge materials and modern construction techniques to bear in the F50.
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Engine

The car was built around a composite monocoque and the engine, a naturally aspirated V12, acted a load-bearing member for the transmission and rear suspension, following the lead of Maranello’s racing cars. The 4.7-litre powerplant (pictured) was derived from the 3.5-litre unit that powered Ferrari’s grand prix cars of the early 1990s.
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Inside

Although the F40 has the edge in terms of raw performance, the F50’s trump card is its pure handling. “The cars are totally different in character,” says Chiltern-Hunt.
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Revs

“The F50 is much easier to drive and a lot more forgiving, but you’ve really got to rev the engine to get the power out of it. With the F40 you get to 3500rpm and it explodes on you. There is a bit of lag but it is more that the power comes in with a ‘wham’.
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Linear

“The F50 is more linear. All the pedals are lightly weighted, the steering is light, the gearbox is a delight, it is a sweet thing to drive. You can go very quickly without it threatening to bite you like the F40 does.”
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Enzo

In 2002 the Enzo incorporated even more F1 technology, using sophisticated ground effect aerodynamics that did away with the need for the massive rear spoiler seen on the F40 and F50, as well as making prodigious use of carbon fibre in the chassis, cabin and even the brake discs and adopting an paddle-shift gearbox.
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Il finale?

“For me the Enzo is the ultimate Ferrari,” says Christian Maneef, owner of the example featured on these pages. “From the day that this car came out, I wanted one so badly it hurt. I owned an F40, and that was fantastic, but I wanted something more modern, with the paddle- shift, ABS and so on.
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Tech

“It was a technological tour de force at the time. You’ve got brutal performance if that’s what you want, but the Enzo, more than the F40, allows you to just pootle along gently. The engine (pictured) is like a pussycat, the gearbox is very gentle and the chassis is very sharp.
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Inside

“When you’re sitting in it, you can feel a pivot point right underneath your bottom. It wants to turn all the time, but in a very controlled manner. It’s a car with a huge, broad spectrum.”
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Future

There’s a consensus among these owners that Ferraris should stand for more than enormous horsepower figures and Nürburgring lap times. “All that is kids’ stuff. Also, over five or ten years other cars will overtake the figures,” says Saeed.
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Individual

He’s adamant that Ferraris have more alluring qualities that last the test of time: “The beauty of Ferrari compared to other companies is that it has done so many incredible cars. Some makers have done one car that is unsurpassed engineering-wise, but its one-off, whereas Ferrari has done the F40, F50, Enzo and now LaFerrari. They are all perfect in their own right.”

Scroll through to see more from Autocar’s gallery of these very exclusive Ferraris, and their Tech Specs
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Ferrari 288 GTO (1984-86) - Tech Specs

0-62mph: 4.9sec, Top speed: 189mph, Kerb weight: 1160kg (2552 lb), Engine layout: V8, 2855cc, twin-turbo, petrol, Installation: Mid, longitudinal, RWD, Power: 395bhp at 7000rpm, Torque: 366lb ft at 3800rpm, Specific output: 138bhp per litre, Gearbox: 5-spd manual, Length: 4290mm, Width: 1910mm
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Ferrari F40 (1987-1992) - Tech Specs

0-62mph: 4.1sec, Top speed: 201mph, Weight: 1100kg (2420 lb), Engine layout: V8, 2936cc, twin-turbo, petrol, Installation: Mid, longitudinal, RWD, Power: 471bhp at 7000rpm, Torque: 426lb ft at 4000rpm, Specific output: 161bhp per litre, Gearbox: 5-spd manual, Length: 4358mm, Width: 1970mm
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Ferrari Enzo (2002-2004) - Tech Specs

0-62mph: 3.6sec, Top speed: 221mph, Weight: 1255kg (2761 lb), Engine layout: V12, 5998cc, petrol, Installation: Mid, longitudinal, RWD, Power: 650bhp at 7800rpm, Torque: 485lb ft at 5500rpm, Specific output: 108bhp per litre, Gearbox: 6-spd semi-automatic, Length: 4702mm, Width: 2035mm
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Ferrari F50 (1995-1997) - Tech Specs

0-62mph: 3.8sec, Top speed: 202mph, Weight: 1230kg (2706 lb), Engine layout: V12, 4698cc, petrol, Installation: Mid, longitudinal, RWD, Power: 513bhp at 8500rpm, Torque: 347lb ft at 6500rpm, Specific output:109bhp per litre, Gearbox: 6-spd manual, Length: 4480mm, Width: 1986mm
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