The battle for supercar supremacy reached its climax when Ferrari created the F40 to re-clinch the "Fastest car" title from the almighty Porsche 959.
It all began in 1983, when Porsche topped Ferrari's beautiful 288 GTO with their new creation: the 959. Enzo Ferrari knew that the 288GTO could not contend against the Porsche, one of the reasons that it was pulled from International competitions. Enzo decided that Ferrari had to step up their game and take the fight to the German motor-house.
The answer would come in 1987 when he celebrated his 40th anniversary at the helm of car operations by launching the F40. Initially the mechanically simple F40 was only ever meant to be a limited production, flagship car of 400 units. This grew to around 1315 examples by 1992 and prices of the F40 began to rise.
The proven top speed of the F40 was 201mph, (4mph more than the 959) and enough to clinch the ‘crown’ as the fastest production car in the world although in-terms of acceleration the 959 won with its 4-wheel system. Therefore, it could beat the Ferrari in 0-60 mph (3.6 sec versus 3.9 sec), but there after the F40’s raw power started to display its superiority.
