SWISSVAX Ferrari F40... MEGA DETAIL

[ante_st]

 

The Ferrari F40……

 

 

 

 

 

 

An icon of car design, the last production Ferrari commissioned by the late Enzo Ferrari.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ferrari F40 is a mid-engine, rear wheel drive, two-door coupé produced by Ferrari from 1987 to 1992 as the successor to the Ferrari 288 GTO. From 1987 to 1989 it held the title as the world’s fastest production car, and during its years of production, was Ferrari's fastest, most powerful, and most expensive car.

The car debued with a factory suggested retail price of approximately US$400,000, although some buyers were reported as paying as much as US$1.6 million. A total 1,315 F40s were produced.

 

Concept

 

The F40 was, in the most literal sense, designed as the successor to the company's GTO supercar, but the project's meaning ran deeper. At ninety years old, Enzo Ferrari was keenly aware that his life was coming to an end, and was somewhat disappointed that Ferrari's dominance in international motorsport had faded somewhat over the years. As a result, Enzo wanted a new pet project put into the pipelines, something that could remind the world of the company's capabilities as a manufacturer as well as provide both a competitor to the Porsche 959 and come to be his masterpiece; the company's impending 40th anniversary provided just the right occasion for the car to debut. The plan was simple: create a vehicle that combined the company's best technologies into a no-frills sports car that would come as close as possible to being a full fledged race vehicle while still retaining the necessary equipment to be a street-legal product. It was the last car to be commissioned by Enzo himself before his death.

It was intended that there were to be 400 F40s made, all painted red.

 

Development

 

Origin

 

As early as 1984, the Maranello factory had begun development of an evolution model of the 288 GTO intended to compete against the 959 in FIA Group B. However, when the FIA brought an end to the Group B category for the 1986 season, Enzo was left with five 288 GTO Evoluzione development cars, and no series in which to campaign them. Enzo's desire to leave a legacy in his final supercar allowed the Evoluzione program to be further developed to produce a car exclusively for road use.

 

Drivetrain and suspension

 

Power came from an enlarged, 2.9 L (2936 cc) version of the GTO's twin IHI turbocharged V8 developing 478 PS (352 kW; 471 hp) under 110 kPa (16 psi) of boost. The F40 did without a catalytic converter until 1990 when US regulations made them a requirement for emissions control reasons.

The suspension setup was similar to the GTO's double wishbone setup, though many parts were upgraded and settings were changed; the unusually low ground clearance prompted Ferrari to include the ability to raise the vehicle's ground clearance when necessary.

 

Body and interior

 

The body was an entirely new design by Pininfarina featuring panels made of kevlar, carbon fiber, and aluminum for strength and low weight, and intense aerodynamic testing was employed (see below). Weight was further minimized through the use of a plastic windshield and windows and no carpets, sound system, or door handles were installed although the cars did have air conditioning. Early cars had fixed windows, although newer windows that could be rolled down were installed into later cars.

 

 

Aerodynamics

 

The F40 was designed with aerodynamics in mind, and is very much a creation of its time. For speed the car relied more on its shape than its power. Frontal area was reduced, and airflow greatly smoothed, but stability rather than terminal velocity was a primary concern. So too was cooling as the forced induction engine generated a great deal of heat. In consequence, the car was somewhat like an open-wheel racing car with a body. It had a partial undertray to smooth airflow beneath the radiator, front section, and the cabin, and a second one with diffusers behind the motor, but the engine bay was not sealed. Nonetheless, the F40 had an impressively low Cd of 0.34 with lift controlled by its spoilers and wing.

 

 

Racing

 

The factory never intended to race the F40, but the car saw competition as early as 1989 when it debuted in the Laguna Seca round of the IMSA, appearing in the GTO category, with a LM evolution model driven by Jean Alesi, finishing third to the two faster spaceframed four wheel drive Audi 90 and beating a host of other factory backed spaceframe specials that dominated the races. Despite lack of factory backing, the car would soon have another successful season there under a host of guest drivers such as Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Jacques Laffite and Hurley Haywood taking a total of three second places and one third.

Although the F40 would not return to IMSA for the following season, it would later be a popular choice by privateers to compete in numerous domestic GT series including JGTC. In 1994, the car made its debut in international competitions, with one cars campaigned in the BPR Global GT Series by Strandell, winning at the 4 Hours of Vallelunga. In 1995, the number of F40s climbed to four, developed independently by Pilot-Aldix Racing (F40 LM) and Strandell (F40 GTE, racing under the Ferrari Club Italia banner), winning the 4 Hours of Anderstorp. No longer competitive against the McLaren F1 GTR, the Ferrari F40 returned for another year in 1996, managing to repeat the previous year's Anderstorp win, and from then on it was no longer seen in GT racing.

 

 

Succession

 

The F40 was discontinued in 1992 and in 1995 was succeeded by the F50, which until a newer generation of factory backed GT1 cars that came along, remained competitive.

 

 

Performance

 

The F40's light weight of 1100 kg (2425 lb) and high power output of 478 PS (352 kW; 471 hp) at 7000 rpm gave the vehicle tremendous performance potential. Road tests have produced 0-100 km/h (62 mph) times as low as 3.8 seconds (while the track only version came in at 3.2 seconds), with 0-160 km/h (100 mph) in 7.6 seconds and 0-200 km/h (125 mph) in 11 seconds giving the F40 a slight advantage in acceleration over the Porsche 959, its primary competitor at the time.

 

The F40 was the first road legal production car to break the 200 mph (322 km/h) barrier. From its introduction in 1987 until 1989, it held the record as the world's fastest production car, with a top speed of 324 km/h (201 mph); the record was broken by the Ruf CTR "Yellowbird"'s 340 km/h (211 mph) top speed. The F40 was publicly proven capable of its rated top speed in 1992 through an infamous incident in which a Japanese dealership owner proved the car's potential by filming himself touching its top speed on an expressway only to be arrested after he sold a videotape to an undercover policeman. By that time, he already sold ten thousand videos.

During the 2006 Bonneville Speed Week, Amir Rosenbaum of Spectre Performance managed to take his F40 with minor air intake modifications to 226 miles per hour (364 km/h).

 

The detail…..

 

The client gave me the car on a no expenses spared detail, prob the first and last detail I will ever here those words said.

 

I collected the car & drove the short distance to my workshop, where I needed help to watch me in through the door as I knew the car was low & would catch even with a ramp we have had built to get in, as sure as hell I was not proved wrong! The wheel on the back drivers corner needed a little lift by some wood we have for cars like this – in it came with no problems then. The number plates were removed as per clients request.

 

The car drives perfect, its very bumpy due to the suspension, the sound from just behind your head is immense! On a long distance you would be deaf for sure! Needless to say the smile on my face while watching turists snap away at the sight of it was one of the nicest pleasures to acompany the fact I was driving one of my all time favorite cars – The F40.

 

I started to have a good look round the car making notes on the little bits that you would forget like screws that need painting etc & documenting these for the client as I do with all big details. It is then I realise the work that is involved in this detail – a lot is not the word!

 

 

 

After an extensive wash which took nearly 2.5 hours, I started to strip the main bits that could be stripped off the car like badges, air vents etc

 

 

I then inspected the body work, masked up ready for machining.

 

 

Products used were

 

Swissvax Quick Finish

Swissvax Paint rubber (blue)

Swissvax cleaner flud strong, medium & professional

 

Car was then clayed

 

 

followed bay a good old machine polish with the strong & lambswool head @ 2000rpm, i choose the lambswool because of its abilty to remove scratches quick, a keen eye is a must and it is important to keep the surface moist, to do this i use QF and give a quick spray on the machine head every now a then. Following the strong came another machine over with the medium @ 1500rpm on a med cut pad to remove some of the fine swirls that the lambswool head had put in, it was then done again with the professional @ 1000rpm with a fine finish pad.

 

 

Hard to reach bits were done by hand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then came the job of the rear perspex screen, how hard was this to do!

 

Out came the trusted cleaner fluids again!

 

 

so i set to work..........

 

Machining this was an art as to much heat would have burnt the perspex, i used very low revs for all the products, the underside of it was even harder with me having to sit on the engine with a cushion!

 

 

 

It was then given an application of SWISSVAX Shield on both sides.

 

with the exterior done i then set to work stripping the interior, headlining out, seats out...

 

 

The headlinging had dropped above the seats which is a common fault with the F40, with a little post on a forum asking how to remove it etc out it came.

 

 

 

It was then cleaned with while the leather was still on.

 

 

cking an F40 does to it.... it did have 40,000Km on it![/font]

[ante_st]

Results

 

 

 

After it was cleaned i removed the leather of the hard bit that secured it which left a whole load of glue behind, this was removed with Autoglym tar & glue (very messy)

 

I then masked & painted all the seat runners with matte black to hide chips & scratches

 

 

 

Then the screw heads were done

 

 

 

 

then the elecric cut off was taken apart & sprayed.

 

 

then on to the vents on the fron wings, all sprayed in matte black left to dry & fixed back on

 

 

Then it came to the arches, front and rears had servere stone chipping so everything was masked up & all painted in matte black

 

FRONT

 

 

 

REARS BEFORE

 

 

AFTER

 

 

Then it was the big task of removing the rear lights as the rear airfence had gone rusty, It was wire brushed back to remove the rust then painted

 

 

 

 

then reasembled

 

 

THE ENGINE

 

Now this was the hardest part of all as it all had to be done by hand! Some of the dirt was so ingrained it would not move even with a strong degreaser.

 

 

 

Then on to the front section all cleaned by hand! The battery cover was removed & painted matte black.

 

 

 

Seats were cleaned and put back in as well as the headlining

 

Seats were cleaned and put back in as well as the headlining

 

 

Wheels were cleaned but not protected as the owner decided to buy new ones from Ferrari at an astronomical cost! They were abit worse for wear with curb marks on etc.

 

After that it was done, so a trip to the port with owners permisson to take some snaps, but not before i had done the F430!

 

 

A few outside the office.... Plate is our trade one not clients.

 

 

 

To the port

 

[KA2001MR]

love, love, love

[Ciki]

Kakav auto majko draga.... issss..

[Jasa]

Najbrutalniji auto svih vremena....uffff

[matija0311]

odličan!!

na stazu i nakon ubijanja na tretman i opet u garažu

[Gabre]

brutalan definitivno :drool:

a unutrašnjost na razini gollfa 1, čak mislim da je golf kvalitetniji... :lol: sjenila za sunce su najjača, šavovi šaraju kao da je pijan netko radio :lol:

[Luky]

brutala.........

[master_og]

ovo mi je najjdraži ferrari i rađe bi ga imao od bilo kojeg novog i ne znam kakvog.

 

f40 i 50 najbrutalniji njihovi auti

[SVEN]

To je onaj frajer iz monaca .

 

Samo mi nikako nije jasno koliko mu je udaljeno mjesto gdje bas pere aute jer ovo gdje ih dotjeruje kasnije je u samom srcu grada.

[Axell]

sta ti je rec profesionalac...

[InSaNe]

Ocito sam ja jedini kojem je ovo daleko od savrsenog detailinga, pogotovo fuserske fore kao farbanje plasticne zastite blatobrana sprejem. Mislim wtf? kao da se radi da izgleda dobro za slikanje, a poslje par voznji kad se pocne farba ljustit i izgledat 10x gore, ajmo musteru na ponovni ultimate detailing od par soma eur sprejem od dva eura.

[Akula]

koja je fora izglancati motor,dekle,cijevi,selne...kada ce na prvom ranu sve brtve nanovo propisati...ako sam na nesto osjetljiv,onda je to da mi ulje negdje slini...daj ti to predihtaj kako spada a onda glancaj

[GT Boca]

ovo je KITA od detailinga.....

 

onaj topic o astri VXR (netko ga je stavio tu na forum, neda mi se tražiti) i one neke teme koje je svig stavljao...e to je detailing a ovo je barem prema ovom viđenom malo detaljnije čišćenje i poliranje....isto ono kaj svig radi svaki dan samo ne na fereraiju F40 i ne farba ljudima plastike sa sprejem koji se bude oljuštil nakon prve vožnje.....haloo plastiku ispod kotača frabati sprejem, pa to je na razini pevec ćunera....

 

i još jedan detalj koji je meni zapeo za oko....gore na jednoj slici se vidi da frajer radi s prstenom na ruci......pa da mi krene na taj auto s prstenom na ruci momentalno bi mu taj prst bio amputiran...... a prema tome mislim da baš i nije neki profić jer čini mi se profići imaju skroz drukčiji pristup, nek svig kaže on je ipak tu "doma"....

 

 

@gabre: a ti si definitivno raskrstil sve veze sa svojim mozgom ili su ti gnojevi pojeli mozak kad ideš uopće stavljat keca i F40 u istu rečenicu......:doh::doh::doh:

Edited March 4, 2011 by GT Boca

[BaGy]

F40...jedini istinski pravi Ferrari...perverzija...

[Bubi]

Ocito sam ja jedini kojem je ovo daleko od savrsenog detailinga, pogotovo fuserske fore kao farbanje plasticne zastite blatobrana sprejem. Mislim wtf? kao da se radi da izgleda dobro za slikanje, a poslje par voznji kad se pocne farba ljustit i izgledat 10x gore, ajmo musteru na ponovni ultimate detailing od par soma eur sprejem od dva eura.

 

i ja sam dobio dojam da frajer sve šta ne može dobro očistiti prefarba u crno :lol: ono farbanje mrežice je prezentirao kao da je radio ne znam šta....

[InSaNe]

mat crni sprej se spominje brat bratu 10 puta, poanta je ona recenica no expenses spared, znaci da je muster to fushanje platio negdi ko da su svi dijelovi novi

[meshin]

F40 je svetinja ..

 

Ali majke ti ga kada vidim da su im varovi u rangu mojih u garaži, a vilice izvedbeno 6 sati posla flexom i švasom .. zapitam se da su ti talijani pošandrcali skroz

 

[Eleven]

Ocito sam ja jedini kojem je ovo daleko od savrsenog detailinga, pogotovo fuserske fore kao farbanje plasticne zastite blatobrana sprejem. Mislim wtf? kao da se radi da izgleda dobro za slikanje, a poslje par voznji kad se pocne farba ljustit i izgledat 10x gore, ajmo musteru na ponovni ultimate detailing od par soma eur sprejem od dva eura.

 

+1

 

dtzuipiopiohfzu

[SVEN]

slazem se sa gore navedenim i ne opravdavam učinjeno ali jako je tesko napraviti detailing na tako starom autu na kojem se poprilicno vide tragovi godina i trosenja.

 

Čak se ni boja ne sjaji kako treba ako se mene pita, to je prvi lak vjerovatno pa zato ali..

[woo]

da mi prodaju iz ferarija taj auto s takvim šavovima poludel bi, mislim, to je sramota.

 

pa nije to fiat iz poljske jbg

[Gabre]

woo - pa to i ja govorim, meni je ta unutrašnjost katastrofa

[Bara]

Da je ferrari poluproizvod to se zna, ali ovo je daleko od pravog detailinga, pa motor je polumastan, brijem da bi ga Bobo bolje oprao

[filip00]

Ovo je glupost od čišćenja.

 

OVO je detailing:

 

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=128642

[irm]

a F50 kao nevalja