Ferrari F40 vs Ferrari F50: Chris Harris Compares The Legends

By Ganesh

Updated: Tuesday, January 28, 2014, 16:07 [IST]

Recently, car reviewer Chris Harris of EVO magazine arguably became one of the luckiest guys in recent automobile history by gaining a once in a lifetime opportunity to drive two great Ferrari supercars of yore. The Ferrari F40 and F50.

Allow us to enlighten you with a little essential knowledge about the F40 and F50, if you are unfamiliar with them. (We also forgive you for not knowing about them this one time).

Ferrari F40 was developed to mark Ferrari's 40th anniversary. It is significant also due to the fact that it was the last car Ferrari designed that had the stamp of approval of Enzo Ferrari himself. It is widely regarded as one of the most good looking Ferrari ever built. Launched in 1987, only 1,315 units were built.

On the other hand is the Ferrari F50. As the name implies, it was built to celebrate Ferrari's 50th birthday, automatically making it a special car. The car came out in 1995 and was even more exclusive that the latest heartthrob, LaFerrari. Only 349 Ferrari F50s were ever made.

So you'll agree that it is indeed very special when you get to watch both cars being brought together, for a friendly comparison. What makes things even more interesting is that it was rumored back in the days that the older F40 was much faster than than the F50.

On paper, the F40 is powered by twin turbo 2.9 liter 471 HP engine. On the other hand, the F50 has a much larger 4.7 liter V12, delivering 520 HP. The F40 reportedly does 0-100 km/h in 4.1 seconds and reaches a top speed of 324 km/h, while the more powerful F50 does it only a little faster, at 3.9 sec and is slower, at 312 km/h. The F50 also happens to be heavier than the other.

Now that you have the facts, number and figures you should be all ready to sit back and enjoy the next 20 minutes of your life.