Four More Cylinders Make this V-12 Ferrari F40 Unique
A one-of-a-kind Ferrari F40, with its turbocharged V-8 engine swapped for a naturally-aspirated V-12, is going to auction.
The 1992 Simpson-Ferrari V-12 GTR was built by Britain’s Simpson Motorsport for gentleman racer Stefano Sebastiani after the Italian was offered an F40 chassis which had been through crash testing.
According to Ferrari historian Keith Bluemel in his book Ferrari F40: a comprehensive look at one of Ferrari’s greatest and most revered cars, “This was financially a very costly operation but Sebastiani managed to do it and through this amicable working relationship with Robin Smith of Simpsons, they built up a unique race car, but rather than follow the V-8 twin-turbo route of the standard car, they installed a normally-aspirated type F133 V-12 Ferrari 550 Maranello engine, mated to a Hewland transmission. Apart from this departure from the original design, the project featured, amongst other things, much-lightened F40 GTE-style bodywork, a full FIA roll-cage, 11in-width x 18in-diameter front wheels, 12.5in-width x 18in-diameter rear wheels, and custom-made suspension. The car was further upgraded in 2005 with the fitment of a Hewland NLT six-speed sequential transmission.”
1990 World Sports Car Champion Mauro Baldi drove the car at the Six Hours of Vallelunga with Richard Jones and Fabio Montani and reportedly said it was much improved over the factory original. “What a nice and quick car to drive. Much better than the turbo original car,” he stated, despite not finishing the race.
The V-12 GTR raced over a dozen times between 2002 and 2006 in the U.K. and Europe, before being retired and safely tucked away in storage. In 2023 it was dusted off, checked out by Simpson Motorsport and run at speed at Turweston Airfield in Buckinghamshire. What’s more it was road registered which means that the next owner can take this very special car on the street.
It’s still very much a race car inside, with an even more bare-bones interior than the already sparse F40 and only one lightweight seat, although there’s room to install a passenger seat to share the epic V-12 noise with a companion.
The Simpson-Ferrari will go under the gavel at Iconic Auctioneers Silverstone sale on August 23-25 where it is estimated to sell for £500,000-£600,000 ($640,000-$770,000)—a mere fraction of the price of an F40 LM.
Interesting vehicle. It’s like a sort of F50 but not quite as it isn’t the same engine or chassis. I would still prefer my F40 with a V8 and turbos.
I wonder what Ferraris stance is on this car. They hate modified cars so much anymore.
There is a major price to pay on this car in the value. Also getting someone to work on it may be a problem for future owners.
A new corvette drivetrain swap would be cool.
It is a Ferrari V-12 in a Ferrari. So rather than being a ‘question no one asked’ car you can imagine it as a ‘what if’ that the good folks at Maranello may have considered doing. Hardly the same as the boys at ‘Zekes Customs’ in Deerlick swapping in a low mileage ‘runs good’ LS motor and air ride.
This is just another brick in the wall between “Original” and “Modified”. Original is simple with one simple subset of “As original”. Original can be carried to extremes, which at some point becomes a one person problem. Modified has an unlimited number of subsets. Replacement engine; Correct year and displacement? Correct era? Improved upon? Simpler? Rare? Desired? More powerful? Availability? Original is the only close to objective standard. Everything else is subjective which fuels disagreement. The only winner in disagreement is the owner. This is not a big deal, the owner has the right to do anything they want and as a non-owner we have a right to our opinion. I really didn’t say anything, did I?