- A road-legal V12-powered Ferrari F40 is going under the hammer in August.
- Factory-built F40s had twin-turbo V8s, but this one has a 5.5-liter V12 from a Ferrari 550 and a Hewland transmission.
- The road-legal racecar was built from a Maranello crash-test chassis and is registered in the UK as a Simpson-Ferrari GTR.
The F40 is a modern Maranello classic, the first Ferrari production car to top 200 mph (322 kmh) and a car that anticipated a trend for hardcore roadgoing supercars 25 years before it became a thing. But there’s one aspect of the F40 that separates it from most other big-money collectible Ferraris other than the 288 GTO that it evolved from: it doesn’t have a V12. Well, this one does.
UK-based Simpson Motorsport built this F40 in the early 2000s from a chassis that had been used for crash testing at the Maranello factory. Simpson had previously prepared and campaigned a 348 LM for racer Stefano Sebastiani in the mid 1990s, and it was the relationship built with Ferrari during that time that enabled Sebastiani to get his hands on the bones of the wrecked supercar.
Related: 24 Y.O. Dealer Employee Wrecks Ferrari F40 On Way To Car Show
But rather than build the F40 back up in standard spec, Simpson and Sebastiani hatched a plan to create something unique. They chose not to try to find a replacement twin-turbo 2.9-liter V8, but dropped in a naturally-aspirated 5.5-liter V12 from a contemporary Ferrari 550 instead.
Though the sound and power delivery of the two Ferrari engines is totaly different, it’s interesting to note that they make very similar power: 478 hp (485 PS) for the V12, and 471 hp (478 PS) for the V8. The V12 was mated to a Hewland transaxle and the car was clothed in F40 GTE-style bodywork, equipped with a full FIA-spec roll cage.
The completed car took part at a few events in the UK and Europe, its best results being second place at the Britcar race at Oulton Park in 2006, and a couple of sixth-place finishes at Snetterton and Brands Hatch. But after that flurry of activity, it was dry stored until recently, when Simpson Motorsport dusted it down and gave it a thorough test.
This unusual F40 is now being offered for sale by Iconic Auctioneers, where it won’t only be the powertrain that attracts attention. The £500-600,000 ($644-772k) guide price is half of what Hagerty thinks even a rough daily driver F40 in stock condition is worth.
