VIDEO: Embarrassment of Riches - Ferrari F40 meets 430 Scuderia
Click above to watch the video after the jump
When you think of a successor to Ferrari's watershed F40 supercar, the 430 Scuderia, incredible as it is, probably doesn't come immediately to mind. Instead, you're more likely to have visions of the F50 and Enzo dancing in your head. While that's a fair mental association, as Autocar reveals in this installment of their "Meet The Ancestors" video series, the Scud does share many of the same qualities, including a banshee wail of a soundtrack, stunning visuals, and a focus on minimalism (which the older car raised to an art form).
Direct descendant or no, any video that features the visuals and unfettered vocals of two of our favorite Ferraris deserves a look. Check it out after the jump.
Gallery: Ferrari F430 Scuderia
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[Source: Autocar via YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
aj121489 12:38PM (6/16/2009)
I don't see how the 599 is the "true" successor to the F40...
Reply
Hike15 12:48PM (6/16/2009)
i never understood that either
the f40 went on to the f50 and the the f60, better known as the enzo. the 599 only has an enzo based engine, that's it.
But anyways, i would always take a f40 over a scuderia because it is an f40 and it was the lsat car ever built while enzo himself was still part of the company.
Majarvis 2:32PM (6/16/2009)
Hike15: You're wrong. The Enzo Ferrari is NOT the F60. There is no Ferrari roadcar by the name 'F60.' The only F60 known to Ferrari is their 2009 Formula One car (which may be their last ever Formula One car if things do not get resolved by Friday). The Enzo Ferrari was never dubbed 'F60.'
Redline 2:34PM (6/16/2009)
The 599 is the true successor to the Maranello.
If I could have any one Ferrari, it would have to be the 288 GTO.
hoyaCS08 2:40PM (6/16/2009)
I think he's mis-interpreting what Ferrari said when they launched the 599. IIRC, the press materials said the goal for the 599's performance was to match or eclipse the F40. Not that it was some kind of spiritual successor. And I'm sure the 599 could beat an as-produced F40 around Fiorano. However, put some modern performance rubber on an F40, and it might be the other way around. Power/weight and mid-engine balance is in the F40s favor, while the 599 has more developed aero and (probably) better brakes. I'd still rather have the F40 any day.
Greg 12:39PM (6/16/2009)
Who is that nerd driving and talking? He's not even dressed nice. Why would any Ferrari own let him drive those cars.
I love the F-40
Reply
Quattroporte 12:50PM (6/16/2009)
If I remember correctly, Andrew Frankel ("nerd driving and talking") was the first automotive journalist to drive and review the McLaren F1.
2004m3driver 1:09PM (6/16/2009)
wrong care dude, Bond drives Aston Martins.
Alex 12:57PM (6/16/2009)
If I was offered any Ferrari, I would immediately pick the F-40. No question.
Reply
Assass1n 5:23PM (6/16/2009)
If it coule be *any* Ferrari, then I would like an F2008 :)
JDM Life 12:57PM (6/16/2009)
I
Love
Ferrari.
Reply
Affalterbach 1:37PM (6/16/2009)
And I thought that you loved Toyota more.
JDM Life 2:25PM (6/16/2009)
Theres more then enough love to go around.
BoxerFanatic 12:58PM (6/16/2009)
599 is successor to 575/550, which is descendant from the 365 GTB4 Daytona, front engined V12 2-seaters.
599 may share a bit of hardware with Enzo, but it is most certainly not on par with it.
Ferrari's mid-engined history is parallel, V8 and V12. Arguably F40 actually stepped out of it's proper role, to eclipse the Testarossa.
The 288 GTO, Evoluzione, and the F40 were actually adaptations and modifications of the 308-328 lineup, with longitudinal, turbocharged engines, and race hardware. It was not intended to eclipse the 512BB-Testarossa-512TR lineup of mid-engined 12-cylinder cars. But arguably, it did just that.
So, 348, 355, and later 360 and 430 all went longitudinal with their V8s, by design. Challenge, Challenge Stradale, and now Scuderia models could be considered the high-end competition-grade variants of the mid-V8 cars, and logical successors to 288 GTO and F40.
With the waning of the Testarossa and 512TR, the new mid-V12 cars took a page from F40's book, and adapted the naming scheme, until the Enzo paid homage to the man named Ferrari.
Theoretically, the F50 and F60/Enzo are successors to the 512BB, Testarossa, and 512TR, with a BIG dose of competition grade hardware brought over after F40 re-defined the rules.
Reply
havoc 2:19PM (6/16/2009)
great info, thx
Azmati 2:27PM (6/16/2009)
I think you're missing the mark there.
Enzo Ferrari, F50, F40, 288GTO, 250LM, 250GTO = Halo models, flagships, limited, not standard production, etc... These represent the best possible road going car Ferrari could make at the time.
Testarossa, Berlinetta Boxer = Standard production 12 Cylinder Ferrari. Absolutely no relation to F50, and Enzo. The only similarity is that they have 12 cylinders. The proper successor to the 512TR was the 550. Note: while they have different engine layouts they are both standard production 12 cylinder, 2 seaters.
BoxerFanatic 3:33PM (6/16/2009)
Berlinetta Boxer was not standard production. It was Ferrari's first mid-engined retail road car outside of their racing program, and wasn't even offered for sale in the US, and the production numbers were very low.
Testarossa was similar, but more flamboyant in response to Lamborghini's Countach, and still very much at the top of the market. The 400i line was the main-offering front-engined V12, and moved into the 456GT line, and the 2-seat 550 Maranello
The 288 GTO was a race homologation car, that got shut out by the race class being closed. It was to compete against the 959, but it was a modified 308 chassis, it was not designed to be the top-line Ferrari retail road car. The Testarossa was a purpose-built car at the top of Ferrari's retail lineup, and designed as a 12 cylinder car.
12 Cylinder cars have ALWAYS been dominant at Ferrari, over the Dino 6s, and the 308 lineup that evolved from it, including the V8 engine developed from the Dino's V6.
The Evoluzione, and F40 were continuations of that modification for competition line of the 308/328 line. It was not a clean sheet design, but by the end was almost completely custom. It just happened to be fantastic enough to eclipse the performance, and even the outrageous looks of the Testarossa.
If it were Porsche, it would be a little bit like a factory-modified, race-spec, 997-GT2-powered Cayman actually eclipsing the retail Carrera GT.
There was a break between the Testarossa and the F50, and that was due to the F40's success, which I also mentioned above. It showed that Ferrari could build race cars for the road, and they took that lesson from the custom F40, and applied it from the drawing-board of the F50, which, like Testarossa, was designed as a mid-engined V12 car, at the top of Ferrari's lineup. Testarossa/512TR and F50, and F60 Enzo are halo Ferrari road cars.
288 GTO, 288 Evoluzione, and F40, like the 60s era 250LM mid-engined car, were race cars, and homologated with a literal handful of road-legal examples. Dozens, not even hundreds of cars. They were not "Halo" cars in terms of selling them to the public. They happened to be race cars for the road, only a few actually making it into the hands of private owners. If anything, more like a street-legal homologated FXX.
After the 365 GTB-4 Daytona bowed, and the 512BB came up, mid-engined V12 (even if those Vs were 180-degree horizontal) cars have been the retail-sale halo cars. That includes the F50 and F60/Enzo.
The special V8s, 288GTO, Evoluzione, F40, 348 Challenge, and 355 Challenge, were race cars that happened to wear registration plates. 360 Challenge Stradale, and now 430 Scuderia have capitalized on that theme, and actually made them limited production trim lines for the Ferrari-buying public, being produced to meet demand, rather than merely being produced for the road to satisfy the homologation rules.
Azmati 4:14PM (6/16/2009)
TL;DR /yawn
Care to swap sources? Ill read yours if you read mine. K?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari
See: Ferrari road car time line, at the bottom of the page, they have it mapped out nicely.
Yeah I know its just wiki, but its convenient, and well written.
For the record the only halo model Ferrari that didn't serve to homoligate a racing version was the Enzo Ferrari.
Beastage 4:35PM (6/16/2009)
@ Azmati
The wiki page doesn't contradict anything BoxerFanatic said.
Azmati 5:19PM (6/16/2009)
"Theoretically, the F50 and F60/Enzo are successors to the 512BB, Testarossa, and 512TR"
False, The F50, and Enzo Ferrari were not true successors of the flat 12's mentioned. Even though they are similar in that that share the mid 12 layout. The Testarossa's true successor is the 550. Both standard 12 cylinder berlinettas.
The flat 12's Berlinetta Boxer included were as close to standard production as Ferrari has ever gotten. 211 BB's per year from 1973 to 1984. Hardly limited compared to a true Ferrari halo. They where the continuation of the standard Ferrari 12 after 365 Daytona.
"The 288 GTO, Evoluzione, and the F40 were actually adaptations and modifications of the 308-328 lineup, with longitudinal, turbocharged engines, and race hardware. It was not intended to eclipse the 512BB-Testarossa-512TR lineup of mid-engined 12-cylinder cars. But arguably, it did just that."
While the former here is correct the latter is not. The 288 GTO, and F40 where both the absolute best from Ferrari in the 80's. They were in fact halo models. And were very much intended to eclipse the standard flat 12s underneath them. Especially the F40.
To consider the pedestrian Testarossa more of a predecessor to the Enzo, F50 than the F40 is laughable, and a farce. Halo to halo, not standard production Flat 12 Berlinetta to halo.